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Staten Island Residents Unimpressed by ‘Girls’

by Jacob Klein
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On the latest episode of HBO’s girls Adam and Ray are forced to hop on a ferry and head over to Staten Island to return a stolen dog (it’s a long story, as always).  Ray, one of the Girls’ boys who is almost always in a foul mood, ends up dropping some derogatory (yet admittedly quite funny) statements about Staten Island and its residents.  Ken Paulsen of silive.com lays most of them out here:

Staten Island dog owner is crazy: Adam stole the dog because a man — who turned out to be from Staten Island — left the dog leashed outside a coffee shop after yelling at him. “This guy’s intense,” says Adam as he convinces Ray to join him on the trip. “Big face, big head, big bald head. I might need some backup.”

Staten Island women are worthless: Ray says he turned down a threesome with a pair of attractive women solely because they were from Staten Island.

The Staten Island Ferry is pathetic and so are its riders: “Look at these people … hopeless … they know where they’re going,” says Ray with disgust as they step onto a Molinari-class ferryboat.

Staten Islanders rage over the fact that we’re not Manhattan: Here’s how Ray sums it up: “All these people, they want to live in Manhattan but they end up on this … weird little island watching the city in the distance with this quiet rage burning in their hearts.”

Staten Island dog owner’s daughter is a foul-mouthed bigot: The young woman depicted as the daughter of the dog owner could not speak a normal sentence. If she wasn’t bashing gays, she was spewing anti-Semitic venom. When Ray fights back, he does so with a final Staten Island insult: He says the reason she’s so immoral is that she was raised in a “trash heap.”

Mr. Paulsen rightly notes that the episode was written and filmed before the events of super-storm Sandy but was still unimpressed by the show nevertheless.

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To be fair: the character delivering the lines isn’t the most beloved guy in the series. The quotes were most likely meant to further agitate viewers towards him. They also may very well correctly represent the views that many NYC residents have about Staten Island. However unfounded, however unfair. Lena Dunham (writer, director and star of Girls) probably took these lines right out of a real life conversation rather than slipping them in with some sort of “anti-staten-island-agenda”. Brooklynites are already known to have an inferiority complex themselves and the projection of that complex on to an apparently less-fortunate burb feels quite realistic to this writer. Perhaps the small grain of truth behind some of the stereotypes is what hurts the most for some.

Look at it this way, Staten Island residents. Remember that episode of Sex and the City where Miranda treats a move across the bridge like being cast out of Eden? I’m pretty sure you were all laughing then. This is the world of entertainment. If you’re not getting an emotional response from your viewers then you’re doing something wrong. And by the looks of the comment section of Ken’s article. It looks like a job well done.

Here’s a recap of the episode for a bit more insight:

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6 comments

Cody James March 2, 2013 - 8:13 am

This was my favorite episode.. Solely because Adam and Ray go to Staten Island.. The dialogue between them is priceless!

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Dan Cavanaugh February 24, 2013 - 7:31 pm

I am a nyc firefighter and Proud lifelong Staten Island resident. I’ve never met people that care more about their neighborhoods and care about the people that live in them than on Staten Island. Despite the severe losses that the Island suffered due to 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy, we have survived by sticking together and being there for one another. To know it is to love it! It disgusts me that this pathetic show would comment on a community it knows nothing about for the sake of drama! If the writers of this show were ever in need of help they could only hope and pray that a Staten Islander was there in their time of need because the job would get done!

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Marilyn Zayfert February 20, 2013 - 10:46 am

There is quite a big difference from being a NYC resident from
being a New Yorker. New Yorkers respect all the boros including Manhattan. Maybe you should get it right.

Reply
Staten Island Tom February 19, 2013 - 7:41 pm

…I think Staten Islanders are the most cosmopolitan of all because we go to Brooklyn and New Jersey.”

David Johansen

Reply
XYZ530 February 19, 2013 - 7:36 pm

Are you from Staten Island?

Reply
XYZ530 February 19, 2013 - 7:33 pm

To the author – Are you from Staten Island? If not, you have zero say.

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