Did Girls Influence Divorce?
Was Girls more influential than we thought, or perhaps more than we’re willing to admit?
Girls is about to end, but Sarah Jessica Parker’s Divorce is just getting started. The two shows are not all that similar when it comes to themes or characters — on his about a group of people in their 20’s and the other is about a middle-aged couple about to get divorced. But there is something there, a kernel of influence that binds the two together. And it goes deep.
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The characters of Girls pop-out of the series, sometimes to a fault. Divorce is not like that; it’s more subdued. Mostly. But the two shows share not only a similar pace, but a similar look. The cinematography, the lens filters, the personal quiet moments. They also have inherently unlikable characters. There has been no outright hint that Divorce has taken any conscious influence from Girls, but it is at least following a similar blueprint.
And that holds true for other HBO sitcoms, such as Insecure and the cancelled Togetherness. These are not loud comedies like Silicon Valley or even Veep — they are more intimate than that. That line can be traced back to Girls, regardless of whether or not the academy chooses to recognize it. Girls helped set HBO’s non-drama shows on a certain path that they have all taken, albeit with their own individual twists and turns. It’s almost as if HBO’s new offering of shows has been mandated to have a certain flow and pattern; a dedication to “realness.”
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The closest inspiration that Girls has is Sex & the City, and there’s something funny about a show with Sarah Jessica Parker influencing something else and then having that come back around. The two shows seem far more different from how they actually are, and it’s true that Lena Dunham is not everyone’s favorite person right now. But that should not take away from the fact that she has played a part in the creation of what would become the start of a new wave of shows for HBO.