Another Post About the Whiteness of Girls

Even before the premiere of ‘Girls’ last Sunday, the show seemed to be hyped up by every media outlet.  Lena Dunham’s HBO comedy was even named “the ballsiest show on TV” on an April New York Magazine cover.  Although the show stayed true to the awkward and ironic style of her film Tiny Furniture, it sure disappointed a lot of people.

It is almost kicking a dead horse to keep posting about the whitewashed portrayal of Dunham’s group of friends and well, New York as whole, but of course I have to weigh-in. The first time I stumbled upon an article addressing the lack of racial diversity in the show, I was surprised I hadn’t noticed it myself. I spent hours writing a final paper in college about the lack of nonwhite characters in Sex and the City during my final semester in college.  I think it was necessary that people were criticizing what could potentially be a show of that stature for our generation.

Anyway, I guess the true controversy comes with the backlash that readers and writers have had defending the show. Things like “why does this have to be a representation of your life (nonwhite person)?” Lesley Arfin, one of the writers behind the show, was brilliant enough to tweet “What really bothered me about Precious was that there was no representation of me.” I love sarcasm.

I mean I don’t think that there needs to be one person of color to every white person, but is a group of all white friends and a cameo from an Asian that’s good at Photoshop really represent our generation? Definitely not mine. To be completely honest, most of my friends can’t even afford HBO to watch the show.

At least MTV’s ‘I Just Want My Pants Back’, which also revolves around 20-somethings in Brooklyn had an interracial couple.  Some people can’t understand why it is important to incorporate underrepresented groups in shows. They name all the other shows that have all white casts, only making the point more obvious. I think  with all the high expectations that people made surrounding ‘Girls’, the fact that is wasn’t more ballsy, when it came to going beyond an all white cast, is pretty disappointing.