Why do so many people think Hannah’s sex storylines are out of character?
I keep seeing people say that some of Hannah’s storylines around sex came out of left field and I’m curious why everyone thinks this, as they make sense to me.
The first time we see Hannah in a sexual relationship is with Adam. She looks a little uncomfortable with his porn talk during sex, but she basically shrugs it off and jumps into it with him. She’s awkward with it but participates in it. Later in the show she’s worried Adam is bored with sex because he isn’t as verbal as he was and she convinces herself he must be unhappy with her, despite his objections. She decides to buy a wig and pretend to be a stranger at a bar, continuing the bit until Adam gets punched in the face.
Hannah is a victim of her boss’s groping and is disgusted by it, but is so frozen by the situation that she doesn’t report it. She talks to other women at work who point out the “benefits” of accepting the groping and Hannah basically decides to do the same. She talks to Jessa about it and based on their conversation, she decides to create some workplace affair scenario in her head. Whether she was actually interested in this or was using it to cope because she was so uncomfortable and no one was taking it seriously, I’m not 100% sure. From there she propositions Jerry and is offended when he laughs at her and turns down her advances. She quits at this point.
During an interview that’s going quite well, Hannah makes a joke that the interviewer was a serial rapist on college campus and the assaults stopped when he graduated. She has zero awareness that it’s an inappropriate thing to say and tanks her opportunity with the comment.
Once she starts working as a teacher she again is oblivious to boundaries and inappropriately befriends a student. Her boss frequently has to talk to her about boundaries and she doesn’t seem to comprehend what he’s saying. She gives him explicit details about her father’s sex life, despite his protests. When she’s in a lot of trouble she decides to Basic Instinct him and flash him at school.
After breaking up with Fran on the road and refusing to ride back to NYC with him, she calls friends for help until Ray agrees to come get her. Unprompted she decides to give him a blow job while he’s driving. Ray tries to protest but she seems genuinely oblivious to the fact he isn’t interested and she continues until he crashes his brand new coffee truck. After the crash she’s still completely unaware of her behavior.
Hannah’s view of sex remains consistent throughout the show, in my opinion. Her view of sex is shaped by what she watched: movies and porn. She accepts Adam’s dirty talk, even though she’s visibly uncomfortable by it, because dirty talk is so popular in porn. She dresses up as someone else with a wig in a bar because that’s a TV trope. She propositions her boss because that’s what happens in porn. She flashes her other boss while sitting in a chair because that’s what famously happens in a well known movie. She gives Ray a random blow job in the car because that’s what happens in porn. She frequently gets undressed in ways that are reminiscent of what we see on screen when women are performing sexiness. Hannah is seemingly comfortable in her body and being naked, but her view of sex is heavily influenced by what she’s watched. My impression is that she didn’t experiment much, other than her relationship with Elijah. Hannah is socially and sexually awkward while also embracing herself. It’s like she’s made herself a version of the manic pixie dream girl, always down for whatever a guy is into sexually (or she thinks he’s into) and down to party hard and not follow social conventions and embrace her quirks. Except she’s the main character so we see all sides of her, not just the hot girl who’s down for anything, so she’s a true dimensional character who we see and know.
I hope I’ve explained this well, I’m just curious if anyone else agrees? I truly think her choices make sense for who she is as the character we know. Also know I didn’t mention all of her partners, just mentioned the examples that immediately came to mind for me tbh. What do you think?