Hannah Horvath on the HBO comedy series Girls doesn't always make the best decisions. In the three seasons of the show so far, Hannah has let men treat her poorly, betrayed her friends and worn some pretty questionable outfits.
But that's Hannah, not Lena Dunham, the actress behind the character who also just happened to create the series. Dunham has made better decisions that have led her to get her show on HBO, win awards and become an inspirational figure to many women of today. That's probably why Dunham is getting ready to release her new book Not That Kind of Girl, which features personal essays about what she's "learned."
In anticipation of her new book out Sept. 30, Dunham asked people to submit questions for her to answer via video. Well those videos have finally been released on YouTube today, and they are very "Lena Dunham." In the videos, Dunham sits in her office with an illustrated backdrop, a rotary phone and a bottle of Champagne as she cuddles with an adorable dog.
While the look of the videos is very cool, the best part about them is the advice Dunham dispenses, in response to real fans' questions, in a funny, honest and endearing way. From Dunham, you'll learn that wearing booty shorts doesn't mean you can't also be a feminist, friends shouldn't stop talking to you because you dislocated your knee and jealousy is a waste of time.
Not only do these videos give us a sneak peek into the kind of advice Dunham will dish out in her highly-anticipated book, but they are also just one more example of how modern technology is revolutionizing the book publishing industry. Her videos capitalize on the capabilities of the Internet to collect and disseminate information while using the social nature of the Internet for promotion.
Dunham's advice videos also continue the trend of book trailers that have become increasingly popular for authors to release in anticipation of their new books, especially celebrities. Mindy Kaling and her Office co-star B.J. Novak feigned a rivalry over their books in a French New Wave-inspired trailer for Novak's collection of short stories, One More Thing. Neil Patrick Harris also recently released a trailer for his upcoming book Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography where he re-enacts the Lady and the Tramp spaghetti scene with husband David Burtka and performs other stunts.
If the point of these videos was to make us desperately want to read these books, then mission accomplished.
