I’m going to keep whatever opinions I have about Lena Dunham to myself during this piece. And trust me, if you’ve been on the internet at any point during the past two years you’d realize it’s clearly a challenge for anyone to stay mum about her. Whether you love her or hate her, she’s one of the most polarizing figures in American pop culture today. The anti-Real Housewife seems to spark a conversation like Shia LaBeouf ignites a plagiarism inquiry.
I’d like to address the two most recent topics of conversation have been about her to illustrate the ludicrous lengths people are going to discuss Dunham- and then be done. First lets tackle Vogue. Dunham graced the cover of the February issue and was given an inside spread. People were outraged seeing her in a fashion magazine. I think that everyone, including Dunham herself would say that she isn’t the typical choice for Vogue. But instead of lauding Wintour for choosing the actress/writer/director who’s far from a size 0, a website that I won’t name immediately put the word out that they would pay $10,000 for un-retouched photos from the shoot. They got them, published them, and showed exactly what had been retouched. Which, by and large, wasn’t anything drastic.
But still people got all up and at ’em. Mad at Vogue. Mad at Dunham. Mad at the site for engaging in body shaming. Except, it’s impossible to find any magazine or publication that publishes photos that aren’t retouched. They ALL do it. Ironically it’s one of the few times that Dunham is fully clothed- which remains one of her haters favorite reasons to hate. So why are we talking about this again?
She ignited more fire when she posted a photo of the cover to her upcoming memoir Not That Kind Of Girl via Instagram (above). People started discussing everything from the font to the color of the font, to the retro, throwback cover and how it conjured up nostalgia of Jacqueline Suzanne (Valley of the Dolls). “Serif, is she f**king kidding!?” wrote one fan.
People are happy to find and pick just about anything apart, but at this point we’re just nit-picking. SERIF! So, let’s collectively agree to stop being apes. Even Lena herself has said that post-book, she will have exhausted the topic of herself.
