Okay so yesterday we talked about Lenny (Lena Dunham’s weekly newsletter with Girls co-head Jenni Konner), and last week, Dunham said she plans to end “Girls” at the end of this season six, and now this: Variety reports that HBO has ordered “Max,” a half-hour comedy pilot from Dunham and the rest of the “Girls” squad, about the magazine world, back in the 1960s.
Set in 1963, the series will revolve around the “stirrings of second wave feminism,” as seen through the eyes of the main character (who’s tapped to be played by Lisa Joyce). Which, admittedly, is pretty cool. This would also keep Dunham in the warm arms of HBO, and thanks to the success of “Girls,” we know that when the two work together, good things tend to happen.
So I mean, there’s that. I think this is actually super interesting because, as pointed out by The AV Club, this isn’t just another avenue for Lena Dunham’s acting, and I think it marks an evolution in the way she’ll choose to tell stories. In this case, Vulture details that the show’s “undervalued Peggy [Olsen] type” will “stumble her way into the women’s movement” while dealing with the rampant misogyny at her place of employment. This couldn’t be further from the concept of “Girls” — a super contemporary show — and also couldn’t be further from the type of stories “Girls” tended to deal with. (See: little to no political awareness from its characters.)
I’d like this to be a cool thing. I’d like “Max” to be a show on par with “Mad Men” or “Masters of Sex,” and I’d also like it to be more racially aware, since Dunham has come under first for “Girls” being inherently white (and has since been very open about how she dealt with that, and how she plans/hopes to grow). I’d really like this series to be how young Dunham fans introduce themselves to feminism’s second wave, thus understanding why the third wave exists and why it’s a movement that’s meant to keep evolving — especially since it doesn’t have a terrific history of being super inclusive. I’d like “Max” to be a show we talk about without disdain because of how good and compelling it is.
And I’d like it not to be compared to “Girls,” especially since each couldn’t seem more different, and Dunham has grown so much since her first series began. Let’s hope this is the beginning of a very cool show.
