Hannah Horvath

Lena Dunham plays Hannah on "Girls", but is also the creator, producer, and writer of the show itself. She is an outstanding figure in the media, her hit show has shown HBO subscribers the reality of young women. Focus on that fact for a second: seen by HBO subscribers. Personally, I watch "Girls", and other HBO series by using a friend's account, or finding the show online somewhere, illegally. Many people are not subscribed to HBO and don't know about the show "Girls", so they aren't going to take that extra step to find a way to watch it. The only way to get HBO straight on your TV is to pay for a whole premium package with your cable provider, which most people don't want to spend to watch a special series or two. With this, the audience of "Girls" is very limited. However, the audience that is reached by this remarkable show may be lucky enough to get Lena's message of reality. She uses four unique young women to represent different women in their early twenties. This show is often seen as the new, younger twist on "Sex in the City", and there are certainly many things the show has in common. "Girls" shows the reality of what its like to be a young woman in our society. I think that is what makes the show so great, the characters are extremely relatable; they talk to each other the way real girls their age act with their friends, they make the same crazy decisions, they go through the same awkward relationships. In my previous post I talked about Jessa, who could be the modern, younger version of Samantha from "Sex in the City". Her character is real and relatable, and is nothing like the sexual woman we are use to seeing on MTV and E! and other mainstream networks.
Hannah is somewhat different than Jessa in that she isn't a bombshell. Hannah dresses poorly, doesn't know how to carry herself, or do her makeup, she doesn't know how to be the perfect intern or the perfect girlfriend. All of these things just make her more real to women in our society though, there are plenty of characteristics of Hannah I could see in myself, or in my best friend, or sister. We all have flaws, and Hannah embraces them and continues to live her life without letting them affect her. This is special because in our society, the media makes us think that women can't be like Hannah, they aren't like Hannah often, but this is beyond untrue.
Think of the Kardashians, none of the sisters did much to be famous, and they are looked up to as perfect by thousands of women. They are curvier, and sometimes relatable in their family relationships, so it is a little more believable that women can look like them. We find one thing to relate to, and then it seems possible to be like them, we want to look like them. What's not to love about their long luscious hairstyles, and their perfect tan skin? Well society is forgetting how many hours they spend doing their hair, makeup, and training to have perfect bodies. What woman has time for that, and the money?
Lena Dunham is a voice against this kind of presence in the media when she simply shows the truth about women. Hannah can be naked on screen, with her imperfect body, and pale skin, and she can still be loved by men and by her female friends. She has no job, most of the time, so she has no money to go buy tons of makeup and hair extensions, to make her look like every other male fantasy in New York. Lena is helping to define the "blurred lines" our society, and media struggle to understand: that may be that there are no lines. Women shouldn't have to fall into categories, or be limited in their sexuality in any way. Jessa shows how women don't have to fit the media's view of whore-like women to indulge in their sexuality. Hannah, on the other hand shows how all women can be themselves and still be loved and engage in sexual relationships.
Lets do a little experiment, listen to this scenario:
One day a man walks in to a café next door to his house in New York City, and wants to speak with the owner because the cafe's trash keeps winding up in his dumpster. Turns out it is the young girl that works there, and has decided to be rebellious. She winds up paying the man a visit, and winds up sleeping with him and staying a few days, hanging out around the house naked and having sex with this complete stranger. Now what did you picture when you thought of that woman?

 Was the girl you pictured something like this? An attractive girl with a mischievous look on her face, she's been throwing the trash in the neighbors dumpster just so she could meet that man? Am I wrong for thinking that this is an accurate guess? This is what the media would probably pose that girl as. She is attractive, someone you would want to be naked in your house for a few days, but this is by far a male, pornographic media that has created this way of thinking. Well, let me tell you now that Hannah Horvath did this exact thing in season 2 of "Girls" and she looks like this:

I will leave you with that thought for now. Why didn't you picture that girl being someone like Hannah?

 

(This photo of her is also actually from the episode this happened, she is in the man's house in the shot)