Week 7 – ‘It’s not TV, it’s HBO’: Branding, Genre, ‘Quality TV’
Girls revolves around four 20-something girls who live in New York City. Just by that one sentence, many stereo-typical ideas can be generated around what Girls is about, and mainly, how it will differ from every other television series set in New York City. Basically, it seems like the idea of girls in New York has been done before:
- Cashmere Mafia (2008) follows the lives of four ambitious women, longtime best friends since their days at business school…
- Sex and the City (1998) which revolved around the sex lives of 4 different women who are inseparable and feminine…
- Lipstick Jungle (2008) is a dramedy following three powerful women (who are best friends, all of whom are top professionals in their respective careers…
- and Gossip Girl (2007), which as the title suggests, is all about the gossip surrounding teenagers trying to stay alive in the high school battlefields.
Whilst the character archetypes will seem quite familiar, writer and main character of Girls, Lena Dunham, reveals that Girls is different to its predecessos, in the sense that she wanted “[Girls] to fill in a gap in TV for women this age… 24 to 25-that seems like an age that is so specific and that hasn’t been done.”
This strong need to fill the gap for the viewers in their mid-twenties was one of the main factors as to why HBO picked up Girls. This strongly generation focused show was an attempt by HBO to broaden its audience age gaps and to keep up with fierce competitors. As of July 2014, Netflix announced that their subscriber revenue had just surpassed that of HBO, with Netflix taking in $1.146 billion compared to $1.141 billion for HBO.Netflix does take in more money per subscriber because it doesn’t have to split the revenue with cable distributors, as HBO does. (http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/07/media/netflix-hbo/).
Netflix and HBO have made no secret of their rivalry. According to Jason Abbruzzese, writer for Mashable, “the main difference between the two [is that] HBO is a premium cable company with a long track record of original content; Netflix has a rich-yet-eclectic library and made a recent entry into original programming.” This brings me to my discussion on HBO’s idea around ‘originality’ and quality television.
When watching the relatively new HBO series, Girls, one can easily be confused as to what genre it belongs to. As “genres are cultural products constituted by media practices and subject to ongoing change and redefinition” (Mittell 2004), we can say that Girls doesn’t necessarily belong to one of the more ‘traditional’ genres; but rather, it is a hybrid genre. It is a combination of drama and comedy, and could perhaps be seen as slightly anti-romace.
Before watching Girls, I had a certain stigma attached to the show even though I knew nothing about it. I assumed it would be light, humorous and empowering. Instead, the show was at times confronting, awkward and cringeworthy – in a good way. Girls creates scenarios and situations which are all too well known and common for women in their mid-twenties. It depicts a more realistic and sincere reflection of life as a woman in their 20’s.
Lena Dunham plays Hannah, the main character which Dunham wrote inspired by “parts of [her] that [she] find the most shameful”. Hannah makes the mistakes and says the things audiences will never admit they’ve done themselves. And this makes her compelling TV. Girls is laced with realistic situations revolving around casual sex, drugs, relationships, unemployment and financial problems. But these dramatic topics do not hit hard due to the tasteful balance with comedy. Whist this aids the show in being unique, it also means that Girls has received a lot of criticism for negative representation of the current generation; the idea that these 20 somethings’ are victims who let things happen to them casts the show in a negative light. But this is where Girls differs from other female orientated shows. Instead of shunning promiscuity and multiple sexual relationships, Dunham uses the character of Jessa to explore it:
“I’m offended by all the ‘supposed-tos’. I don’t like women telling other women what to do or how to do it or when to do it. Everytime I have sex, it’s my choice. If I wanted to go on some dates I would. But I don’t.” – Jessa, S01E02
This is a direct link to modern discussion on feminism. Dunham, in her interview with Claire Danes, explains how the common preconceived idea that “our moms covered the feminism thing and now we’re living in a post-that world” is completely untrue. “The idea that the feminism conversation could be cool again and not just feel like some granola BS is so exciting to me.” In a way, Girls allows Dunham the opportunity to put forth her thoughts on women and feminism in today’s modern society (which links into history and audience orientation). Instead of girls hating on other girls for sleeping around (such as in Gossip Girl), and instead of presenting the perfect, unflawed main character (such as in New Girl) Dunham has created a show which takes these common motifs and flips them no their side. Instead, flawed women are empowering other women in a world where situations are completely relatable and realistic. The episodes are laced with tropes which Dunham believes is interesting to us, and the scenes go on for longer than expected and don’t necessarily focus on the main point of action. In doing this, we are drawn into the characters lives and feel as if the drama is real, not a fantasy (as it is in so many other unobtainable worlds in other television shows).
The HBO label is “It’s not TV. It’s HBO.” which essentially translate to HBO being different to/better than normal TV. Moving to more original drama in the 1980’s, HBO shows feature high amounts of swearing, sexual themes, violence and nudity – providing more racier shows than those which are aired to free-to-air television. Girls fits perfectly into this criteria and so, it neatly works for the networks identity and brand.
There is a wide range of television series’ which fit under the category of ‘quality television’, and it can be said that Girls is one of those shows. Girls is what HBO considers to be a television show that can draw you in. Instead of being a episode to episode show (such as NCIS where there is a problem and it is resolved within one episode with a clear beginning, middle and end), girls is an ongoing, complex narrative. The lives of the four main characters are not resolved within one episode, but linger over several. There is a deeper, richer story which is explored as the series progresses.
So what does this say about where television is heading? A television show with a title primarily focused on one gender may have once segregated an audience, but now ceases to. Girls easily translates to both genders, and has the capability to draw in multiple generations. Where its main focus is girls in their mid 20’s, women older than this can relate to the characters in a time in their past. It could be said that this television show is almost soul reflection.
Resources:
Abbruzzese, J. (2014). Get a Room Already: Why HBO and Netflix Are Obsessed With Each Other. [online] Mashable. Available at: http://mashable.com/2014/08/07/netflix-hbo-love-hate-relationship/ [Accessed 5 Oct. 2014]
Danes, C. (2014). Film Interview: Lena Dunham. [online] Interview Magazine. Available at: http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/lena-dunham-1/#page2 [Accessed 11 Oct. 2014].
Settembre, J. (2014). HBO’s hit series ‘Girls’ is getting backlash for its depiction of New Yorkers as shiftless losers. [online] New York Daily News. Available at: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/hbo-girls-backlash-article-1.1571491 [Accessed 10 Oct. 2014].
Wikipedia, (2014). Girls (TV series). [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls_(TV_series) [Accessed 9 Oct. 2014].
Wikipedia, (2014). HBO. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HBO#Original_programming [Accessed 4 Oct. 2014].