Last Season There Were No Black People in Girls
By Tracie Egan Morrissey  |  January 14, 2013 | 10:40pm
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During its first season run last spring, the conversation about race and Girls — albeit a valid and important one — reached a fever pitch that seemed to drown out the otherwise progressive things that Lena Dunham was saying with her show (i.e., presenting the “uglier” realities of womanhood, like abortions and back fat, as matter-of-fact NBDs). But Dunham was conciliatory in the debate, apologizing for the absence of (non-stereotypical) people of color in Girls‘ first season, saying it was an “accident” and she wanted to rectify that.

So, in the opening minutes of last night’s premiere of the second season, we were treated to a scene in which Dunham’s character Hannah is getting fucked by a black guy (Donald Glover). And their dialogue indicates that this is all a very deliberate response to that initial backlash:

Sandy: You wanted this.
Hannah: I wanted this so bad.
Sandy: And now you’re getting it.
Hannah: I’m finally getting it. It’s about fucking time.

If last season Dunham accidentally said, “Fuck you” to people of color, this season she’s very purposefully saying, “No, fuck me!”

And that’s funny — which is what a comedy should be.

 
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