The gender representation of women in HBO's "Girls"

Girls is a HBO comedy series about the lives of four young women in New York. In the “You are the wound” clip from the ninth episode of the first season, Hannah (Lena Dunham) and Marnie (Allison Williams) are each arguing about how self-obsessed the other is, and eventually they put their whole life-long friendship into perspective.

This scene presents women as self-centred, narky and argumentative, as well as being emotional and overly dramatic about things. Women generally are portrayed on film as sexualised, slightly unstable and vulnerable. Here, as this is a series written by a female, Dunham herself, they are shown with both positive and negative connotations, which make them appear more real, but not as gender stereotypes. Hannah and Marnie come across as emotional, thinking they’re always right, nagging control freaks, and also very rational. Marnie is wearing pyjamas – revealing, loose-fitting clothes – to make her appear more sexualised, and therefore more attractive and dominant in a typically masculine way. Hannah, on the other hand, is dressed up, as she is insecure about herself and wants to seem more attractive.

The editing incorporates various techniques such as continuity editing, carried by sound, and shot reverse shot, which is commonly used in conversations such as this. The pace of the shots increases as the argument intensifies. The scene is framed by two establishing shots. The first is of a quiet New York street at night, which represents isolation, and opens with a dark atmosphere. The last is of the two bedroom doors slamming, which shows a separation, as by this point the argument has come to a head and they’ve broken off their friendship (setting up the season finale).

 

 

Girls 1x09 (HBO): "You are the wound!"