I’m a big fan of Girls. I caught on to Lena Dunham’s HBO
series late, binged my way through the first few seasons, and it now has the
distinction of being the only show I watch in real time, as new episodes come
out every Sunday. I liked it because it was fun and well-written and because
the characters rang true. I liked that, unlike the characters on other shows I won’t mention, this coed bunch of spoiled Millennial brats actually got called
out on their bullshit. But somewhere around the third season, I noticed more and more it was the men calling the women on their bullshit (often
eloquently, and with good reason) and rarely the other way around.
As the seasons roll by, this dynamic has corresponded to a
puzzling trend: the show’s male supporting characters are maturing. The four
female leads are doing the opposite.
Here’s a quick roundup: Ray, once a misanthrope with no
ambition or permanent address, is now managing his own business and running for
public office (although what happened with that whole thing I’m not sure). He’s
also shown a softer side, doggedly defending the women who so relentlessly
screw him over. Adam started out as a reclusive, compulsive man-child whose
dirty talk was laced with allusions to pedophilia. Now he’s enlightened,
generous, evolved. Elijah started out dating a rich older man, perfectly
comfortable “being Wendi Deng.” Now he’s backing away from a fling with a
celebrity because he knows he deserves more respect. Would the old Elijah have
a moments’ hesitation? I think not.
As for the eponymous girls: the two big recent leaps into
adulthood – Marnie’s marriage and Shoshanna’s career, have come to screeching
halts. Jessa seems to have found a path to relative stability, but has shut out
her friends and become financially reliant on a boyfriend in the process. And
Hannah is in the middle of some bizarre sociopathic freefall that I don’t even
know where to begin with. This growing divide only makes the dynamic of bad
female behavior tempered by a male voice of reason more and more pronounced,
and it reached a fever pitch this week.
The episode “Homeward Bound” starts with Hannah hightailing
it out of a camper and demanding that Fran (the patron saint of male reasonableness)
leave her at a truck stop. When he finally relented, called her selfish and
rude, and granted her wish, I cheered him on. Hannah then calls her female
friends for help. No dice, they’re too busy being selfish and rude. Only Ray is
enough of a friend to come and rescue her. And she responds by forcing road
head on him, causing him to crash his car, refusing to apologize, and then
abandoning him to hop in a stranger’s car. It’s hard to imagine Season 1 Hannah
being that awful. And it’s hard to imagine Season 1 Ray accepting it. But that
is the trajectory that both characters have been on.
Elsewhere in Girls-world, we have Shoshanna running in to
her ex-boyfriend - another one-dimensionally decent dude - at a sushi restaurant,
where he explains to her (because apparently she really didn’t know) why it is
reprehensible to apply for government assistance while still indulging in
pricey sushi lunches. We have Caroline abandoning her partner and baby. We
have Adam stepping in to take care of his niece, to Jessa's apparent chagrin. When Jessa uncharacteristically freaks over some spit-up, she hands the infant
off to Adam, and demands his help. Adam, in stone-faced disapproval, says “You're an adult. She's a baby. Why do you need more help than a baby?” The camera cuts to Jessa, admonished and without a comeback.
The episode is absolutely chock full of women
being entitled, petulant, and naïve, and men counseling them on how reasonable
adults behave.
There’s this insidious notion running through TV and movies
that female characters have to be likeable in order to be compelling. Lena
Dunham has always said a fearless “fuck you” to this idea, and I applaud her
for that. I also applaud her for flipping the tired old trope of the perfect,
beautiful woman with endless patience for the unworthy, flawed man in her life.
But at this point in Girls, that role-reversal is starting to feel like an overcorrect.
Why is all the emotional support on this show handed down from a man? Why, when
the women try to turn to each other for comfort and guidance, does it almost
always devolve into brush-offs and accusations? Why, at this point, does all
the wisdom on the show come from a male voice? I’m not saying I have to like
these women. I’m not saying they have to start behaving themselves, or dedicating
their energy to saving the men in their lives. I’m just asking for some
indication that as the years have passed, they’ve gained a little wisdom all
their own.
