The final season of Girls begins airing in February. Considering the popularity and viewership of the show dropped off a cliff in the past few years, I’m actually hoping that we aren’t looking at wall-to-wall coverage of the final season. It’s not Sex and the City, people! Like, when SATC went off the air, people were truly sad and it was the end of an era. Is the end of Girls really the end of an era? Or was it always the poor-millennial’s version of SATC? Anyway, Glamour has put the four stars on the cover of their February issue. From left to right: Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet, Lena Dunham and Jemima Kirke. Do you like how Lena just had to wear hot pants? My thighs look more like Lena’s than Allison’s, and I would never wear hot pants, full stop. But I especially wouldn’t wear hot pants on a magazine cover! My God. Of course, Lena has already turned her cellulite into a massive drama – go here to read her Instagram about it.
You can read Glamour’s cover story here. I’m not going to excerpt very much from it because A) it’s SO boring, B) I don’t care about these people and C) the whole piece is written as a conversation between five people and that’s just difficult to try to cull. What I learned: Allison Williams always wanted a bigger part. Jemima almost quit the show after season 2. And Lena is a bundle of insecurity and narcissism. Shocking!!! Here’s Lena on what she would change if she could go back and do it all again:
Making my deal with HBO as a 23-year-old woman, I felt that I had so much to prove. I felt like I had to be the person who answered emails the fastest, stayed up the latest, worked the hardest. As much as I loved my job, I really, like, injured myself in some ways. If I had felt like, “You’re worthy of eight hours of sleep, not four; you’re worthy of turning your phone off on a Saturday,” I don’t think it would have changed the outcome of the show. [But] I could have worked with a sense of joy and excitement, rather than guilt and anxiety of being “found out.” The advice I would give any woman going into a job if she has a sense of impostor syndrome would be: There will be nothing if you don’t look out for you. And I can’t wait, on my next project, to go into it with the strength that comes from, like, valuing your own body and your own mental health. Jenni’s like, “We’ll believe it when we see it.”
As I so often feel with Lena Dunham, her message is okay-to-fine, it’s just the messenger I take issue with. Like, I think it’s important for women to have conversations with other women about impostor syndrome and having confidence in yourself professionally, and standing up for your needs at work. But I also think Lena should feel like an impostor – she’s one of the most overrated and overhyped “talents” to break through in the past decade. Did she work hard on her show? Sure. Maybe. But at the end of the day, was it a good show or just a showcase for white feminism and millennial navel-gazing?
Photos courtesy of Glamour.
Yawn…I just can’t with this girl. Cellulite is very common and not something most people run away from in horror, clutching their pearls.
And yet the appalled reaction to her having the nerve to wear hot pants in this article would suggest otherwise.
All the coverage and comments about this cover has been reactions to her cellulite, positive and negative (mostly negative).
Exactly. I am surprised to read such comments on this site, though. Good for her for wearing hotpants.
The rest I agree with, she often has a good message but she’s just so annoying as a person, such a strong case of special snowflake syndrom.
If someone is generally dislike around here you would be surprised what type of rude things are said.
Unfortunately I think that’s what she wants though. She seems to do things that she knows will provoke that sort of reaction, and then gets to step up on her soap box and lecture everyone about it.
I’m all for positive body image and wearing hot pants if you want to wear hot pants, I’m just so tired of her and this pattern of behavior.
I wished I had the confidence to wear hot pants and not care about my thighs and cellulite. ARGH, I stand with Lena on this.
The problem with Lena is not that she isn’t shaped like Allison Williams, but that she tries very hard to always look her worst, because she loves getting negative reactions from people and being able to write dramatic essays about it. It’s her schtick. In my opinion, she’s not even unattractive, but she always wears the most unflattering clothes, the ugliest haircuts, the most alwful make-up and she always poses in a way that makes her look much bigger and much less proportional than she really is. It’s the same with this cover – it was obvious that she would try to bring the most attention to herself and the ugly hot pants and the camera angle making her thigh look bigger than it really is did just that.
She’s the kind of person who would photoshop cellulite on her legs if she didn’t have any. Like a reverse Amy Schumer- Amy tries very hard to convince people that she’s much thinner than she really is and Lena tries to convince everyone that she’s much uglier than she really is to gain attention and sympathy.
@kate thank you. When was the last time we saw cellulite on a magazine cover? I don’t care that it’s Lena I’m just glad to see it. Lets show real women and stop making unreal expectations for women
Hear, hear!
Am I the only one who actually thinks she’s wearing a sweatshirt dress and then intentionally pulled it up to show her undies? I don’t even think they’re hot pants. Undies. I’m going with undies.
The cellulite, fantastic. Show it off girl, she can’t gross me out with that. The toothrbush and her mouth open is another story though.
Yeah, she’s wearing a dress. When I looked at the photo properly I realized the other ladies were wearing dresses too. So I guess she hiked up her dress intentionally…for whatever reason.
I always ran away from my own cellulite in horror.
I totally dislike it on me, it’s ugly. I stopped wearing bikinis about a century ago.
I always try to be open minded and people should wear anything they feel comfortable with.
Let’s stop saying that it takes courage/self-confidence to wear something…. if any of you want to wear whatever, just do it.
My cellulite will stay hidden though!!
I don’t fault her for being insecure. The naracissm yes, but we all are insechee about something. She just chooses to wear hers on her sleeve.
Every feeling Lena experiences is new and unique only to her. Nobody else has ever gone through what Lena has and thank goodness she’s here to tell us plebes how to process them.
Impostor syndrome is not solely a female nor youth issue. I’m a guy pushing 40 from the wrong side and i deal with it in my job daily.
Definitely not a unique situation, especially in showbiz. I listen to a lot of actor interview podcasts, and almost every single one of them has said they experience that impostor syndrome, even after working on dozens of projects.
I think it’s fine to talk about, but Lena automatically irks me.
This is what irks me about her. I know people like this – where whatever they’re feeling or thinking is somehow different and more special than other peoples’ experiences.
I’ve been at the same company for the last 5 years, but have held 4 different positions. Every time I’ve taken a promotion/new position I’ve thought to myself “Oh god, what have I done. Why would anyone think I could do this. Maybe I BS’ed too much in my interview”.
But as soon as I settled into the job, I’ve been pretty comfortable with my skill set / knowledge, and I tend to be pretty high on the upper end performance wise. I haven’t missed out on ‘exceeds expectations’ across the board more than once since I started my current job. But for the wait leading up to beginning the developer job, and for a week or two starting out (and when a wrench gets thrown into my work) I agonize over not being qualified enough, or competent enough. I’ll have recurring nightmares about work during that time. One of them was that I supposedly ‘forgot’ to build a website that had been assigned to me, and that I didn’t have access to a computer (because as we all know, websites can be built without touching a computer haha) but still had to somehow build it.
I don’t understand how people can just jump into a job and feel super confident and carefree about it. It’s just not how I’m wired, I’m way too hard on myself and way too tightly wound to not feel like an impostor sometimes.
Ha, Erinn, sounds like me. I went freelance and so I’ve been away from my last full time job for over 15 years…but I still have recurring nightmares. Mine usually involves being caught doing absolutely nothing, similar to my recurring nightmare about college where I show up to a final after having skipped class for most of the semester.
One of the greatest insights of my now former career (in advertising) is that everyone is just making it up as they go along.
Esmom, ha! That’s one of my biggest insights from my career so far and I’m an engineer 😀
Now I can’t look at any profession with full confidence that they know 100% what they are doing, I just always hope for the best 😀
Esmom – that’s funny, because that’s another dream I have. Having to write a college exam in a class I never really attended. It must just be anxiety type dreams – because I’m someone who likes to be PREPARED for everything. And those dreams are always about being unprepared in some form or another.
i think men cant really admit it publicly. a man with no confidence is no man in western society.
for actors and people in the arts generally its more common because you dont really pass a test that says “you can act/write”. it also obviously attracts certain kinds of people.
Maybe it’s because she’s been in therapy since she was a very young child. That can exacerbate a young child’s assumption that she’s the center of the universe, a natural phase that might be prolonged by well-meaning therapeutic attempts. Whether by nature or nurture, she was a bundle of disorders starting very early. I suspect primarily by nurture, from what little I know about her. She did not choose her parents wisely…
But of course a writer focuses on what they know about from personal experience. That may seem like self-absorption, but it’s very natural.
This show. I can’t even.
i love the show. especially jemima. i could write a whole thesis about why girls is so wonderful and important. i appreciate that these female characters are absolutely unapologetic. i find that so liberating. girls was fearless in it’s portrayal of (young-ish) female bodies and ugly sexuality. i can’t think of a single show that showed sex in such an authentic and unsexy way.
I agree, Anna. I love this show, especially the earlier, wilder episodes. It was witty and painful and exciting and flawed – perfectly life. And Jemima is EVERYTHING!
I tried to like this show because my best friend loves it. I got as far as the episode where she has sex with her ex who just got engaged to prove she could and then after she’s like “Oh i’m not actually interested in you” it just seemed so over the top and fake and made me roll my eyes so hard I couldn’t watch anymore.
Odd. I could have sworn she was left back in 2016.
I don’t think working too hard to prove something is a women’s-only problem. I have it for sure, but so does my boyfriend. We both do it for the same reasons. Not everything has to be about feminism.
Yes, but women are judged harder if they CAN’T prove that they didn’t work their butts off for it. I’ve seen so many lazy, cossetted little men pass through work life without drawing managerial ire (to be honest, female managers are actually worse at bringing them into line than male)…even getting perks and being complimented for how ‘laid back’ they are. Women get no such privileges…and if you go of on Mr. Laid Back for screwing you over with his laziness, then you are a high-strung harpy who cares too much that her project was sabotaged for depending on the schmuck.
Also, did you notice that your project was screwed up?
Does she google every ailment on the planet just so she can have something to whine
about in every interview she does.Why can’t men and women in hollywood for once say
i’m very happy for my sucess and hope to continue to do well in the future.If she thinks she’s
got it rough try visiting a childrens cancer ward and tell them how hard your life is.
Why won’t you wear hot pants? Do they make your legs too cold? Do you not like the way you look in them? Does it embarrass you? Do you think people will judge you or criticize your thighs?
WHATEVER. Wear hot pants. Do you. And eff what anyone else and your own overly critical mind thinks.
Signed,
Fab hot pants-wearer
Indiscriminate shamelessness doesn’t make those hot pink hot pants a good fashion decision.
I would add: you don’t want to wear hot pants? Cool. Someone else wants to wear hot pants? Even on *gasp* a magazine cover? Cool.
I just don’t hear anything about this show anymore except when Lena Dunham says something questionable. It feels like the show had its breakout star (Adam Driver) and is now limping to the finish line. I mean congrats but… *shrug*.
I love Adam, and didn’t watch Gurls so I don’t know how talented the rest of the cast is, but it’s kinda sad that the breakout star of a show that was supposed to be about women is a ( white) guy.
I think it shows how charismatic he is though. I watched the first season…..I honestly wanted to slap everyone BUT him…….and he was pretty disgusting/douchebaggy, but his character was the only “real” one that I felt anything from.
It’s sad, because I do think Lena is talented and can write and weave storylines–but her narcissism touches EVERYTHING.
Yeah, but he is the best part of the show, and unlike the girls (except maybe for Jemima) he is quite remarkable- tall, dark, deep voice, charismatic…
Sad? Maybe. But certainly not unsurprising when you see how terribly unlikable and one-dimensional the female characters are.
The more complex male characters are the only reason to watch that show at all and Adam is particular is really interesting IMO.
generally i agree it happend sadly with lots of other shows but im happy that the nepotism girls hopefully will disappear.
What is wrong with a guy being a breakout star? And why is it a problem that he’s white? If he’s talented he’s talented. Skin color and gender shouldn’t discriminate person’s abilities. If he deserved recognition then let him have his recognition. Should every white guy not go to their full potential simply because they’re white and male? That is both sexist and prejudiced.
@Llamas- the show is titled Girls. Meaning that that focus would be on the four female leads and not the supporting cast. But more often than not, the supporting cast members have the best part.
I suppose it could be sad, if he didn’t earn it so much. If he had been a talentless dudebro who skated on his looks, it would have been depressing.
My goodness, Adam Driver is winning right now though. Isn’t he in the new Scorcese film about the Jesuits? Cannot wait for that.
Just commenting to say I love your Avi. That fro is glorious and if that’s you in the photo, you are fire.
@I Choose Me, such a sweet comment. No it is not me, but it’s been my avi for at least 10 years commenting around the Internet lmao. But my hair is a fro IRL too 🙂
She is such a pioneer.
This chick makes Goopy seem self aware.
What I dont get is that she always talks about being body positive to the point of throwing it in our faces, which fine by itself,but when people want to refer to her as plus sized or bigger or feels she (seemingly gets) rejected/ignored by people like Odell Beckham Jr she throws a hissy fit. Like just stand in your sh*t and either be okay with how you look or not. Instead of making a hoopla over it all – take notes from people with “unconventional body types” like Ashley Graham, Serena Williams etc…
This show jumped the shark awhile ago.
She single handedly ruins everything women fight for. She can make decent points but coming from her mouth invalidates them.
Everyone needs to stop giving her a platform to make things harder.
She is such a Tri- Hard, probably went to the Lawrence-Schumer school of publicity, ugh, I can’t even!!
to be fair Lena was offensive, racist and stupid before both of them. she is a trailblazer!
this: “But I also think Lena should feel like an impostor – she’s one of the most overrated and overhyped “talents” to break through in the past decade. Did she work hard on her show? Sure. Maybe. But at the end of the day, was it a good show or just a showcase for white feminism and millennial navel-gazing?”
Ugh. Can we please not associate this show with feminism of any kind? White girl cluelessness, maybe…
I am trying desperately hard not come HARD for Lena on that magazine cover. Struggling for words.
I like the pink hair on the girl on the right. That’s all I have for today.
You mean the 4 white women who were all wealthy and detached from reality before the show even existed on the over of a magazine as some sort of feminist pioneers?
I can’t imagine why that might be wrong, Lena has never been privileged in her life because her body is imperfect *insert eye roll*
LOL DEAD.
Imposter Syndrome is an interesting thing for me. I think it’s exactly that which has enabled me to land gigs I might have not thought I was totally qualified for, change professions and act with authority. BUT it’s also the thing that can have me feeling VERY alone, not good enough and not worth the success I have gained.
Lena – sigh. SIGH SIGH SIGH. She makes it impossible, TRULY impossible to take what she says at face value and for it’s worth when it’s always seasoned with special snowflakes.
This show horrified me. I just can’t accept that people as awful as those characters exist.
Yes, pretty much every character is awful (except Ray, Adam and Shoshanna). I liked the first two seasons, but they turned Jessa’s character into a sociopath, Hannah is basically just Lena Dunham (so she’s an insufferable narcissist), and Marnie is self-absorbed and shallow. None of the characters has shown any growth; they’ve only become more intolerable and self-absorbed as the seasons have progressed. That said, I will probably end up watching the final season because I always need to finish what I started …
Before I watched the show I always asked my friends which character I was most like, and I didn’t get it when they couldn’t narrow it down. Now that I watch, I am SO GLAD they didn’t ‘diagnose’ me as one of the main girls. Most episodes leave me feeling like I really good, nice person in comparison. For the record, I have self-assessed myself as Ray, and my friends agree.
Good for her for wearing hot pants. I never could… I always felt like they were strangling my girlparts.
That being said, I have no real use for Lena Dunham. I find her twee.
I agree. Go on with your bad self Lena, and wear those hot pants. But please do it because you truly like them or they are comfy. Please don’t bore us to death with reactions to the cellulite that you chose to show. When Bill Clinton was President he jogged in pretty short shorts and the constant joke was about his pasty white thighs, so this is not something that only women are subjected to. But Clinton kept on with his shorts, I assume because they were comfortable. So please dress to please yourself, Lena, and quit trying to make a national controversy about it.
TLDR; she bores me.
I agree she should wear whatever the hell she wants. And there’s nothing remotely wrong with cellulite.
What bothers me is the very obvious stance she has on the cover: look at my cellulite!! I mean come on, it’s entirely intentional. She wanted people to say something so she could once again be a victim. It’s her whole shtick. It’s why she shows up on every red carpet wearing the most unflattering and ill fitting attire she can find even though there are plenty of items of clothing that would flatter her perfectly nice figure.
And how long is this show going to be “ending” for? Jeez it’s been months of her crying insta posts and babbling reflections on this series. How much attention can she possibly garner for the show ending?
Ugh. I can’t. I won’t.
Exactly,Patricia. Everything you said! I don’t care about cellulite being on magazine covers. Done right, I wouldn’t mind seeing it more often. But it is Lena’s whole “looook at meeeee” pose as she pulls up her shirt and her obviousness at making the cellulite the star on her body. instead of showcasing the cellulite, Lena should style herself in a flattering manner, then maybe let the cellulite peek out or something. That way, the cellulite is still visual but it is not the “star” of the shoot just so Lena can start another controversy.
As usual, Lena is another celeb afflicted with a raging case of special snowflake syndrome. Poor baby!!!
I read someone describing her outfit at some red carpet as “ugly baiting.”
This is kind of what I (attempted) to write below, before I read the other comments. I feel like she tries to look bad. This might also be a Millennial thing. We’ve all been fashion victims at some point, but there seems to be a generation of people competing to wear the least flattering thing possible.
I like Girls, but I prefered Looking. I think Girls is a good show, but overrated. While Looking was a better show, but maybe because was a bunch of guys gays nobody watched. I was sad when they canceled Looking =(
Oh BROTHER. Lena struggles with LOOK AT ME SYNDROME, if anything. Such a pioneer for women, wearing hot pants and screaming about her privilege. Girl bye.
The annoying thing about imposter syndrome is that it isn’t contingent on what “should” be in a given person’s life. Imposter syndrome often just “is.” That’s the frustrating thing to try and work through. But what always bothered me about Lena Dunham is that she often uses what are likely her real insecurities as a shield to excuse her awful behaviour. And then she acts like that’s what her comedy is about, and it’s intentional for you to find her so unlikeable, but if you do, you’re just another part of a misogynistic society that always dictates that women should strive hard to be liked by everyone. As if asking for someone to behave with a degree of empathy about other peoples’ problems is the same thing as asking women to be unduly selfless and sacrificial, even if it costs them their happiness and often their lives.
Well said.
The last (i.e., previous) season of Girls was actually really good. I’ll be sad when the upcoming final season is over. It’s too bad Lena can’t help but let the more annoying aspects of her personality get in the way of her work product.
I watch it just for Jessa and Shoshanna. I hang on to their every word. Oh and Adam! Swoon! It was good while it lasted but I honestly am glad it’s ending because I can’t stand Hannah’s and Marnie’s characters…
Adam was in front of me once in a Barry’s Bootcamp class. I was so distracted I fell off the treadmill. This is a true story! He’s a tall drink of water in real life. Sexay
I just can’t with her narcissism.
She is a complete narcissist. And she attempts to deflect it by citing some pro-woman, pro-body positive BS when it’s glaringly obvious there is not an ounce of humility, grace or generosity of spirit there. All she wants is attention to calm her own insecurities.
“Look at me! I’m confident! Look at me! I’m body positive! Look at me! I’m a girl’s girl!”
I think it’s refreshing to see different shapes and sizes. I honestly have no interest in looking at the same body type over and over again, like in a Victoria’s Secret commercial. What I find offensive about her is not her body, her cellulite or personality. I’m bothered by the fact that she (and many Millennials) seem to go out of the way to wear the most unflattering styles. I’m a believer in finding what suits you and sticking to it. Mix it up with color, patterns, whatever, but know what cuts flatter you. She seems to try to look bad in order to prove a point. I am by no means a stylish or put-together girl, but I know what works on me.
She’s not really ugly. She just seems to make herself look ugly on purpose.
I think people are failing to realize that the reaction was exactly what she wanted so she can shove her feminism down everyone’s throat again.. her outfit and pose were all calculated to gain attention…. I almost admire her.
I think it’s ridiculous to say Lena has no talent. Yes she had everything presented to her on a silver platter. An HBO show as a 23 yr old woman?! Unheard of. But to also be the director, the writer and the star, my god that is some feat. And the show Girls is entirely watchable and has it’s funny or interesting moments, it doesn’t have to represent every woman out there, it’s just one of many many tv shows.
I will always give Lena props because she did it and she did it successfully. Thank you for proving even a young woman can be a show creator and runner for hbo. You have to admit it flies in the face of what a lot of men in and out of the business believe, and I refuse to try and tear her down.
I think if anything she should be celebrated!