Putting all that aside which I'll admit may be difficult, the real reason I am even aware of who she is having never heard of her prior to last week is because of her much maligned and in my opinion unjustly criticized new TV show GIRLS on HBO.
Girls is about four friends in their mid-twenties navigating life post-college living on their own in New York City. The hipster style of Hannah and her friends(which reflects certainly Lena Dunham's personal style if not all of the cast), the choices they make which many critics labeled unsympathetic, and their struggles that seem to be told with cinematography and editing that make you feel like you are there walking down the street next to them as opposed to being a spectator watching a fictional show on your laptop all make this show extremely truthful and relatable to young women in their age range facing similar predicaments such as the characters.
The sad hard truth many college students face(not just the girls) is that after college there isn't this amazing land of opportunity just waiting for you. You may have to work as a waitress, or babysit the same kids you have been watching since you were 16, or you may end up working retail, or at a fucking TGIF is a bitter pill to swallow when you are 23. It may be especially bitter if you come from a middle class upbringing. I know that the last 4 years since I graduated have not been a cake walk. Yes, my parents still support me financially, no I am not rich, yes I appreciate it but hate it as do my parents who threaten to cut me off everyday much like Hannah's parents actually did in the first episode. I too landed an unpaid internship after college at a trendy hipster blog in DUMBO that I thought would lead to a paid position, which it never did and I ended up four years later still reliant on my parents financial support. It sucks, but it is a fact, and it is a fact all of my middle class friends who attended college have had to grapple with. If you attended a state school or a nice private liberal arts university in the suburbs somewhere and you graduated between the years of 2008 and now, odds are you are either moving home with mom and dad for the next 2-8 years while you scour Craigslist daily for job postings. Or Mommy and Daddy buy you your own apartment while you look for that amazing job. This is the reality. It is not the reality of every New Yorker, or every twenty-something but it is the reality of most. It is indicative of New York City and more to the point, the times.
Now, there has been a lot of criticism for the lack of diversity of this show. I feel like this is a cop-out criticism. Like some guy didn't like that his Sunday nights that were formerly occupied by such testosterone-driven shows like Entourage and Eastbound & Down that they had to find some excuse to tear down a show that was created, written and staring a female, especially a female that doesn't look like Scarlett Johansson.
Where are the black co-stars in most mainstream popular television shows, I ask you. Friends, Sex & the city, Two and a Half Men, Seinfeld, Entourage, Sopranoes, Eastbound & Down, the list goes on and on, none had a single black star. Why were there no complaints targeted at these shows? The reality is with the exception of a select few, most television shows are highly segregated. There are no white characters in Tyler Perry movies and there are no black characters on Girls. Is that television's way of being prejudiced or is that actually a reflection of our society? I personally believe it is the latter. While, yes I interact with people of all races and ethnic backgrounds on a daily basis, if you were to make my life into a TV show, you would find that my core group of girlfriends are all of the same ethnic and religious background and socioeconomic upbringing as me. Does that make me racist for not having more diversity within my immediate social circle? I don't think so. I think it shows that people, myself included, seek out others who are similar to them both racially as well as socially. Girls, much like most televisions shows are meant to show a segment of society, they are not meant to be indicative of an entire generation, or an entire city or an entire group. This is a depiction of what it is like for this group of girls, from a specific demographic at a specific juncture in their lives. It is not meant to speak to everyone.
I think the critics and viewers who are choosing to criticize this show for its lack of diversity need to take a look at the reality of other televisions shows, the industry as a whole and even their own circle of friends before making this show the scapegoat for it's lack of diversity.
