r/girls

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This does not taste like Twix.

Runner up: Stay out of my emotional way.

I know Marnie is pretty well disliked in this sub and yes she’s flawed and all that yadda yadda. but…on my 50th rewatch I’m noticing how truly endearing she was at times. Like: when she first learns Hannah is accepted to grad school, she is immediately ecstatic, gives Hannah a big hug and says “You HAVE to go!” without any thought of what it would mean for herself to lose a friend…unlike Jessa who is so cold and not happy at all about Hannah’s new opportunity.

Also. When the 3 girls are called to the apartment after Hannah first learns about MRH, Marnie really gives the best advice. She says Hannah has to let Adam go or else she’ll hate herself for it. And Hannah took that advice. When Hannah says “I guess we’re not some great love story (paraphrasing bc I don’t remember the exact quote) Marnie says “Maybe WE are.” Ugh. Tears. 😢

Also. The sheer joy on Marnie’s face when she’s reading Hannah’s article about coping with the Adam/Jessa business. “Hannah’s in print!!” Such a cute moment of her on the toilet. Lol.

Okay. Let the Marnie hate train chug on.

I’m 26. And maybe I’m just not old enough to understand but I’m rewatching girls again. Geninuely, there’s 7 billion people in the world - I could never date a best friends ex. It’s just never.. that serious? Unless I’m just naive and still yet to realize things. But ya. I get so disengaged when they get together like season part of 5 and all of 6. I understand there’s other moments more significant but I just wanted to comment on that .

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?

Girls was one of those shows I always intended to watch and never got round to it till now. I finished famesick a couple weeks ago and I’ve been really loving watching episodes that are routed in real experiences. I just watched s3ep9 and immediately picked up how Hannah’s mom asked her to tell her sick Grandma that Adam had proposed like how she told her grandmother that Jack had proposed irl.

It’s such an interesting way to watch a show for the first time with an understanding of what was going on behind the scenes at the time!

Obviously I could be totally wrong and this is all speculation. But Lena wrote Hannah as incredibly flawed, but to me, she was always relatable and charming. In S5, she is SO insufferable. I thought at first maybe Lena was just leaning into what everybody said about her/Hannah, but after reading Famesick and given all of her health issues around this time, maybe Jenni wrote these insufferable Hannah moments and it’s a reflection of how JENNI saw Lena/Hannah.

Initially, I wanted to open this message explaining how much your work means to me. And after reading Famesick, how much you mean to me. But yesterday, as I was scrolling through Instagram, I saw this video: a guy explaining to his followers how his own head is now narrating his life in your voice after listening to your audiobook. You are the voice of a generation indeed.

Relating to your work on Girls and your first book was so easy. The awkward sex, the rejection, the confusion, the urge to become something great, misunderstanding friendships, the misconception of your own unique experiences, ill-fitting clothes, greasy hair, and parents just doing their best.
Eagerly waiting for Famesick to come out, I started wondering how I was ever going to relate to the rest of your story. The story of a famous lady who has been under scrutiny, but also praised by many; who can live wherever she pleases, dates a Brit, and lives comfortably in London; who has skin like the porcelain doll with black bangs and a bob that I used to carry around with me as a kid; and, let’s not forget, who is friends with Taylor Swift.

The undeniable urge to create, but a body that refuses you any function. The absence of diagnosis or comparable cases, the fear, our beds in which we lie but have never felt emptier, the isolation, and the mental dread that constantly floats above us. And let’s not forget the pain.
I have a rare condition called Trigeminal Neuralgia. I am also lucky enough to have an atypical version. It’s also referred to as “suicide pain,” since the face pain episodes, which often last for days on end, are unbearable. It’s triggered by mundane things like the light breeze that refreshes you on a spring day, a strand of hair poking your cheek, chewing, smiling, talking, brushing your teeth, putting on makeup, kissing, drinking, and sometimes even the stream of breath that caresses the skin beneath my nose. I live in pain every day. And on the worst days, all I can do is sit up and try to ignore the rotting feeling and zaps in my teeth; the pain in my jaw, like it’s been ripped off and put back in place by a giant; the imploding pressure in my temple; the long, sharp pain in my eye socket; the deep ache draped over the right side of my skull; and the knife stabs catching me off guard as I’m trying not to chew my soft food. I will stare at a wall and visualise that there are tiny men scrubbing my nerves clean, revealing their perfect golden structure, and releasing me from this nightmare.

My medication puts me in hospital feeling. constantly detached, or, as it’s often referred to; derealisation. I often feel like the people around me are actors seated in front of a backdrop and I am watching my arms like I’m in a POV open-world game. I hold cups of tea against the right side of my face wherever I can obtain one, just like you’d lie next to any heater you could find.
I wanted to point out how out of luck I have been, although that’s a bit weird right now since I just found a fully functioning Mac Pro in the trash.
Anyway, what I am trying to say is thank you. I have never felt more seen by a piece of media than I have by your book. I want you to know that it fills me with joy to read that, in spite of yourself and your body, you did it. You’ve created another unprecedentedly important piece of work. At least to me, you have. And as a chronically ill artist myself, it gives me the strength and belief that we are not defined by our illness and that we still matter, if not more than ever.
I have always loved you, and always will, just like many others. I hope the love we have for you weighs more than all the hate you have received.

this is by farrr one of my top 3 episodes. favorite parts :
- Charlie’s gf asking if Charlie left and then Shosh clarifying that that was the front door and not a bathroom after clearly leaving out of the front door to chase Marnie.
- Shosh discovering ray was secretly just living at her place

i don’t want this to come across as weird at all but hear me out!

i know i’m a bit late on the discussions about this episode but i’m doing my rewatch now and around 2 weeks ago i watched the panic in central park and this detail i noticed that i havent seen anyone speak about.

as we know allison williams has a no full nudity clause in her contract for girls, usually in her sex scenes she is nude from the bottom half.

in film everything we see on screen is deliberate especially during a sex scene which most of the time are choreographed and a lot of fine details go into them. during the sex scene in this episode with charlie, she’s wearing her red dress and instead of just lifting the bottom half, she removed her top and appears topless for (i think) the first time in the show.

i think this was a really subtle way to show how vulnerable she’s being with charlie in this moment, she’s married to man she hates, she would never in her life be at an apartment like this, she would have never acted this way with charlie before. obviously in the course of their relationship this isn’t the first time charlie has seen her boobs, but this is the first time we as the viewer see her in this state. a state of safety with the boy she used to love.

as she’s laying on his chest, and they’re imagining themselves running away from new york it seems to be the last moment of peace. before the shower, before finding the needle and before walking shoeless across new york.

this might be stupid but girls is my absolute favourite show of all time and this is the best episode of television ever. i love thinking about all the small little details and decisions they made during the show and this is probably my favourite.

Not end of the series with Hannah left, but more like where they were at their lives more or less around season 2 or 3.

How would they cope with Covid and lock down and who is living where and with whom?

Does Lena ever mention Alyssa, her former podcast cohost, in her book or any of the press tour interviews? I love the podcast and their chemistry even though it’s older and it occurred to me I’m not sure if they’re still friends. Or where that friendship falls on the timeline of Famesick; was that one her falling outs? Just curious if anyone knows more about this.

This might be a long shot, but is there anyone in this group that's also located in Copenhagen or Malmö? I'd love to rewatch with someone who has seen it a couple of times.