In what he's calling, "A Dude's Take On Girls" James Franco puts in his two cents on the pop phenomenon everyone's talking about. Because, yes, James Franco is just a "dude," and because he's seen "most" of the episodes (he has time to watch TV?). We read the review a few times, so to save you the headache, here's the takeaway:
• James Franco relates to the struggle of a starving artist (fun fact: he once worked at McDonalds!) but also seems annoyed that his fellow MFA students seem to focus on this same plot line in their own writing.
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• James Franco is just a little confused about how TV works. He writes, "Lena's character never has to write her book because the series is her book." Now, this is somewhat correct as obviously if Hannah wrote her book we'd all be out of a Sunday night show, but I don't think Lena meant to go so meta as to write and then un-write the entire series like this. It's autobiographical. We just haven't gotten to the part where Hannah succeeds yet (fingers crossed).
• James Franco runs with a pretty diverse crowd. And he's "aware" that some people are turned off by Girls' lack of diversity. But he blames this on the show's popularity. "There is a difference between writing a short story or essay about a bunch of white people that only a handful of people will read and creating another show about white people that millions of people will watch." So, does this mean the lesser-read/watched pieces have free reign to ignore diversity?
• James Franco hates emotional guys losers.
• James Franco likes closing sentences that sound powerful but disconnect from his argument. This makes you go back and read the entire thing as if it were a thesis. "They say living well is the best revenge, but sometimes writing well is even better." Sometimes, James...but only sometimes. (Huffington Post)
Photographed by Neil Rasmus/BFAnyc.com/ Courtesy of Gucci