Girls be bitchin' cool

Watched the first five episodes of Girls. For some, it may not be what it's supposed to be-- a comedy-- but it is what it is. It's an honest, some might add brutally so, outlook on women's lives in the metropolis. As a friend said, it's like Sex and the City, except it's real. So there's wimmin, and there's the City, and there's sex (oh yeah, lots of very graphic scenes), but it's not glamorous. It's like peeking into the lives of five of your female college roommates three years after they've graduated, and barely employed. There's is-this-or-is-this-not-harrassment, pregnancy scares, meaningless sex ( and not hookups), and relationships that are neither here nor there.

The first question I asked about America to Pra dai back in 2007(8?) when he had just returned from the west coast was if America was like FRIENDS. His reply made a lot of sense-- have you ever wondered how they make money, and sustain their NYC lifestyle? They would not have the lifestyle with their employment etc. And while this was happening, here in the States, the girls of Girls were partying hard at Oberlin-- trying to get published, getting into steady relationships, making sense of what was to come after college. Five years later, I'm safely into college, almost able to identify with them; Pra dai is writer-ing (with the lifestyle the comes along with it) and the girls are barely making it in NYC.

Things were supposed to be improving for women. They were supposed to be able to reach for their dreams by now-- getting equal pay and treatment, greater safety, greater independence and freedom. Things are better, yes, but as Girls portrays so accurately, things haven't really changed in the essentials. The dynamics seem to have remain unchanged, and women are still have to play the defense. Don't harass me, I'm as good as him/her, Sex favors?, shitshitshit amipregnant. Perhaps it's a sign of change that at least women can say that without being judged. But it's nowhere near where things should be, and until then, things will just be... sad. And where there's sadness, there's humor. Once you get past the gloomy cynicism of Girls and accept it as an uncontested reality, you begin realizing that they're quite funny after all. And since the gloominess of the show is the reality, the show's more real and funnier than it's given credit for.