GIRLS on HBO

Why is it not April yet?! I have 4 or 5 reasons why I really wish it was April and not January. This is one of them. GIRLS, created by Lena Dunham and produced by Judd Apatow, is hitting HBO in April. In case you haven't noticed we are in the golden age of television and this show is going to be up there with the best. Like, who ever thought there would be a show that so accurately fits my demographic and yet I'm totally cool with that fact?

Lena Dunham is best known for her film Tiny Furniture. Despite Dunham making the movie in her early 20s and with a super small budget, I can honestly say it was one of the best written and directed movies I've seen in a while. Yea, it's obviously made with the restrictions of age and money but the way 'being female' is portrayed is groundbreaking in terms of the female as the object, subject, and owner of the gaze.

Dunham seems to put all the history of feminist art and performance into her performance - all that is abject, uncomfortable, vulnerable, and resilient. Personally I was always frustrated with how Abramovich, Schneemann, Mendieta, and others had these perfect female bodies. While their work may have been ground breaking I always felt like an idiot for feeling like I should go on a diet while looking at empowering work about the female condition. Dunham goes leaps and bounds in turning this on its head. She manages to portray the female body as a human body- in the times we each personally experience when sharing bathroom time with a close friend, fitting our average bodies into New York expectations, having embarrassing sex, or just plain "sweating the bed". Actually, Dunham even takes this one step further and deals with the postmodern experience of actually being a performance artist and in the contemporary arena of youtube where commentators have no sympathy for your growing pains or those extra pounds.

I'm sure all of this makes no sense for those of you who haven't seen the movie. So go Netflix Tiny Furniture! The script is excellent - I saw it in theaters twice with both my mom and my boyfriend. I wish I'd gone with my sister and best friends too.

I'm looking forward to April! Bring on the GIRLS!