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

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.

• AcknowledgementsIntroductionReading Into Girls, Writing What We ReadElwood Watson, Jennifer Mitchell and Marc E. ShawChapter 1She's Just Not That Into You: Dating, Damage and GenderJennifer MitchellChapter 2The Body Police: Lena Dunham, Susan Bordo and HBO GirlsJoycelyn Bailey Chapter 3Owning Her Abjection: Lena Dunham's Feminist Body PoliticsMaria San Filippo Chapter 4Girls' Issues: The Feminist Politics of Girls Celebration of The TrivialYael LevyChapter 5Falling from Pedestals: Dunham’s Cracked Girls and BoysMarc E. Shaw Chapter 6Capitalizing on Cool: The Music That Makes GirlsHank Willenbrink Chapter 7Generation X Archtypes and HBO GirlsTom PaceChapter 8Reading Girls: Bringing Sexy Back To GirlsLaura WitheringtonChapter 9Lena Dunham: The Awkward/Ambiguous Politics of A Millennial White Girl Elwood WatsonChapter 10Marnye On the Ones and Twos: Appropriating Race, Criticizing Class in GirlsLloyd Isaac Vayo

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.