MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

“One could say, exaggerating only slightly, that the hipster moment did not produce artists, but tattoo artists […]. It did not produce photographers, but snapshot and party photographers […]. It did not yield a great literature, but it made good use of fonts.” New York magazine declared in 2010. Six years later, the hipster “moment” has not passed, but proliferated. A mainstay portrait of the “post-hipster” moment and engine of its promulgation has been Lena Dunham’s HBO series Girls, which premiered in 2012 and will end after its sixth season. Critically praised while also providing a flashpoint for discussions over race and inclusion in television, Girls has turned Dunham into a major cultural figure as the show has become a cultural touchstone. For musicians, Girls has become a star-maker, bringing wider recognition to groups like Icona Pop and Robyn, whose songs are licensed for the show’s soundtrack. While Girls boosts these artists’ profiles, characters that make music on the show, with rare exceptions, are ridiculed for their overt emotionality and un-ironic stance. In this paper, I will investigate how music operates in Girls by paying particular attention to the dichotomy between characters that make music in the show and the show’s ability to launch the popularity of musical artists. Girls has helped create and cultivate a market where musical choices are one method by which the show helps perpetuate itself outside of screens and into its audience’s lives. In this way, music used in Girls articulates a post-hipster paradigm by openly adopting a consumerist strategy and working to maintain its subcultural capital through musical choices, irony, and emphasis on social stance.