Shoshanna might be a new kind of Jewish American Princess, but in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg, “Girls” creator Lena Dunham revealed that she originally conceived of Marnie (played by Allison Williams) as another sort of Jewish stereotype: “A neurotic, stressed-out, like, tiny, high-achieving Jew.” Judd Apatow, she said, coached her toward…
A few weeks ago, when I wrote about the hype surrounding Lena Dunham’s new HBO show, “Girls,” I noted that there might be a forthcoming critique of the show’s “overwhelming whiteness.” Now that the premiere has aired, the looming quibble has blown up to a full-blown controversy — and understandably so. One of the show’s writers,…
If the new HBO series “Girls” lives up to its breathless early reviews, Lena Dunham’s Hannah and her tight-knit group of self-reflective friends seem bound to join the television canon alongside Lucy and Ethel, Laverne and Shirley, and Carrie and Co. In advance tonight’s “Girls” premiere — see The Sisterhood preview here — I spoke with…
Last week, the Brooklyn Academy of Music ran a series of “girlfriend” movies curated by upcoming HBO series “Girls” creator and lead actress Lena Dunham. For the opening night of the series, which I had the pleasure to attend, Dunham chose “This is My Life,” Nora Ephron’s 1992 directorial debut and the best mother-daughter movie…
I’ve felt for a long time that the problem with the rise of bromance/male slacker comedy isn’t that it elevates immature dudes into leading men, but rather that it pairs them up with too tightly wound ladies. It’s what David Denby called the “slacker-striver” pairing, and it was popularized by Judd Apatow. In short: putting…
