(Warning: spoilers below)
Recently, one of this decade's most controversial TV series, Girls, came to an end after six seasons. The ending, predictably, was controversial. But this time, the controversy was different. While Girls has generally been well received by progressives and young feminists,
it is among this crowd that its ending has been most controversially received.
You see, Hannah (played by Lena Dunham) ended up having a baby, and effectively 'settled down' as a mother. Which is probably not what most Girls fans would have expected or wanted. They expected Hannah to get an abortion. They thought Hannah would be forever single-ish, never to be tied down, and forever continuing her 'exciting' life in Brooklyn. Being a mother and living in upstate New York? That's so not Hannah.
But then, this is probably how reality works. The kind of people who live the Girls kind of life tend to get tired of it after a while.
I have always suspected that college students and recent graduates were the bulk of Girls fans. They look in awe at Hannah and her friends, and think that this is 'the life' that they want. But in reality, it is a life of insecurity and dissatisfaction. In reality, most people don't do well in a life of unstable relationships and unclear career direction. It is the perfect recipe for a Quarter Life Crisis. (After which most people simply change direction and leave that life behind.)
So while the college crowd decries that Lena Dunham and Girls have gone conservative, for anyone with a bit of life experience, they wouldn't see it that way. They would just see that Hannah's story has quite a good ending.
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