> reason to live of the day
At least Jemima Kirke understands why American Workers Have No Rights
Hollywood hates labor, and hates shows about labor worse than any other thing. And that’s why you won’t be seeing another Roseanne anytime soon. Instead, all over the tube, you will find enterprising, overmedicated, painted-up, capitalist whores claiming to be housewives. But I’m not bitter.
—Roseanne
I haven't seen all the episodes of Girls but there exists on the internet such a staggering array of obsessive recap features dedicated to weighing in on its every plot twist that I almost didn't think I needed to. The thing is, sometimes recaps tell you more about the curious pathologies of the professional television recap business than they do about the shows they are purporting to recap. For example, in my favorite episode Lena Dunham's co-workers counsel her to humor their boss's chronic non-consensual fondling of her breasts on the grounds that, as bosses go, he is really "nice." Meanwhile Jemima Kirke breaks out of her default disposition of vast underwhelm/resignation/ reluctant contempt for all the universe has shown her momentarily when it occurs to her that what she and her profession really needs is a union. I came away thinking the show had exhibited an unusually wise and nuanced perspective on the peculiar horrors of American labor. Not the recappers!
The Vulture
Jessa’s fellow nannies…stare at her blankly as she naively talks about forming a union. They all roll their eyes when Jessa claims to be just like them, which is the correct response. Then they try to help her find her lost charges, because, no, she’s not just like them, she’s wildly unprofessional and irresponsible.
She’s met with rolled eyes all around, including ours. As Marnie should tell her, Jessa, you’re smarter than this.
Jessa’s naivety[sic] and unintentional condescension hit my secondhand embarrassment button so hard I wanted to hide my face behind a pillow to escape the scene. Luckily, while Jessa was busy indulging in her Norma Rae fantasies, one of the actually working nannies noticed that Jessa’s charges were missing. Jessa promptly freaked out, but the other nannies helped her find the kids despite her ridiculous attitude.
I find Jessa’s character, more often than not, insufferable. In episode four she managed to lose the girls while trying to rally the other nannies at the park into a union. Luckily for her the other nannies are responsible people and mobilized to find the girls. Moments like these give me hope that these characters can learn from their mistakes but unfortunately it seems like these girls are perpetually lost, and I am not sure Jessa took anything constructive away from this experience.
And flicker of dissent over from Huffington Post's Lori Leibovich was quickly extinguished when her teammates on the site's four-person Girls recap squad reminded her how inherently "elitist" labor unions are:
Lori L.: Yes. I loved her Norma Rae moment with the nannies.
Emma: But she was so self-righteous, saying she was just like them.
Lori F.: And she would take a pay cut
Lori L.: That did kind of make me hate her. And that scene is fodder for all of the critics who have lambasted the show for being elitist and out of touch.
What's really sad is that I bet not one of these recappers has even taken money from a "Right to Work" think tank or anything. Whereas if they had a union they would know the true value of their generic propaga…ehhh whatever.