Girls on HBO Max, created by the brilliant, controversial, and genre-defining Lena Dunham is one of the most influential shows of our time. While it first aired in 2012 and played into the cliches of millennials at the time, Girls is now experiencing a new audience: Gen Z. And with this new audience, we are seeing a cultural transformation of girlhood once again. For context, Girls was the successor to Sex and the City, a show about four glamorous female best friends living in Manhattan, exploring the dating scene in vintage couture. Girls, on the other hand, explored similar dynamics, but in a raw, realistic, Brooklyn-ified lens.
The show follows Hannah Horvath [Lena Dunham], an aspiring writer from East Lansing, Michigan, who besides being feckless, conceited, and often very vulgar, is extremely creative, witty, and loyal to her friends. Marnie Michaels [Allison Wilson] is Hannah’s best friend and roommate during season 1. Like Hannah, and all of the characters in Girls, she has many unlikeable qualities, but (in my opinion) experiences the most character development throughout the show. Even though she’s completely cringeworthy and often very self-unaware, Marnie’s Type-A personality makes her very relatable and ultimately shows how much she cares for her friends and strives to keep them together. Jessa Johansson [Jemima Kirke], the beautiful, impulsive, and volatile Brit is crucial to Girls. Jessa, Hannah, and Marnie met at Oberlin College, but because Jessa is so hard to track down, they haven’t had much contact since college. Jessa’s younger cousin who she crashes with in season one is Shoshanna (Shosh) Shapiro [Zosia Mamet]. Shoshanna is arguably one of the best characters in the whole series. Even though she’s the youngest, by the end of the series she quickly grows to be the most mature and self-sufficient. She’s a romantic, an optimist, and undeniably the most honest.
So…which girl are you?
Hannah
You are a Hannah if you are brutally honest, expressive, and creative. Hannah’s arc of self-actualization makes her character go from the most immature and avoidant to at least understanding that she’s responsible for her own choices and how that will impact her future. I think Hannah portrays the most vulnerable parts of being a girl. She’s incredibly witty and shows that through her writing and verbal dialogue. I mean, she was right when she said, “”I think that I may be the voice of my generation. Or at least, a voice of a generation.”
“I Have Work, And Then I Have A Dinner Thing, And Then I Am Busy Trying To Become Who I Am.”
Hannah Horvath
Shoshanna
In my Girls horoscope, my friends have decided I have Shoshanna all over my chart, so I am eternally grateful for that. Shoshanna is the youngest of the group, where in the first season she is in her senior year at NYU living in a glamorous $2,100/month NoLita apartment that she describes as “the perfect bachelorette pad.” You are a Shosh if you are ambitious, anxious, and a bit spoiled. In contrast to Jessa, Shosh knows exactly what she wants and is determined to get it. Shosh is surprisingly wise even when she’s saying a million words a minute. Also, she is always doing the absolute most with her hair.
“I thank the higher powers for all the gifts that I have already received, like a keen mathematical mind and fairly fast-growing hair.”
Shoshanna Shapiro
Marnie
You are a Marnie if you are incredibly organized, secretly insecure, and perpetually searching for control in every aspect of your life. You’ve probably already heard the infamous quote, “Let’s make fun of the girl who took a risk and put herself out there creatively,” and yes this quote belongs to Marnie. And by putting herself out there creatively she means covering Stronger by Kanye West at her ex-boyfriend’s tech startup (and changing the lyrics to ‘You can be my white Kate Moss tonight’ even though Kate Moss is very much so White), curating the vibe of her wedding to be “artistic, but with a nod to my cultural heritage, which is white Christian woman”, and forming a folk music duo with her boyfriend in their tumultuous relationship. Regardless of how cringeworthy and uptight Marnie may be, she is almost always 100% pure in her intentions and wants the best for her friends. I am a Marnie apologist to say the least.
“There is seriously nothing flakier in this world than not showing up to your own abortion.”
Marnie Michaels
Jessa
The reality is, being a full Jessa is either completely unattainable or hyperrealistic. She is effortlessly stunning (Shosh describes her skin as ‘hauntingly beautiful’), never had a full-time gig or “real job,” fashion forward (for the time of course), and every man wanted her. Aside from the superficial though, her traits are very much relatable. She tries to mask her vulnerabilities with her unbothered attitude, but in actuality she has very real traumas, one of which being her daddy issues (which is so common for our generation). You have some Jessa in your Girls horoscope chart if you are the chic friend who can’t be tied down to a person or place for too long, and you have great hair.
“I’m going to look fifty when I’m thirty. I’m going to be so fucking fat like Nico. You know why? Because I’m going to be full of fucking experiences.”
Jessa Johansson
I believe that there’s a bit of each Girls character in every girl today. Each character is so complex and their development can only be understood through watching the whole series. If you take away anything from this article, please stream Girls on HBO Max.