HBO's Girls and the Awkward Politics of Gender, Race, and Privilege

HBO’s Girls and the Awkward Politics of Gender, Race, and Privilege is a collection of essays that examines the HBO program Girls. Since its premiere in 2012, the series has garnered the attention of individuals from various walks of life. The show has been described in many terms: insightful, out-of-touch, brash, sexist, racist, perverse, complex, edgy, daring, provocative—just to name a few. Overall, there is no doubt that Girls has firmly etched itself in the fabric of early twenty-first-century popular culture. The essays in this book examine the show from various angles including: white privilege; body image; gender; culture; race; sexuality; parental and generational attitudes; third wave feminism; male emasculation and immaturity; hipster, indie, and urban music as it relates to Generation Y and Generation X. By examining these perspectives, this book uncovers many of the most pressing issues that have surfaced in the show, while considering the broader societal implications therein.

HBO’s Girls first aired in 2012, and the contributors to this volume examine the show’s first three seasons and analyze popular discourse surrounding creator Lena Dunham. Girls is both acclaimed and panned in popular media, and the contributors tease out debates over the show’s feminism and its identity and body politics. Two of the strongest essays, Jocelyn Bailey's 'The Body Police' and Maria San Filippo's 'Owning Her Abjection,' focus on discourse about Dunham’s body (both on screen and off) and do a good job of blending theory and textual analysis. Other essays focus on how Girls treats race, music, class, and millennial struggle and privilege. Elwood Watson is deft in critiquing the show’s racial politics and lack of diversity. Fans and critics of the show’s male characters (particularly Adam and Ray) will also find more than enough to ponder in this book. Though there is a tendency across the essays to focus on the same episodes ('One Man’s Trash' and 'Vagina Panic,' for example), readers can forgive the repetition because it comes with smart commentary. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers., The essays in this collection are frank and fearless critiques of Girls and its impact on popular culture. The writers in this book examine the show’s use and misuse of topics such as race, the body, and the media’s sexualization of women. Kudos to Watson, Mitchell, and Shaw for editing this timely book., The HBO TV series Girls invites viewers into a world fueled by narcissism and entitlement, creativity and individualism, (bad) sex and fairytale romance, racial isolation and millennial liberalism. HBO's Girls and the Awkward Politics of Gender, Race, and Privilege's essays present trenchant analyses into how Girls lays bare the reformation of feminism and American Dream ideals. This book is a perceptive interrogation into popular culture and shifting generational mores.”, The time is ripe for such a multifaceted and provocative collection of essays dedicated to Girls. While debates about the show and the issues it brings up have often been polarizing, this book powerfully establishes how and why such conversations matter.

Elwood Watson is professor of history, gender studies, and African-American studies at East Tennessee State University.Jennifer Mitchell is visiting assistant professor of English at Union College.Marc Shaw is associate professor of Theater Arts at Hartwick College.