Lena Dunham: my kind of girl

Lena Dunham is the most promising and important writer and director currently in the entertainment industry.

That might seem like a lofty statement, but consider the facts.

Dunham, the refreshingly clever young filmmaker best known for creating, writing, directing and starring in HBO’s freshman hit “Girls,” recently acquired four Emmy nominations for her numerous positions on the aforementioned series.

Oh, and she just turned 26. I just turned 20, and I still don’t know how long I should toast my bagels without burning them.

A native New Yorker born to affluent parents, Dunham attended Oberlin College in Ohio and graduated in 2008 with a degree with creative writing.

She rose to modest fame in 2010 with her feature debut, “Tiny Furniture,” a pleasant precursor to “Girls” that can be viewed instantly on Netflix.

The film, while not as polished “Girls,” got the attention of acclaimed comedic director Judd Apatow, executive producer of the HBO series.

Dunham also has an unspecified role in Apatow’s upcoming quasi-sequel to “Knocked Up,” “This Is 40.”

Not only is Dunham venturing into a male-dominated profession with minimal, albeit promising, experience. She’s doing so while battling the unflattering superficial expectations of our society.

Dunham’s figure and visage are not what one typically expects to find taped up on grubby fraternity walls. But that shouldn’t mean much to her audience, as it clearly doesn’t register much with Dunham herself.

Hardly an episode of “Girls” goes by in which we don’t see Dunham go completely or partially nude.

Her body isn’t rail thin or the portrait of beauty we’ve been groomed to expect.
And while that might be alarming to audiences at large, you get the sense Dunham and her collaborators are much more interested in presenting a realistic and modern story as opposed to aesthetically pleasing viewers.

Most importantly, Dunham is the first successful filmmaker I would consider part of my generation.

Each generation has a unique voice that, while still fundamentally human, contains a quirk that makes it distinctly diverse.

Dunham is the first writer I feel has captured my humor and voice, and I’m not alone. I’ve yet to introduce “Girls” to anyone my age who hasn’t immediately fallen in love with it.

As her career moves forward, we can only hope Dunham never fails to lose her contemporary vision.

This week, her literary agents will begin shopping her first book around to publishers, tentatively titled “Not That Kind of Girl: Advice by Lena Dunham” at a $1 million asking price.

She may not be that kind of girl, but she’s certainly my kind of girl.   

­— wdmcdona@indiana.edu