Girls

I have tweeted a few more times than I can recall now over the past two weeks about HBO's new show, Girls. Lena Dunham's and Judd Apatow's thirty minute per episode creation, which showcases the lives of a small group of young, white and educated women living in Brooklyn, New York. I have also read a fair few reviews on this show, including Madeleine Crum's entertaining, 'How to Write an Opinion Piece about Girls' on Huffington Post, a Rolling Stone recap and the New York Magazine review. So here we are, I am finally writing my opinion piece on the show.

We are only two episodes in and I will admit that I might have to bite my tongue if this series suddenly loses its spunk, but thus far I am seriously enjoying it. This could be due to a number of facts that sway my opinion of shows like this. Number one being the fact that when I hear it is a HBO series, I instantly assume it will be good. The only other show I have really loved in the past year has been Treme, the New Orleans set HBO produced drama, which is truly great. Number two is that this kind of show does not appeal to all of my friends. How awful is that to say, but it means it is something I can watch alone, enjoy to myself and kind of feel cool about watching. (Yes, I am aware that loads of people are watching it, so I am not exactly original, nor am I cool.)

Anyway, what appeals to me about this show is its more dry humour than most American comedies. I often watch shows like How I Met Your Mother, when I am filling my TV void and have recently been watching New Girl, because of my love for Zooey Deschanel. (This show has really been a disappointment though!) While I do not mind these kinds of shows, they are not exactly up there in terms of clever and original comedy. These kind of comedies include the more slapstick, obvious jokes, that American comedy seems to rely on. I find the "slapping" sketch in How I Met Your Mother extremely repetitive and pretty unfunny. Moreover, Nick in New Girl seems to shout everything he says for comedic effect, which does little to make me laugh.

I am the kind of person who enjoys a real hearty laugh and if I find something funny, I have no shame in showing my enjoyment. This has happened on a few occasions during Girls. I will admit that I am not laughing the whole thirty minutes but the times I do laugh, it has been a genuine, meaty cackle.

Some of my highlights thus far have been Dunham's character googling STIs, while checking herself out...uh..down there. People are always talking about society being more open to conversations regarding sexually transmitted infections, and while I do think this is true to an extent, I am pretty sure that a lot of people still reach for the internet when they want fast answers for things that they might eventually decide to open up with their close friends about.

Another of the moments was when Dunham's character's mother declares, "I just want to sit by the lake in our lake house", while the family discuss for the second time that they will no longer be financially supporting Dunham, whom at the time of this conversation is pretty high.

I have also thoroughly enjoyed some of Dunham's sex scenes. Not in any kind of sexual way, just to clarify. In fact I have found them hilariously cringe-worthy and at the same time severely heartbreaking. I loved this comment from the Rolling Stone recap of episode one, in which the author notes that, "[It] seems like someone is romanticising all the terrible, terrible intercourse that comes with being young and sexually active". I think she has this comment down to a tee. How as a young woman or man, are we supposed to know what good sex is? As much as myself and friends talk about our sexual encounters, how many people really tell the gruesome details of some of the experiences that you just want to forget?

And finally, the British character who turns up to the dinner and declares her love for travelling and says something along the lines of, "You know if you're like me, I'm a francophile, and like you, you're a francophile, you've just really got to see Paris". How many people have met that awful person who just seems to aimlessly travel the world and declare their love for every single place they go to. (Insert jealous comment from a girl that only seems to go to America.) Moreover, how many of us have got drunk in the past year and declared our passion for studying abroad, "You just really have to take these opportunities, it'll change you're life." (A few hazy memories I recall of myself declaring what a "life-changing" experience my year abroad was...cue vomit.)

Moments like these resonate with me which is perhaps why I have so heartily laughed during this show. Perhaps my laughter is more a general embarrassment at watching scenes which in some ways parallel my own hopeless situation. (Insert comment about the show being representative of my generation.) Okay, so that was my kind of comment on this show being the show of my generation, blah, blah. I am not exactly saying that. I am fully aware that for a large proportion of my friends, Girls really is not representative of their lives. And I am also not saying that this show is totally about mine. (I have definitely not tried to get my parent's to give me money while high, nor let a guy pin my head down during sex.)

So what I think I am ultimately saying about Girls is that for me personally, some of the stuff seems really fresh and quite representative of personal experiences and a few stories I have heard from friends. And most importantly, I do not see anything else like it on TV at the moment. I laughed for a long time, quite loud, while alone in bed and wanted to tell people about the scenes I had just watched. Therefore for me, that is pretty much a sign that this show is right now, pretty good.