#3 Lena Dunham and ‘Girls’ water-birth our truth

MANILA, Philippines - Towards the end of one of HBO’s Girls’ episodes, we watch as Hannah and Marnie do a frenzied dance to Robyn’s Dancing on My Own — after Hannah found out that her ex-boyfriend is gay, and that he might have given her HPV. This is the moment that you realize that Lena Dunham is up to something. That scene, for all its soundtrack appropriateness, also highlights Dunham’s strength as a writer: the audacity to find pockets of humor in honest, real life. When it first aired last April, many reviews barked over the level of privilege the four girls — Hannah, Marnie, Shoshanna and Jessa — enjoyed; or that people of color are under-represented, or that Lena Dunham is naked a lot. But Girls just might be one of the first shows to capitalize on this generation properly — allowing us to see four girls navigate through life post-Internet. It deals with it head-on and immediately, tackling the totem of chat, a ranking of how potentials communicate over social media, in the pilot. Facebook is not just an aside or a reference, it’s a way to reveal Marnie’s difficulty with dealing with her breakup. Lena Dunham has nailed a personal reality, placed herself within the narrative, and successfully made it relatable to the rest of us. Whether it’s being cut off by her parents or having her heart treated like monkey meat, Hannah Horvath has made you say at some point “(O-M-G) I went through that too.” Is Lena Dunham the voice of a generation? Maybe not — but it’s a voice that’s clearly being heard.