Reading Lena Dunham's Girls : Feminism, Post Feminism, Authenticity and Gendered Performance in Contemporary Television

In this book, leading and emerging scholars consider the mixed critical responses to Lena Dunham’s TV series __Girls__ and reflect on its significance to contemporary debates about postfeminist popular cultures in a post-recession context. The series features both familiar and innovative depictions of young women and men in contemporary America that invite comparisons with __Sex and the City__. It aims for a refreshed, authentic expression of postfeminist femininity that eschews the glamour and aspirational fantasies spawned by its predecessor. This volume reviews the contemporary scholarship on __Girls__, from its representation of post-millennial gender politics to depictions of the messiness and imperfections of sex, embodiment, and social interactions. Topics covered include Dunham’s privileged role as author/auteur/actor, sexuality, body consciousness, millennial gender identities, the politics of representation, neoliberalism, and post-recession society. This book provides diverse and provocative critical responses to the show and to wider social and media contexts, and contributes to a new generation of feminist scholarship with a powerful concluding reflection from Rosalind Gill. It will appeal to those interested in feminist theory, identity politics, popular culture, and media. Front Matter....Pages i-xi Why Girls? Why Now?....Pages 1-13 Front Matter....Pages 15-15 ‘I Have Work ... I Am Busy ... Trying to Become Who I Am’: Neoliberal Girls and Recessionary Postfeminism....Pages 17-30 Hating Hannah: Or Learning to Love (Post)Feminist Entitlement....Pages 31-44 Genres of Impasse: Postfeminism as a Relation of Cruel Optimism in Girls ....Pages 45-59 From Sex and the City to Girls: Paving the Way for ‘Post? Feminism’....Pages 61-74 Bad Sex and the City? Feminist (Re)Awakenings in HBO’s Girls ....Pages 75-88 Front Matter....Pages 89-89 ‘A Voice of a Generation’: Girls and the Problem of Representation....Pages 91-104 HBO’s Girls and Twenty-First-Century Education....Pages 105-119 Reading the Boys of Girls ....Pages 121-133 All Adventurous Women Sing: Articulating the Feminine Through the Music of Girls ....Pages 135-147 ‘Doing Her Best With What She’s Got’: Authorship, Irony, and Mediating Feminist Identities in Lena Dunham’s Girls ....Pages 149-162 Front Matter....Pages 163-163 ‘Art Porn Provocauteurs’: Feminist Performances of Embodiment in the Work of Catherine Breillat and Lena Dunham....Pages 165-180 ‘You Shouldn’t be Doing That Because You Haven’t Got the Body for It’: Comment on Nudity in Girls ....Pages 181-195 Sexual Perversity in New York?....Pages 197-207 All Postfeminist Women Do: Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health in Television Comedy....Pages 209-223 Afterword: Girls: Notes on Authenticity, Ambivalence and Imperfection....Pages 225-242 Back Matter....Pages 243-255 In this book, leading international and emerging scholars consider the mixed critical responses to Lena Dunham's TV series Girls and reflect on its significance to contemporary debates about postfeminist popular cultures in a post-recession context. The series features both familiar and innovative depictions of young women and men in contemporary America that invites comparisons withSex and the City. It aims for a refreshed, authentic expression of postfeminist femininity that eschews the glamour and aspirational fantasies spawned by its predecessor. The authors of this volume discuss the contemporary scholarship on Girls, from its representation of post-millennial gender politics to revulsion and repugnance at depictions of the messiness and imperfections of sex, embodiment, and social interactions. Topics covered by the chapters include Dunham's privileged role as author/auteur/actor, sexuality, body consciousness, millennial gender identities, the politics of representation, neoliberalism, and post-recession society. This book provides diverse and provocative critical responses to the show and to wider social and media contexts, and contributes to a new generation of feminist scholarship with a powerful concluding reflection from Rosalind Gill. This work will appeal to those interested in feminist theory, identity politics, popular culture, and media Annotation In this book, leading and emerging scholars consider the mixed critical responses to Lena Dunham's TV series 'Girls' and reflect on its significance to contemporary debates about postfeminist popular cultures in a post-recession context. The series features both familiar and innovative depictions of young women and men in contemporary America that invite comparisons with Sex and the City. It aims for a refreshed, authentic expression of postfeminist femininity that eschews the glamour and aspirational fantasies spawned by its predecessor. This volume reviews the contemporary scholarship on 'Girls', from its representation of post-millennial gender politics to depictions of the messiness and imperfections of sex, embodiment, and social interactions