{"id":671,"date":"2013-11-18T00:05:38","date_gmt":"2013-11-18T04:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rasmussm.wordpress.com\/?p=41"},"modified":"2014-11-21T16:36:30","modified_gmt":"2014-11-21T21:36:30","slug":"girls-i-may-be-the-voice-of-my-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/wrpg211\/2013\/11\/18\/girls-i-may-be-the-voice-of-my-generation\/","title":{"rendered":"Girls: \u201cI may be the voice of my generation\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Confession: I watch Girls without putting too much extra thought into it, other than wondering how it can possibly be so relatable in the subtlest of ways. So, I decided to re-watch the first episode of season one and give it some more thought \u2013 it\u2019s crazy how much I\u2019ve missed. At the end of the episode, Hannah goes to her parents\u2019 hotel room (in an opium haze) and lays it out for them: \u201cI think I may be the voice of my generation.\u201d This got me thinking: is Girls <\/i>aiming to be the quintessential text of this generation? Or, is it more fair to say that Girls is simply looking to express what it means to be young and a woman right now?<\/p>\n

\""I'm<\/a><\/p>\n

“I’m busy trying to become who I am.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A quick overview:<\/p>\n

Girls<\/i> obviously has some Sex and the City<\/i> vibes \u2013 we get four women of different personality types living in New York City, dealing with relationships and employment woes. (Shoshanna even makes a direct reference to Sex and the City in the episode: \u201cYou\u2019re definitely like a Carrie with a little bit of Samantha and you have Charlotte hair.\u201d) Still, Girls is more honest about what it\u2019s doing, and functions more as Sex and the City\u2019s antithesis. Hannah, the main character is a self-proclaimed artist; Marnie is self-absorbed and creeped out by her overly affectionate boyfriend; Shoshanna is na\u00efve and fast-talking; Jessa disguises her fear of putting down roots by putting on airs of worldliness.<\/p>\n

The first episode of season 1 begins with Hannah at dinner with her parents. They don\u2019t waste time beating around the bush \u2013 they tell Hannah midway through her meal that they\u2019re no longer going to support her anymore. Bummer. Hannah is two years out of college working at an unpaid internship and writing a memoir. Hannah is crushed and counters this devastating news: \u201cI\u2019m busy trying to become who I am.\u201d (Self-centered and pretentious? Yes. Relatable? Yes.) So, Hannah\u2019s cut off, she\u2019s fired from her unpaid internship, and doesn\u2019t have anyone to read her memoir or supply her with 1,100 dollars a month. Yikes.<\/p>\n

So, what is Girls doing right in terms of capturing the essence of this generation?<\/p>\n

1. Communication (or lack thereof): Girls perfectly captures the disconnection of this generation, honing in on a dependence on texting and social media to interact with one another. Marnie gives us a break down of the hierarchy of today\u2019s communication: \u201cThe lowest form of communication is Facebook, followed by Gchat, then texting then email then phone. Face to face is of course ideal, but it\u2019s just not of this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Relationships: Girls<\/i> offers an honest view of what relationships (and quasi-relationships) are like. We\u2019re given two drastic but reasonably relatable examples of relationships in the first episode: the suffocating boyfriend and the elusive\/shady quasi-boyfriend who can\u2019t be bothered to even answer a text message. Girls<\/i> doesn\u2019t glamorize relationships; rather, it shows that intimacy can be awkward, and boyfriends can be suffocating. What’s much cooler, though, is that guys and romantic\/sexual relationships certainly play a role in the show, but friendships between women are brought to the forefront. Hannah and Marnie are crazy-intimate BFF\u2019s \u2013 they sleep in the same bed and sometimes shower together. These care more about each other than they do about their boyfriends (maybe not always true in real life, but certainly a refreshing take).<\/p>\n

3. Self-absorption\/superficiality: Hannah\u2019s character says is all. She\u2019s already writing a memoir (I can\u2019t imagine about what) and thinks she\u2019s justified in asking her parents for 1,100 dollars a month from her parents for the next two years since she is an \u201cartist.\u201d Jessa can\u2019t be bothered to show up to a dinner on time, and Marnie is all around selfish. \u00a0This self-entitlement is an accurate reflection of the inflated egos of this generation that are encouraged with social media.<\/p>\n

\""Will<\/a><\/p>\n

“Will you get me a Lunabar? And a Smart Water and a Vitamin Water?”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

4. The economy: The recession is referenced often in this first episode. It\u2019s cited as the cause for lack of paid jobs and even internships (a fear that hits close to home for a senior in college). All four of these girls (and their boyfriends) went to college, but this doesn\u2019t bring them any closer to securing a decent job (and they\u2019re left burdened with student loans). The most refreshing aspect of this \u2013 especially when considering Sex and the City \u2013 is that it\u2019s realistic about how difficult living in New York City actually is.<\/p>\n

The potential problem with Girls is in its title: the women of this generation are referred to instead as \u201cgirls,\u201d and are stunted in their portrayal. Marnie still wears a retainer and Hannah tells her parents that she\u2019s a \u201cgrowing girl.\u201d These \u201cgirls\u201d are openly dependent on their parents (or grandparents) and are completely na\u00efve about what it takes to function as an independent adult; these girls aren\u2019t exactly striving for independence either. However, as difficult as it may be to accept, this stunted portrayal may be the more realistic one. In the end, Girls offers something relatable, a look at what it means to be a young twenty-something in this moment. Perhaps it\u2019s a bit exaggerated, but it certainly resonates with the nuances of a generation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Confession: I watch Girls without putting too much extra thought into it, other than wondering how it can possibly be so relatable in the subtlest of ways. So, I decided to re-watch the first episode of season one and give it some more thought – it’s crazy how much I’ve missed. At the end of […]\"\" Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1786,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[109722],"tags":[109703],"class_list":["post-671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-student-blog-project-2013","tag-syndicated"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/wrpg211\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/wrpg211\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/wrpg211\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/wrpg211\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1786"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/wrpg211\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/wrpg211\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/wrpg211\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/wrpg211\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/wrpg211\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}