Lena Dunham’s ‘Girls’: A Review

Season one of HBO’s ‘Girls’ by Lena Dunham is unashamedly human. That is, it seems to have taken all the undesirable qualities of life in your 20’s; the uncertainty, selfishness, insecurities and imperfections, and magnified them in order to create the comedy drama that has caused so much discussion.

Many love it, and an equal number of people hate it. And why? Because it has taken a range of negative qualities present in humanity, that humanity itself is too ignorant to front up to. The human race is not perfect; not physically, nor psychologically, and it is precisely this which Lena Dunham seeks to acknowledge throughout the BBC series ‘Girls’.

From an artistic point of view, you can barely fault it. The characters are complex, the script is interesting, and the use of cinematic techniques is creative and supportive of content. The only faults critics have been able to express with the series is; the shock nudity, its ignorance of race, and the idea that the series is set on a group of privileged women who are over-dramatic, careless, and whinging about being forced to take control of their own life.

Yes, and?

These faults, as far as I am aware, merely add to the theme of illustrating the undesirable qualities of humanity. Not every female has the ideal figure, and sometimes we like to get around without our clothes on. Yes the characters are over-dramatic and selfish, but in today’s society, how many 20-something’s aren’t? As for the fact that ‘Girls’ season one had a purely Caucasian cast (minus that one coloured man on the side walk in episode 2?), Dunham has explained that in New York City, rarely do individual’s associate outside their own social circles. Could it not be that this ignorance (or some say racism) in everyday life, is represented within this series?

I will grant that majority of the similarities between the HBO television series and everyday life vary in drama, but of course such magnification of themes must occur, or what would grab audience attention?

No matter the laughter, cringing, crying and anger, audience’s like ‘Girls’ because it gives them something to identify with. You may not like the characters, you mightn’t even like one of the characters. But there’s something about Hannah’s body issues and self-absorbed ignorance; Marnie’s controlling attitude of others, due to the fact she can’t control her own life; and Jessa’s stubborn, rebellious attitude, that most females, if they’re being honest with themselves, can at some point in their life identify with.

Red by Tamara Stewart

Running, running, she ran away.
Away from the man who wanted to play.
She saw some lights, safe, a place to hide,
but before she knew it he was by her side.
He cackled and laughed as he pulled her down,
ripping free what covered her, a red little gown.
She screamed for help as his fingers traced her skin,
that animal managed to even damage, what was within.
It was only when her hood covered her mouth and nose.
Did she stop her pleas and screaming woes.
For oxygen depletion was effecting her head,
and she succumbed to the thought of being dead little red.

Spellbound/The Night is darkening round me – Emily Bronte

The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow ;
But a tyrant spell has bound me,
And I cannot, cannot go.

The giant trees are bending
Their bare boughs weighed with snow ;
The storm is fast descending,
And yet I cannot go.

Clouds beyond clouds above me,
Wastes beyond wastes below ;
But nothing drear can move me :
I will not, cannot go.

Born on the 30th of July 1818 in Thornton, Yorkshire, Emily Jane Bronte was an English novelist and poet, most famously recognised for her classic english novel Wuthering Heights.

Bronte’s novel ‘Spellbound’  looks at the theme of life after death and takes on an admirable approach towards nature and the regular course of life. Using alliteration, Bronte conveys the notion of purgatory; a desolate no-mans  land in-between life and death, while suggesting the inability to move in any particular direction due to something the narrator is holding on to or unsure of.

Opening the poem with ‘The night is darkening around me’ , the audience is immediately placed in a moment in time. For me, the darkness represents the coming of sleep or loss of consciousness, which as it engulfs the narrator, is metaphorically conveying the belief that they are losing life; it is moving them towards another time and place. ‘Wild winds coldly blow’ refers to the individuals state of mind; an active mind, however ‘cold’ may indicate that death is not being easily accepted. By using ‘tyrant spell’, I believe Bronte is referencing a religious contribution to her immobility. Perhaps this religious input is part of her reluctance to accept death; a questioning of faith may be the reason she has been ‘bound’,  why she ‘cannot, cannot go’.

Within the second stanza, trees are used as symbolic forms; typically, trees are a sign of life and good and evil. If  ‘The giant trees are bending’, this could in fact have a two way representation; not only is a large life weakening, but the distinction and difference between good and evil is perhaps being hindered (perhaps this also contributes to the narrator’s questionable attitude towards her belief system?). ‘Their bare boughs weighed with snow’ contributes further to this symbolism as it illustrates the burden placed on the individual within their lifetime. ‘Bare’ may also indicate towards a life or religion that has been stripped of outside materialistic content, conveying to the reader that when it comes down to death, all you really can depend on is your own spirited self. The continual coming of judgement typical of purgatory is represented in the lines ‘The storm is fast descending’, while the point that the narrator ‘cannot go’ is again reiterated.

The third and final stanza clarifies the belief that the narrator is stuck in purgatory within the first two lines. ‘Clouds beyond clouds above me’ represents what’s beyond for the narrator as long as they move forward; salvation, peace and heaven, while ‘wastes beyond wastes below’ adheres to what is behind them; a dark hell full of discarded lives. The reader is grounded by the realisation that the narrator is in fact trapped on her own accord; ‘nothing drear can move me’ indicates that all along it is has been their choice to remain immobile.

Even as the poem concludes the reader is still left with the impression no progress has been made. The final lines stating that the narrator ‘will not, cannot go’, enhance the ideology that they are still holding onto the questioning of their faith. They can not  accept it and move forward towards salvation without the unburdening of their thoughts.

The poem ‘Spellbound’ is relatively short and contains a vast amount of symbolism allowing may different meaning’s to be extracted from it. I feel the theme of death as an inevitable force is important within Emily Bronte’s poetry, as throughout her life she was constantly subjected to it’s ideology; the death of her mother, and her two sisters Maria and Elizabeth. With death so close to her, I also find it interesting that her faith may have also been effected by the fact so many loved ones were taken from her so soon. It is this that stuck in my mind throughout the evaluation.

who know’s if the moon’s…(VII) – E. E Cummings

who knows if the moon’s
a balloon,coming out of a keen city
in the sky–filled with pretty people?
(and if you and i should

get into it,if they
should take me and take you into their balloon,
why then
we’d go up higher with all the pretty people

than houses and steeples and clouds:
go sailing
away and away sailing into a keen
city which nobody’s ever visited,where

always
it’s
Spring)and everyone’s
in love and flowers pick themselves

E.E Cummings (Edward Estlin Cummings) is remembered as one of the most influential poets of the 20th century, with his body of work containing approximately 2, 900 poems alongside 2 autobiographical novels, four plays, seven essays and numerous drawings and paintings.

There is much uncertainty as to when he wrote ‘who know’s if the moon’s…(VII)’, however his use of symbolism within the poem allows me to believe it was in his later years, when his poetry began taking on a more philosophical approach. Although he was always influenced by modernists and drew upon imagism experiments through use of non-traditional verse form, it wasn’t until later in life he was introduced to surrealism and dada. This had an extreme impact upon his writing, allowing him to rely more on symbolism and allegory, which in turn made his writing sound better-spoken and more moving.

The symbolism within ‘who know’s if the moon’s…(VII)’ is key as it allows vast interpretation of the poem. For me, Cummings has acknowledged themes of not only love and death, but also of rebirth and nature, and has written it as two thoughts merged into one, separated only by brackets.

The poem seems almost conversational, the wording outside the brackets is what the narrator is speaking out loud, to who I would view as perhaps a lover of sorts. Any wording contained within the brackets is the narrator’s underlying thoughts and emotion, what they hold off from saying out loud to their lover.

If anything the imagery portrayed allows the reader to believe that the narrator is in fact talking about a dreamscape. For me, the symbolism takes on an afterlife analogy; the ‘moon‘ is a way of transport between realms/life and death, it also suggests a period of darkness, taking the individual away to a better place. The ‘keen city‘ is the place of dreams, a destination ‘where everyone’s in love’ (could this in fact, mean God’s love?).  This love also suggests that the current world which the narrator is in at present has become hateful, they and their lover may feel isolated and alone, to enhance the ideology, the statement is again echoed towards the end of the poem. Which bring’s me to ‘pretty people‘; I believe this symbol represents lost loved ones, for Cummings he may be directly referring to his father who he lost so tragically, and possibly even his mother, it’s difficult to say.

It is after this that the poem’s symbolism becomes even more interesting as it sways towards the narrators internal thoughts. For me ‘you and I’ obviously represents the lovers, and by stating they should ‘get into it, if they should take me take you into their balloon’  it suggests that they are contemplating the notion of escaping from this life through death, a possible double suicide. This is then further enhanced when the narrator states they’d ‘go up higher with all the pretty people’, leading me to believe that they seek to be reunited with their dead loved ones, peaceful, happy and forever at rest. ‘Sailing’ enhances the idea of the balloon as a model of transport, while alluding to the impression of water; water can be used to symbolise change and is often seen as a turning point in stories. It is also used as a symbol of life, or in this case, a new life, which is reiterated through the mention of ‘Spring’ further along in the poem. By stating that ‘nobody’s ever visited’ the keen city, it is more hinting to the fact that people may have seen it, yet they have just never come back, proving more support for the thematic idea of death.

The closing line of the poem ‘and flowers pick themselves‘  juxtaposes the ideology of spring and new life; with the high impact thought of suicidal flora. It may seem ironic, however this merely gives the audience the impression of the narrator as a confused individual.

Much Madness is divinest Sense- Emily Dickinson

Much Madness is divinest Sense –
To a discerning Eye –
Much Sense – the starkest Madness –
‘Tis the Majority
In This, as All, prevail –
Assent – and you are sane –
Demur – you’re straightway dangerous –
And handled with a Chain –

Considered an eccentric for her time, Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet born on December 10th, 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts. She lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life, with most of her friendships carried out through correspondence. However, although Dickinson was an active private poet, majority of her works were not published until after her death in 1886.

‘Much Madness’ is guessed to have been written around 1862, after Dickinson had largely recoiled from any form of social life. It is suggested that it was around this time, through her letter’s to literary critic Thomas Wentworth Higginson, that she was contemplating publication. However Dickinson’s poems  are unique for her era; they contain short lines, and often utilise slant rhyme along with capitalisation and punctuality deemed unconventional in writing. Any of her poetry that was published was often edited in order to fit the conventional writing standards of the time, even after her death.

Within this poem, i view the madness which Dickinson speaks of to be addressing psychological well-being and thought production. She is suggesting that too much knowledge or understanding, along with different interpretations of the world, is a dangerous thing. When she mentions the majority, she is referring to society; it is they who determine sanity from insanity.

The line ‘Assent, and you are sane; Demur,-you’re straightaway dangerous’ is important because it acts as a warning for the reader; if you succumb to conformity you will be safe, unharmed and left alone. Whereas if you embrace your individuality and challenge social norms, you will be considered a threat.

When she speaks of being ‘handled with a chain’, we can interpret this in two different ways. The chain can symbolise either the isolation or barricade society constructs between them and the individual, or it can be viewed in a more literal sense; the individual deemed insane will be placed in an asylum, chained up. In either respect, free will will be hindered.

Dickinson places a lot of negativity behind the idea of individuality, and when you look at her life you could understand why. In many cases, some believe the ‘madness’ Dickinson speaks of in her poem is in fact addressing the notion of female education being looked down upon during this time period. And if so, it would still make sense; Dickinson was an outcast as a female intellect within her society. The poem may suggest that Dickinson did indeed feel alone with her intellect, as the majority of females in her area at the time had minimal understanding of her. This may have lead to her feeling trapped, eventually causing her to become a hermit, enclosing herself within her house.

Suitable intellectual companionship for Emily Dickinson was indeed found, however they were still always taken away from her; either through death, or through marriage ( Sue Gilbert married Emily’s brother William, causing Emily to become demanding for Sue’s admiration; she feared admiration was unrequited).

When you consider this, it is no wonder majority of Emily Dickinson’s poems deal with morbidity; notions of death, suffocation and isolation.

The Dressmaker – Rosalie Ham

“You can’t keep anything secret here,” said the old woman. “Everybody knows everything about everyone but no one ever tittle tattles because then someone else’ll tell on them. But you don’t matter – it’s open slather on outcasts.”

An Australian Gothic novel, The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham is set on the flat Western plains of rural Australia in the 1950’s. It explores a range of themes including Love, Hate, Revenge, Tragedy and the possibility of witchcraft or curse. However, dark as it may suggest, the continual weave of haute couture, combined with the beautiful landscape, and vast caricatures Ham paints for her readers through carefully crafted wording, allows the novel to emit splashes of radiance and beauty.

This novel depicts the story of a beautiful and disgraced misfit, who returns to the town of Dungatar in order to care for her mad mother, while supporting herself with her Parisian dressmaking skills. Unfortunately however, her cursed past is not so easy to escape from, as she is met with malice and scepticism from most of the townsfolk.

It’s the type of book that you would read sitting in a vast garden on a spring day, the sun comfortably resting on your clothing, with nothing but the noise of the birds to keep you company. The comfort that this book instils in it’s reader is worrying, especially considering majority of the behaviour depicted in this novel is done out of hate and jealousy. When the reader is confronted by the notion of love, a seemingly happily ever after for the protagonist, Ham plays up to the typical expectations of the reader before heartbreakingly, ripping all hope to shreds.

When I first read this novel I both loved and hated Ham for doing this; I had no sooner felt safe with a character, before she tore them away from me. Of course, this adds to the drive of the novel; Ham places the reader in the shoes of her main characters, it elates the emotions each of the character’s is meant to feel, while also propelling the story forward.

However, Ham has not kept this novel strictly serious. As seems to be her style, she includes a vast amount of dry humour in some of the most unlikely places; in dialogue between characters, through the depiction of karma, the pettiness and desperation of the townsfolk, and even through  extremes coming to compliment one another to spite others.

Interesting of all however, is the way in which Ham gradually unfolds the truth of what happened in the past (as opposed to what was said to have happened), combined with the building up of current drama. It gets to the point you can practically hear the tension in the book humming, straining your brain.

Its at this point you place the book on a table, take a deep breath to calm yourself down, and go have a cup of tea.

In an interview once, Rosalie Ham said that “suspicion, malice and prejudice are three of the things I find MOST annoying about humans but it’s rife amongst all of us”. Typically she has managed to serve up to the reader a literary feast of these hideous aspects of human kind, mirroring an almost Shakespearean revenge tragedy.