All adventurous women sing: articulating the feminine through the music of Girls

This chapter analyses the use of song in Girls as a key part of the show’s oft-discussed feminist discourses. Building on the work of theorists such as Lacan and Irigaray, it argues that the prominent use of song in the HBO series serves to enhance, emphasise, and, at times, augment the series’ thematic concerns with issues of female identity and friendship in a postfeminist age. The use of song within the show allows Girls to engage with its wider exploration of female identity through an artistic expression beyond those afforded by narrative and characterisation. In this way, Girls uses the song as a key part of its feminist negotiation.