Lena Dunham: The Girl Who Perseveres

Did you know that Lena Dunham is presently working (together with her husband, the composer!) on a new romantic-comedy series for Netflix? It’s called – Too Much… (for real!)

And deep in my heart I do wish that the imaginary reader asks, “Who dat?” But that’s just wishful thinking all around… (She sighs.) Of course, people know who she is… Especially those who would be interested to read about romantic storytelling…

It’s incredible, really, how tenacious and seriously persuasive this young woman is: she will keep pitching, and selling, and proclaiming her admiration for the relevant people’s work, and pledging her friendship… She’ll trace her connections all the way to childhood.. And whatever else she needs to do – in order to keep making her things… Bravo!

Naturally unbeknownst to her, but Lena and I – we go back a long way… All the way to her 2010’s Tiny Furniture… That unprecedented post-deadline entry into South by Southwest…

I mean, like some sort of a Diable en boîte, she popped out amidst the shambles of the very dear to my heart New York indie scene. With her parental connections to the visual arts, and her hip Saint Ann/Oberlin background, and the web series facilitated by her mother… And that was followed by the unexplainable welcoming of any and all creative efforts that came out of her… And she possessed such inexhaustible desire to be associated with “A-listers”… And it just happen to coincide with my vehement crusading (with a lot of passion, but no impact) against the unprecedented rise of the rampant nepotism in our culture, arts, politics, life…

Back in the day – in another life, in another blog, under another name – I’ve spewed a lot of venomous criticism towards Ms. Dunham’s work and social attitudes. I remember imagining her then – throwing herself at Shonda Rhimes at some after-party, “Oh, my God, I am your biggest fan!!!” And, poof, all of a sudden she’s guest-starring on Scandal…

There is a reason why Jenni Konner (the fan turned friend turned producer turned partner, who ran around Hollywood with copies of Tiny Furniture, shoving them onto everyone she knew, including Judd Apatow) pops into Regina Cohen’s mind, when she writes about “Pimps and Hos” on her blog in chapter 25 of Fireworks and Other Illuminations.

It’s silly really: such preoccupation—especially for someone like me—with someone like her… Though, I must clarify that it wasn’t necessarily with this person per se, but rather with the concept of what she represented. Still, it was and still is immature to be this bothered with a personage of my daughter’s age. It was a period in my life when I was very childish about a lot of things.

…And I am the first to admit that a big part of it was pure and simple envy of a life-long loner and a self-isolater for Ms. Dunham’s persistent ability to find and latch onto the right people, make them her faithful and determined partners. And also because—in spite of the whole generation of the age difference, the vastly disparate origins, and contrasting developmental makeups—there are a lot of similarities between us: particularly when it comes to psychological complexes and emotional problems… I found her quirks quite relatable. So, it’s possible that exactly because they were so familiar, I hated their presence in her the same way I hated them in myself…

It was shocking to me: how does she overcome all that and still puts herself out there? Such unabashed bravery, in-your-face boldness, and relentless self-pimping from someone who claims to be insecure! Where does she gets the courage to believe that she belongs in the realm of popularity and entertainment? That unwavering confidence that this is where she must be! Of course, it makes me jealous like hell!

Look at her record, for instance: not only that her projects, one after another, generate (hmmm… trying to be polite here) underwhelming gains, but they are not even favored by the audience all that much. Don’t worry, I’m not going to waste your time by sending you to check out the IMDb ratings of her projects. I’m just going to tell you: the numbers are really low. The highest is 7.4 (scored out of ten) – her biggest creative effort so far, HBO’s Girls. The rest ranges between 2.3 and 6.6 – and that’s including the breakthrough Tiny Furniture…

And I know, I know: the nerds who bother themselves with ranking movies and TV shows on IMDb are probably the snootiest contingent of fans in existence! Yours truly including! Still , Ms. Dunham’s ratings are pretty dismal… And yet, she still consistently finds people to underwrite her endeavors! It’s quite astonishing – especially in that business…

…But all that – it’s not why I decided, once again, to run my mouth (yes, I’m aware) about Lena Dunham. Especially in these pages… The reason for this (what’s the word I’m looking for here? a diatribe? a tirade? well, that’s a bit too strong…) emotional twitch is that, if nothing else, she IS a true Romantic Fantasist.

And at this point of my life, I am capable of disentangling myself from my disdain of nepotism. Furthermore, I can even forgo, for a hot second, the unquenchable urgencies to resort to cultural critiquing. Instead, I can find enough fairness within to pay tribute to her singular vision of amorous matters that unwaveringly permeates her work.

Look, something must be said about female storytellers with weight struggles. Those who don’t exactly fit into the idiotic conventional cannons of “pretty”, propagated to the world by the media – so desperately preoccupied with haute-couture designed for broomsticks. The reality is that WE have the wildest sensual aspirations and romantic dreams – of the kind that wouldn’t even dare to enter a starving brain.

I think I watched maybe just the first two seasons of Girls (yes, I – the intellectual masochist – sometimes do that to myself). That’s like 20 episodes of all that self-proclaimed “voice-of-the-generation” baring-all exhibitionism and self-exposure… But the only one that rang truly revelatory to me personally was the 5th episode of season 2, notably titled One Man’s Trash – co-written by Dunham with Sarah Heyward.

Aside from the morbid prop of Alex Karpovsky, it’s just Lena and nearly perfect (though in a bit of a hiring slump at the time) – handsome, polished, and exquisitely groomed – Patrick Wilson. And, in addition to his looks, he’s got a brownstone straight out of Architectural Digest, and all the “status” accouterments a girl can dream about, but most importantly: an unyielding sexual desire for Lena Dunham… Oh, I’m sorry. I meant her alter-ego protagonist, Hannah Horvath… And SHE walks out on him! It was the most phantasmagoric piece of romantic writing I’ve ever encountered… I thought to myself, “What a ballsy way to live out your fantasies! That’s what I call a successful creative fulfillment!”

And that’s the crux of the matter, isn’t it? The thing about Lena Dunham is that – unlike the rest of us, dreamers – she puts herself both behind and in front of the “camera”. Thus, play-acting her fairy tales not just in her imagination and script pages, but physically – on screen, in front of the crew… And she does it time and again. Ever since that remarkable and authentic (truly, from the bottom of my heart – no sarcasm) shower scene in Tiny Furniture all the way to the latest case in point – Sharp Stick. (Please, take my word for it, as I don’t dare to expose anyone to it on my advice.)

And it’s all actualized in the name of the higher purpose – feminism, female liberation, and gender equality. You simply must admire such temerity! Especially because it’s so rare among the typical fantasists – most of us wouldn’t be able to scrap enough esteem to step outside of our writing confinements. People get disarmed and fall for her audacity and fervor. In the face of it, they are simply unable to say no to her.

This is how she keeps making movies that end up grossing $68K (yes, I mean – thousands) in the box office. And that’s how even her lowest-ranked projects get attention from (are you ready for it?) Time magazine, RogerEbert.com, The Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Slate, Los Angeles Times… And isn’t it uncanny that while the audience finds her products mostly mediocre, the critics invariably bestow predominately positive and uncommonly kind reviews? (I keep wondering: who still pays for her PR?)

And that’s how she gets stars of Jennifer Jason Lee’s caliber to participate in her projects. Who can possibly spurn the bravery of such hard-core feminist assertions and romantic reverie? I know I wouldn’t.

It’s just so unfortunate, though, that her execution repeatedly fails both the proclaimed objectives and the inherent expectations. When you look at the results of her efforts, it’s difficult to shake off the impression that the only ambition that gets fulfilled is Lena Dunham’s personal fancy.

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Are you interested to discover how I reimagined my own romantic fantasies in Fireworks and Other Illuminations? Start by exploring the novel’s Landing Page here: “Fireworks and…” the Novel