TV Trend: Broke young girls
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s been a new trend lately — shows about broke young girls. 2 Broke Girls and Girls, come to mind.
2 BROKE GIRLS
I watched one episode of 2 Broke Girls but was immediately turned off after 10 minutes, mostly because it had a laugh track and the writing was too shallow and not witty enough.
The premise of the show is about a young girl who is a waitress with lots of street sense and cupcake skillz… she meets up with another girl friend who used to live the high life until her family fell into disgrace and she lost all her money and status.
I think the concept is interesting, I just find the execution very bland so I can’t comment much on it.
GIRLS
This one is on HBO, and has better writing and a real storyline.
It’s about a girl (third from the left) who graduated from college 2 years ago, working at an unpaid job at some company, who was still being supported by her professor parents, who suddenly tell her one night that she’s cut off.
She tries her best to come up with a plan to get money out of them (“all I need is just $1100 a month to live in NYC!”), and when all of her drama queen antics fail, she is resigned to the fact that she needs to get a job that pays.
This sparks a little dialogue among other friends who start talking about how they got degrees but are $50,000 in debt. Her roommate who has a real job, starts hinting that she still needs to pay her half of the rent, even though her parents cut her off.
The girl on the far left has her life together, but is with a boyfriend she doesn’t really love.
The girl second from the left is from Britain who has parents who pay for her nomadic lifestyle as she flits around and does whatever she wants on their dime, taking odd jobs here and there. The girl on the far right, is a virgin who is still a student and has her parents paying for everything (she’s the cousin of the Brit).
I tried to keep watching past 5 episodes, but ultimately, I was too disgusted with the characters in general to continue.
I DON’T RELATE TO PARASITES
Sure, I’m a good 5+ years older than these younger 20-something-year-olds fresh out of college, but I don’t ever recall being quite like that even when times got tough.
My friends, included.
I cannot think of any friend I know who doesn’t have a job and her life together.
The ones who DON’T have a job, aren’t really friends (more like school colleagues), because I consider them society parasites — they’re mooching off their investment banking husbands and/or family money (from either side) and they KNOW I know it.
Maybe that’s why I don’t relate at all to these broke girls who are outraged that their parents would cut them off because they simply can’t afford it or are sick of funding the lifestyle of a child whom they had hoped would become independent and responsible.
It’s definitely some of their parents’ fault for babying them for so long, but there comes a time when you have to unceremoniously let them go and watch them either fall or fly.
The show’s heroine makes me annoyed with her bad decisions and lack of willpower or determination to do what it takes, with a “I’ll show them!!” attitude.
She just seems to let things happen and then all she does is bitch about it rather than fix it.
To really be in the position to complain, she needs to be working 3 jobs before saying anything about how hard it is — or at least 2 jobs and going to school full-time as I did in college.
If she doesn’t even have ONE paid job.. well, that says a lot about her willpower or lack thereof to take charge of her own life.
THERE’S ONLY SO MUCH YOU CAN BLAME ON OTHERS
I know it’s tough graduating in the middle of a recession, but this is the point in your life where you think:
It really freaking SUCKS that I was basically born in the wrong decade to have graduated just after a tough recession, but… let’s do my best anyway.
All I can do is try, rather than whine and give up.
I know I’m lucky and I probably sound elitist and hypocritical right now, but I also know that I wouldn’t be a quitter when faced with the same consequences.
There’s only so much you can blame on society and your parents before you start to realize that you’re the one who should be in control of your own life. I guess I’m not the only one who feels like that:
…a backlash started growing online, with critics charging that the show is narcissistic, lacks racial diversity and showcases whiny, privileged millennials complaining about topics only relevant to whiny, privileged millennials. (Link)
HAVE YOU SEEN THESE SHOWS YET?
(Actually the show’s writer is the heroine herself, I believe.. and she’s 25. I’m not that much older than her. It’s impressive she wrote a show that is on HBO already, but… I still think the show is not something I can relate to.)
14 Comments
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Mochi & Macarons
I enjoyed the dry humor but hated the weirdness and lack of ambition in the main character. The sex scenes were a lot, too…
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SWR
I haven’t seen either show, but I was intrigued by Girls after hearing an interview with the writer. What I took away from that was that this show was a kind of pre-Sex and the City look at a group of women in NYC before they had the more affluent and stable lives that were portrayed by that show. (NB: I’ve never seen SATC either).
It’s not my lifestyle, but these girls are really close to my age. And I graduated from college in the same climate that they did. I have to wonder if this show was made for a very specific demographic, and that people even just a few years above or below it can’t relate as well. Because, even if I made different choices, I get where they are. And I can relate well to the time that they’re coming into adulthood (if we consider it to be graduating from college) and what they are facing.
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Mochi & Macarons
I think you should give it a shot and watch it. I found it not to be my taste but it could have been my own interpretation of it which may differ from yours.
I LOVED SATC which I didn’t find privileged because the characters were more real and relatable to me.
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Leigh
I’ve seen some trailers for 2 Broke Girls, but it hasn’t really interested me at all. I don’t think I’m its target market though, considering that I’m not trying to decide which bill(s) to pay at the end of the month…
I can’t think of anyone who didn’t at least try to get a job pretty quickly out of school. I had a few friends who spent time traveling after college, but once they ran out of money, they found a job.
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Mochi & Macarons
Everyone knows when you run out of money and/or your parents are STILL supporting your life after college, it isn’t ideal.
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Mochi & Macarons
I was curious because of the plot lines. I thought it would be relatable to girls about how hard it is to get a job while staying on budget and being tempted when others around you are spending freely.
Instead, it came off as whiny and annoying how much they DON’T take control. -
Mochi & Macarons
I think the more privileged folks relate to Girls which is maybe why the majority of us, don’t!
I thought the writing was well done for the characters but the attitudes are just too ‘gimme gimme’ -
Mochi & Macarons
Agreed!!
I don’t think a lot of girls do that exaggerated whining I saw on TV in Girls, but obviously they exist albeit in small numbers….. I hope!
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Mochi & Macarons
Yes you’re right!!!
I should have clarified it was more about their attitudes in their situation. I know a few SAHMs and they’re wonderful people and I consider them friends who made the right choice for themselves, not parasites.
It is all in the attitude of whether or not you ‘deserve’ something! -
jdonline
I’m a millennial but I’m nothing like these girls. I also live on my own. I left the west coast to live in the mid-west because I wanted a better job, the west coast was horrible for getting jobs during the recession. Utterly horrible. I’d love to live in a big city again but for right now the
mid-west is right where I need to be.Sometimes you need to make sacrifices to get where you want to get. I think the sacrifices are worth it though. I’m making the most of where I’m at right now though. People think that there’s nothing to do in the mid-west but that’s not true. There’s tons to do, you just have to find stuff to do like you would in a big city. 🙂
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Mochi & Macarons
I think people have to decide for themselves what they want. If the big city doesn’t have the job you need, you suck it up and move to another one… And another… And another until you can make it on your own.
Small cities are also way cheaper and less stressful to live in. You also learn how to live simply and be happy with less. I miss that to some degree.
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ElleX
No, I don’t watch these shows for many of the reasons you stated. They say “Misery loves company” but I say “Please don’t knock at my door..cause I don’t have time for you!”
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Mochi & Macarons
It kind of annoys me more than I can take even though I like the idea of those problems coming out into the open to be discussed. I just think it is done in a very privileged way.
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I haven’t seen 2 Broke Girls but I couldn’t stomach Girls. It’s too raunchy and maybe I’m a prude but I just wasn’t…feeling it. Lots of dry humor, debt, lots of drinking scenes…just not my kind of show.