Dear Lena,
Since we parted ways, or rather, since I tragically finished Season 2 of “Girls” last spring, I have not gotten the chance to tell you that, well, I love you. In the most platonic sense, I love your wit and exuberance, and I love that you love takeout food as much as I do (and published an article about it in The New Yorker). But most importantly, Lena, I especially love you for writing “Girls,” for it has taught me several lessons on what it means to be a woman in this modern era.
First and foremost, I admire your confidence on and off the air. Through many of your episodes and interviews, you have shown me and other women across the nation that it is okay to flaunt, love and embrace your body, no matter what the scale says. You have taught us that you don’t have to be a size 0 to look good naked. And, for that matter, you don’t have to be a size 0 to strut around a handsome doctor’s brownstone in the nude (kudos). Television already spends too much time on objectifying the female body, and its pretty cool that you and your character in “Girls” defy that.
Lena, I love you because I believe that you are jumpstarting a revolution, not only in the way women dress, but how we present ourselves to everyone around us.
In order to challenge the conventions of the media, it is important for young women to become fearless. And, in the least Taylor Swift way, you are fearless. You are fearless in terms of your fashion sense and your uncanny ability to break the status quo. Your style on “Girls” is both alarming and inspiring. Many women would not think to glue lizards onto their t-shirt, wear their grandmother’s skirt or go clubbing in a green mesh top sans-bra, but you did (while screaming, “It’s a Wednesday night, baby, and I’m alive.” Let me assure you, Bucknellians across campus raised their glasses in agreement after you said those lines).
I have learned so much about the real world after college from “Girls.” The real world isn’t as sugarcoated and ostentatious as it is for Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda in “Sex and the City.” Instead, it is, at times, a struggle. You have taught me to accept the fact that I might have to go through a few pairs of Converse before I flaunt a pair of Louboutins. You have taught me that in life, we will all make mistakes. They may seem disastrous at the time, but they will ultimately allow us to find ourselves.
I embrace you, Hannah, Marnie, Shoshanna and Jessa for your flaws. Yes, Hannah’s shoulder twitching (eight times), Shoshanna’s naivety, Marnie’s negativity and Jessa’s aloofness annoy us. But you have written a show that teaches young women to face and embrace their flaws. We might be irked by these characters’ particular actions and behaviors, but ultimately we love them more because of their flaws.
Lena, you are truly the voice of our generation. You are ever so positively impacting the way young women perceive themselves and others. For this reason, the viewers of “Girls” love you, HC Bucknell’ staff loves you, and I love you.
I eagerly anticipate our reunion on January 12th.
Kate