One of the best decisions I made last year was watching GIRLS. The HBO show was created by master mind and feminist extraordinaire, Lena Dunham and let me tell you, it lives up to the hype.
Every season is funny, witty, and dramatic. Each character has their perfections and flaws; but one thing is for certain: no matter who you are, we are all just trying to figure it out.
If you’ve never seen GIRLS, the plot follows four twenty-somethings living in New York City, just trying to figure life out. Careers, relationships and family drama all add to the mess of how to deal with growing up.
The show started its fifth season last Sunday and already shows promise to continue the complicated journey with these four women. In each character, we find a little bit of ourselves, whether it be crippling anxiety, a false sense of security or even feeling comfortable in an unstable relationship.
Here are the things that we can learn from the girls of GIRLS.
Jessa
The free spirit of the group, you never know where Jessa is going to end up next. She may just disappear and get married to a guy that she met in a sleazy bar a week before or start peeing on the side of the road and end up in the back of a cop car.
But what we can learn from Jessa is that life is too short to not enjoy it, but you might also want to be a little practical. Sure, you can let your freak-flag fly every once in awhile but maybe you might want to reel it in, find a stable job and enjoy the company of those that love you the most: your friends.
Marnie
I can’t lie: Marnie really grinds my gears. But there is something so relatable about her attitude (and she has A LOT of that). She wants to be so sure of herself all the time, oblivious to the fact that even she can be imperfect. Something about her character is so brave.
It takes a lot for her to admit that she wants to be a singer and takes even more for her to perform in public, and she does it with the support of her friends. Marnie can become so wrapped up in herself that she doesn’t realize she’s alienating the friends that have helped her along the way. Through Marnie, we can learn not to be too cocky and that life doesn’t always go as planned.
Shoshanna
As the youngest in the group, Shoshanna has a lot to learn. She is a recent grad from NYU and sees the world as her oyster. She’s motivated and prepared to take on the world to make a name for herself… or so she thought. Shoshanna represents the unknown after college, something we all are going to face.
Through Shoshanna and her fast talking, we can see that life comes with a lot of ups and downs, and sometimes you have to fail to get to the top. She’s still learning, like all of us are, and that’s pretty refreshing to see on TV.
Hannah
The final girl of the group is Hannah, an anxiety stricken woman that is trying to figure out what to do with her life while balancing family, friends and romantic relationships. It seems that for every step forward Hannah takes, she’s knocked back two.
Life only gets more interesting and even a little harder. So if you’re looking for something to watch in between studying, give GIRLS a shot – you might just learn something about yourself.
