Girl Crush of the Week: Lena Dunham

I love the TV show Girls. Like hardcore. Hannah is the Carrie Bradshaw of our generation and I love it. And because of this recent love of all things Lena Dunham, I've been inspired to make weekly posts (or monthly, who knows how often I'll end up being inspired) about my favourite ladies. Girl crushes, feminine idols, lady-spirations, if you will.

 

 I don't know how people can say she's unattractive. Look at those eyes, man. She's gorgeous.

Anyway, I digress. Looking at her, being 26 and being as successful she is on her first big project puts hope into my mind that everything will be okay. While there is plenty of criticism of Girls - that it's only about privileged white girls - the people giving that criticism apparently isn't aware that Lena's generation, my generation, is an entitled one. I don't like to admit that, because I'm a 23-year-old with a part time job who still lives at home rent-free and my parents still pay my car insurance. But we are an entitled generation. It's as simple as that. But to be honest, who made us that way really? I'm looking at you, Baby Boomers.

That's also not the point of this. Lena is a voice for my generation not only as a young female who has made it in Hollywood, but she's done it on her own terms. Basically her entire media existence is a big middle finger to the Hollywood archetype. I made a whole video about Lena and the overwhelming fat-shaming that is directed at her on my YouTube channel, which got a bit of flack from sexist pricks, but it did get an overwhelmingly positive response. You can watch it at the bottom of this post if you haven't already.

This seemingly average woman has bared it all on HBO, and in doing that she has become a role-model for those of us who aren't shaped like Eva Longoria. And she got several damn Golden Globes for it, too. How cool is that? 

It's pretty damn cool in my book. Last year alone, besides the first season of Girls, she signed a book deal, released a nail polish collection with Deborah Lippmann, and made a video for Barack Obama's YouTube channel during the election, which got a lot of unnecessary hate from right-wing conservatives. 

She's three year's older than me, and by this time she was making her first film, Tiny Furniture. I want to make a movie! I want to be successful! I want to make an impact! While our generation is certainly the entitled one, it's definitely the most creative, and Lena is such a great role model to strive to be like. At least for me. I have never had so many "a-ha!" moments as I did during the first season of Girls. 

Lena, you are my queen.

 

I just love that a woman with tattoos like a biker and fearless style is getting so much praise from people who matter (even though she's gotten a bunch of ridiculous shit from people who don't). And by people who matter, I mean all of us. All of us kids just like her, the kids with the degrees we have no idea what to do with and so much passion, but nowhere to express it. I still am looking for somewhere to translate that passion that can lead me to a career 1/10th as awesome as Lena's. 

  One last thing, I'm considering doing a tutorial for this intense smokey eye that Lena rocks on the regular because it's just so darn sassy. I'm just hoping that I don't end up with something like this:

Yeesh.

So, in conclusion - I love Lena Dunham. You can disagree with me. You can think the nudity on Girls if gratuitous, but I connect with her. When Hannah shouted at Adam in the first season, "I'm 13 pounds overweight and it has been awful for me my whole life!" I cheered in agreeance. Rock on sister.

Here, have an adorable photo of Lena and her boyfriend Jack Antonoff.

So cute.

Who is your girl crush of the week? 

Best wishes, 

-Abby
(P.S. This is a really good blog post about Lena's brazen way of life and how to apply it to blogging. You should check it out.)