100 Kick-Ass Female Characters: #92
92. Shoshanna Shapiro, as seen on Girls, portrayed by Zosia Mamet
To say that Girls is polarizing would be a massive understatement. Anyone who spent any time on the internet when it premiered knows it was heralded in equal measures as being "brilliant" and "racist" for not including women of color (or, really, any people of color) outside stereotypical roles in the first season. Is the race criticism fair? Absolutely. The show is set in New York City (Brooklyn specifically) and it is definitely not a lily white city. But is it shocking that a group of rich, privileged white people are only friends with other rich, privileged white people? Not at all. I'm white, so obviously I can find a lot of racial representation in any media, and I absolutely think there should be more people of color (especially women of color) in media; but I also think Girls caught most of the racial backlash because it was being heaped with such praise. How I Met Your Mother is also set in New York and features no racial minorities, but there are no boycotts being organized; Two Broke Girls does feature racial minorities in highly offensive stereotypes, and it has literally gotten only a sliver of the criticism. I guess my point is: every show/network/movie is failing across the board in racial and ethnic diversity and it should be addressed and offending media called out, but Girls isn't any more deserving of criticism than other shows.
Girls is about a set of friends in Brooklyn who are living incredibly privileged existences and somehow also incredibly blind to that fact. Hannah, the main character, has been financially supported for 2 full years by her parents before getting cut off; Marnie, Hannah's roommate and best friend from college, is the only one who works full-time but is passive-aggressive and privileged; Jessa, another friend from college, is a bohemian world traveler who now has to work as a nanny and un-ironically tells a group of immigrant nannies being paid much less than she is, "I'm just like all of you,"; and Shoshanna, Jessa's cousin and roommate, who is still a student at NYU and a virgin in a world of non-virgins. These are not always likable characters; in fact, most of the time they're incredibly unlikable. But they are also some of the best examples of the complicated dynamics of female friendship, especially in a post-collegiate world where all the rules have suddenly changed.
Shoshanna is easily the "Charlotte" of the group. Perky, well-intentioned, and the very definition of a JAP, she is the member of the group who is there because Jessa brought her. Beyond being spoiled by her parents, Shoshanna does not have much in common with the core three, but she desperately wants to be. I mean, this is a girl who stopped at a candy shop so everyone could have snacks while Jessa gets an abortion. But Shoshanna frequently feels panicked at being a 22-year-old virgin. Her early attempts to get rid of her virginity ends awkwardly because no one wants to be the first; by the time she loses her virginity in the season finale, Shoshanna has started to become cynical about relationships. While all of the girls in the show are growing up and becoming adults, Shoshanna is the one who is starting to realize the idealization of adulthood is nowhere near what you imagine and Prince Charming isn't necessarily going to come in and sweep you off your feet.
What I love about Shoshanna is she's genuinely a sweet person. Easily the most likable of the characters, Shoshanna is equal parts confused, disgusted, amazed, and in awe of her friends. She is hungry for female friendship and acceptance, and it leads to situations she certainly never expected (such as accidentally smoking crack at a party in Bushwick.) I hope that we see more of Shoshanna next season, not only because she's hysterically funny, but because it's so rare we see female characters in media who aren't super comfortable with their sexuality but really want to be. So often women end up as the Madonna or the whore, but Shoshanna is neither; she is the Madonna who wants to be the whore but only wants to be the whore because she thinks that what society expects. Shoshanna is an excellent example of societal pressures an expectations boiled down into one neurotic undergrad.
And that's pretty kick-ass.
To say that Girls is polarizing would be a massive understatement. Anyone who spent any time on the internet when it premiered knows it was heralded in equal measures as being "brilliant" and "racist" for not including women of color (or, really, any people of color) outside stereotypical roles in the first season. Is the race criticism fair? Absolutely. The show is set in New York City (Brooklyn specifically) and it is definitely not a lily white city. But is it shocking that a group of rich, privileged white people are only friends with other rich, privileged white people? Not at all. I'm white, so obviously I can find a lot of racial representation in any media, and I absolutely think there should be more people of color (especially women of color) in media; but I also think Girls caught most of the racial backlash because it was being heaped with such praise. How I Met Your Mother is also set in New York and features no racial minorities, but there are no boycotts being organized; Two Broke Girls does feature racial minorities in highly offensive stereotypes, and it has literally gotten only a sliver of the criticism. I guess my point is: every show/network/movie is failing across the board in racial and ethnic diversity and it should be addressed and offending media called out, but Girls isn't any more deserving of criticism than other shows.
Girls is about a set of friends in Brooklyn who are living incredibly privileged existences and somehow also incredibly blind to that fact. Hannah, the main character, has been financially supported for 2 full years by her parents before getting cut off; Marnie, Hannah's roommate and best friend from college, is the only one who works full-time but is passive-aggressive and privileged; Jessa, another friend from college, is a bohemian world traveler who now has to work as a nanny and un-ironically tells a group of immigrant nannies being paid much less than she is, "I'm just like all of you,"; and Shoshanna, Jessa's cousin and roommate, who is still a student at NYU and a virgin in a world of non-virgins. These are not always likable characters; in fact, most of the time they're incredibly unlikable. But they are also some of the best examples of the complicated dynamics of female friendship, especially in a post-collegiate world where all the rules have suddenly changed.
Shoshanna is easily the "Charlotte" of the group. Perky, well-intentioned, and the very definition of a JAP, she is the member of the group who is there because Jessa brought her. Beyond being spoiled by her parents, Shoshanna does not have much in common with the core three, but she desperately wants to be. I mean, this is a girl who stopped at a candy shop so everyone could have snacks while Jessa gets an abortion. But Shoshanna frequently feels panicked at being a 22-year-old virgin. Her early attempts to get rid of her virginity ends awkwardly because no one wants to be the first; by the time she loses her virginity in the season finale, Shoshanna has started to become cynical about relationships. While all of the girls in the show are growing up and becoming adults, Shoshanna is the one who is starting to realize the idealization of adulthood is nowhere near what you imagine and Prince Charming isn't necessarily going to come in and sweep you off your feet.
What I love about Shoshanna is she's genuinely a sweet person. Easily the most likable of the characters, Shoshanna is equal parts confused, disgusted, amazed, and in awe of her friends. She is hungry for female friendship and acceptance, and it leads to situations she certainly never expected (such as accidentally smoking crack at a party in Bushwick.) I hope that we see more of Shoshanna next season, not only because she's hysterically funny, but because it's so rare we see female characters in media who aren't super comfortable with their sexuality but really want to be. So often women end up as the Madonna or the whore, but Shoshanna is neither; she is the Madonna who wants to be the whore but only wants to be the whore because she thinks that what society expects. Shoshanna is an excellent example of societal pressures an expectations boiled down into one neurotic undergrad.
And that's pretty kick-ass.