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Ally McBeal. The Mindy Project. 30 Rock. The cartoon strip Cathy. The story of the quintessential female with quirky insecurities and mild-to-severe neuroses has been a crowd pleaser time and time again.
And then you have shows like "Girls" which take that story to annoying new depths, degrading women, making men look like beastly predators, focusing on sex to an obsessive degree (and I mean literally "focusing" as in the camera shows everything short of a colonoscopy), and for what... for laughs? No, not even that. For just sheer awkwardness I guess.
That's my opinion and I'll leave it there. For the rest of my review I'll just cite some examples, and you can be the judge if this is the kind of show that you think you'll enjoy. Writer/director/star Lena Dunham plays an insecure, chubby 23-year-old named Hannah whose life is full of self-imposed disasters.
Example #1. Hannah gets an STD because she ritually has unprotected sex with some guy who uses women as if they're toilet paper. When she learns she has the STD, she whines as if she's the victim and we're supposed to hate the guy for not using a condom. Poor little victim Hannah.
Example #2. Hannah, who has never had a job and relies on her hipster parents to pay her rent, insurance, cell phone and food bills, is told by her parents that they are cutting off her allowance and forcing her to earn a living like the rest of us schmucks. She whines as if she's the victim, and we're supposed to hate the parents just because they're rich. Poor little victim Hannah.
Example #3. Hannah finally gets a job where she is very inappropriately fondled by the boss on the first day. She just sits there and takes it with a goofy expression on her face for about 5 minutes. Then later she whines as if she's the victim, and we're supposed to hate the boss (who, by the way, asks her point blank if she's OK with him being "touchy", and she says nothing) because he's a creepy predator. Poor little victim Hannah.
Example #4. Hannah is still smitten by the disgusting man-beast who gave her an STD, and he texts her a picture of his hairy man parts (which, yes, they feel the need to show us on camera). He then texts her "SRY THAT WAS MEANT FOR SOMEONE ELSE". That part was funny, I admit, but then once again Hannah whines like the victim but stays with him because she's too stupid to, I dunno, tell the creep to get lost like a real woman would do. Poor little victim Hannah.
And the list goes on.
You'll notice that I'm dwelling on the character Hannah even though there are 3 other stars of the show. That's because this is basically the Lena Dunham (Hannah) show with only momentary diversions to the other characters who, by the way, can be equally whiney with the same "use me, I'm just a weak little girl" attitude as Hannah. Kudos to Allison Williams who tries to rescue this show admirably, both with her humorous acting as well as by playing a female character who actually can stand up for herself. But not even she can save this mess.
Congratulations, Lena Dunham (Hannah)... you've successfully knocked women back to the 1950s, with the only difference being your character drops her underwear for any man who will use you. And you've successfully made every male under the age of 50 look like a rapist (oh wait, the ones over 50 as well).
I actually urge you to watch this show just so you'll see how disgusting television can be in the 21st century. But for the love of Moses don't pay any money to see this.
score 2/10
rooprect 25 March 2015
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3208116/ |
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22-11-2019 10:23:57
