“Girls be making HBO shows, am I right?”

Ethan Gach

I write about comics, video games and American politics. I fear death above all things. Just below that is waking up in the morning to go to work. You can follow me on Twitter at @ethangach or at my blog, gamingvulture.tumblr.com. And though my opinions aren’t for hire, my virtue is.

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4 Responses

  1. I dunno. It seems to me that Girls is, like Mad Men, a show by and for elites (economic, cultural, or as is often the case, both). I wouldn’t hold my breath for a broadening of its sociological palette…Report

  2. Jesse Ewiak says:

    I realize this is going to sound weird from me, but I think a lot of the backlash about the premise, not the characters themselves, is a bit of jealously. A lot of response I’ve seen is that, “oh, these girls are just like my sister/neighbor/friend/daughter/co-worker/etc.” and unless there’s a rash of entitled kids stealing money from maids, I don’t think it’s about the characters.

    Now, I haven’t seen the show, but I feel no anger towards kids who can go through their 20’s without working shit jobs. This may be a bit controversial, but working at a crappy call center when you’re 24 because the economy sucks doesn’t make you a better person than somebody who can pay the rent with dad’s credit card. It might result in you making worse choices and only succeeding because of other advantages in your life, but a job for the sake of a job isn’t always an entirely positive thing. I would’ve happily taken an allowance if able.

    In other words, if you don’t like the characters in the show simply because they’re bad people, all right. If you don’t like them simply based on th fact they’re mooching off their parents, then yeah, I think that’s a little resentment/jealously/etc. creeping in.Report

  3. Erik Kain says:

    I’m agnostic at this point. I could see the show going any number of directions. As you say, it’s just a pilot and while there are occasionally brilliant pilots (Lost, Breaking Bad) more often than not they’re a poor representation of the following series.Report

  4. Fnord says:

    It’s not just that the male characters (and also the mother; everyone except the titular girls) are unlikable. After all, it’s not like the main characters are warmly lovable. It’s that they’re caricatures. Admittedly, it’s only the pilot, maybe they’ll acquire more depth in later episode.

    Also, am I the only one who thinks that, out of the “girls”, the main main character is the one I like the least?Report