Girls first came to my attention when it won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy or Musical at the 2013 ceremony in January. I remember being mildly curious about where this program came from and what it was about, but I quickly put it out of my mind—until I was doing research for a new novel and came across an article about Generation Z at Hub Pages Online, www.hubpages.com

Before I go into the Hub Pages report, let’s look at the premise of Girls. Created and starring Lena Dunham (inspired by Dunham’s real life), the TV show follows the lives of four twenty-something girls as they try to establish their places in the world, post college. Dunham’s character, Hannah Horvath, is an underachieving grad who can’t find a job and whose parents have cut her of financially. What makes matters worse is that Hanna’s so-called boyfriend treats her like dog doo. He’s not shy about pointing out her flaws, and doesn’t bother to hide his lackluster interest in their love life http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls. Compound this sad state of affairs with the fact that Hannah and her friends keep making bad decisions and, it seems, you have a show that real-life girls can relate to.

Question is, does Girls actually portray what’s going on with young people today? According to Hub Pages, it does.

 

HP says that Generation Zers are not only the most technologically connected generation, ever, they also share certain disturbing characteristics their predecessors did not. Here are a few that turn up on TV.

Baggage.

Young adults carry more baggage with them in life than their predecessors—pregnancy before marriage, divorced parents, multiple sexual partners in high school and college.

Dating Blues.

The breakdown of traditional courtships makes dating more painful for this generation than previous generations.

Financial Hurdles.

These kids are facing financial insecurity—think stock and housing market crashes, lack of jobs, the rising cost of college and a bleak employment outlook for the future.

 

Not all the news about this generation is bad. There are articles on the web that give us a more optimistic view of the Z’s future than portrayed by Girls. But since what happens in society is always reflected in story, I’m taking Girl’s to heart.

 

As a writer of Young Adult Fiction, I feel responsible for accurately and authentically telling stories that reflect the truth of what goes on in the lives of young adults. At the same time, it’s important to me to demonstrate in my pages that people of this generation have everything they need within themselves to change the mess that’s been handed down to them, and to do so with great success.

After all, stories might reflect society, but stories can be changed.