Thank you for being a friend, Hannah Horvath

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:00:00 +0000

The volumes' worth of cultural criticism penned about “Girls” agree only that the show is polarizing, provocative and, above all, unconventional. But now midway through its sophomore season, “Girls” has settled into a dynamic with its four central characters that’s surprisingly traditional: There’s the sweet/ditzy girl, the free-spirited/sexual girl, the uptight/sarcastic girl, and the protagonist who acts as the linchpin, holding all these opposing personalities together.

Any show that’s set in New York City and follows the lives of four women will inevitably come up against “Sex and the City” — a comparison “Girls” blunted in its pilot episode by making its least savvy character (Shoshanna, totally a Charlotte) a gushing fan of "SATC." But “Sex and the City” didn’t set the archetypes so much as it cemented them. Before women selected their fictional counterpart in Carrie/Samantha/Charlotte or Miranda, they had already assigned themselves to a Golden Girl. I’d argue that all television foursomes are actually walking in the sensible shoes of Rose/Sophia/Blanche and Dorothy, although variations on the rule-of-four dynamic has played out in other shows and films like “Mean Girls,” “Pretty Little Liars,” “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” “Heathers,” “Bachelorette” and, on the other end of the gender spectrum, “Entourage” and the mixed-gender roommates on “New Girl.”

Salon.com > carrie bradshaw

Thank you for being a friend, Hannah Horvath