Girls and Lena Dunham’s Body
I really like the show Girls on HBO. Does anyone watch it? It started out hilarious and slowly got less and less funny throughout the season. I find most of the characters annoying and frustrating. I was hoping for something like Sex and the City, but it’s nothing like that at all.
And yet I keep watching it.
One reason: seeing Hannah (played by Lena Dunham) naked or half naked. A lot.
That’s probably really weird to say. But seriously.
Lena Dunham isn’t terribly fat. Her body is imperfect, so basically she looks completely normal, like most of the women I know, and not at all like the stereotypical ‘perfect’ Hollywood body that we’re exposed to.
So, yay! We’re making progress here. It’s a chance for the people to see a naked woman who doesn’t fit the media standard of bodily perfection, isn’t photoshopped or airbrushed, and who looks completely natural.We hardly see women naked any more in general and now someone who doens’t fit the hits our small screen. That’s impressive.
But the best thing is that the show isn’t about her body. The plot line doesn’t revolve around her appearance or size as some sort of obstacle she has to overcome in finding love, finding a career, or having a social life (she has plenty of other problems that interfere with those life goals). Her appearance is also not a novelty either. She’s not playing the typical ‘token fat girl’ binge eating her self image sorrows, or the ugly duckling who was never actually ugly to begin with but just needed a new outfit to snag the hottest guy in school. The show is a normal girl with normal girl problems.
I think it’s pretty refreshing to be able to see on television not just a show starring a woman with a body that’s outside the Hollywood ideal (we’ve seen that with Mike & Molly), but also not revolving the whole story around her appearance.
So even though I don’t always love the storyline, and I think the main characters make terrible life decisions, and the male lead character (Adam) drives me bananas, I still watch the show because I think it is doing great things for women’s body image.
The point being: your life doesn’t have to revolve around your flaws.
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- e-mail: samanthaamenzies@gmail.com
- Samantha Menzies is an opinionated young firecracker who just happens to enjoy distracting web surfers with chronicles of her mildly entertaining daily pursuits.
I agree that most of the characters are annoying and frustrating – and yet I also keep watching it!
Thanks for commenting on my blog! My husband is actually from Windsor – small world, huh?!
I haven’t seen the show Girls (I don’t own a TV, haha) but it certainly sounds refreshing
No way! That’s quite the coincidence since Windsor is not exactly a big city. Is he a teacher? I know a lot of teachers from here go down to Australia or to the UK for work.
I live in new york, and there are girls like this all over the place…Lena’s show to me is little more than a group of drinking stories come to life, and I hear that when she’s pitching scripts over at HBO she literally comes out with ‘here’s what I did last night’. I’d call Girls ‘augmented reality’, but not scripted entertainment.
It’s sad to think that there are girls all over New York making frustratingly terrible life decisions for themselves. I’d much rather consider it scripted.
He’s actually a tennis coach. He went to uni in Detroit and then lived in the south of France, Florida, Edmonton, Vancouver, Australia and now the UK. He’s been all over the place! But I know Windsor is a small city, most people have never heard of it.
I have not seen this show, but I love this post.
YESSSS!!!
She is a real woman who doesn’t have to worry about everything that is ‘wrong’ with her body.
Well, all fiction has a non-fiction soul, and vice-versa. I’ve done a lot of stupid things in NYC too. I still think this is a good place for the super agrressive youngster who cares for little beyond comparing oneself to the best the remainder of humanity has to offer. However, if you are young, drunk, and female, you are far more likely to end up in a garbage bag in the flatlands than you are in the arms of a newly hired Goldman trader. The thing to remember about NYC is this, and i see it all the time:
There are plenty of dedicated fathers willing to splash 100 grand on their darling young girl so she can move to NYC and take her shot….there are exactly zero fathers interested in doing that for their sons, and the demographics reflect that. If you want to see what is a literal ghetto of beautiful, educated, talented women who can’t find a boyfriend, hang around the Bedford Avenue station on the L train. Whenever I’m feeling low I get on that train and the riot of beauty soon has me grinning from ear to ear. I’m working on a song on this subject: “Bedford Avenue Girl”
[...] 2. Girls and Lena Dunham’s Body [...]
I saw your comment on Fit and Feminist so came over here to read. I agree that it is refreshing to see a show by and about female characters that stars a woman who is not the media-approved version of “hot” and doesn’t spend 90% of her screen time obsessing about it. I had read a lot of commentary and critique (pro and con) before I watched the show, but once I watched a couple of episodes, I got drawn in. It does make me glad I’m not 20-something anymore!