# Is this offensive? Apatow and Dunham takes offense at question regarding nudity **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 10, 2014, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-offensive-apatow-and-dunham-takes-offense-at-question-regarding-nudity/678460 "2014-01-10T19:34:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-offensive-apatow-and-dunham-takes-offense-at-question-regarding-nudity/678460/81 "2014-01-15T14:54:15Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I think this incident illustrates that Dunham’s real character is reflected to a great degree by her character’s character—an extremely self-centered child of privilege who has been given opportunities not available to the vast majority of people her age and who has mistaken that circumstance for something she has earned on merit, or, in the words of the great Anne Richards, a person who was born on third based and thinks she has hit a triple. I can’t totally agree with Hannah as a “child of privilege” or the comments upthread (agreed to by a few) that the show is totally about, among other things, “rich, hipsters”. Hannah and her crazy boyfriend don’t appear to be rich and, while I don’t know exactly what passes for “hipster”, those two are clearly in a class by themselves. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-offensive-apatow-and-dunham-takes-offense-at-question-regarding-nudity/678460/82 "2014-01-15T16:24:46Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > I can’t totally agree with Hannah as a “child of privilege” or the comments upthread (agreed to by a few) that the show is totally about, among other things, “rich, hipsters”. Hannah and her crazy boyfriend don’t appear to be rich and, while I don’t know exactly what passes for “hipster”, those two are clearly in a class by themselves. The series begins with her being told that her parents aren’t going to support her living in NYC anymore. She is living in Brooklyn, not Manhattan, but that’s still not a cheap indulgence to extend to your kid. My parents were far from poor, but I was lucky to live in their house for free after college. If your character’s parents can afford to support you in NYC for two years, their background is probably at least upper middle class. ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-offensive-apatow-and-dunham-takes-offense-at-question-regarding-nudity/678460/83 "2014-01-18T01:18:46Z")
Dunham’s retouched [Vogue photos](http://jezebel.com/here-are-the-unretouched-images-from-lena-dunhams-vogu-1503336657). Because natural isn’t good enough after all. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-offensive-apatow-and-dunham-takes-offense-at-question-regarding-nudity/678460/84 "2014-01-18T02:47:11Z")
I suppose that would bolster Dunham’s point. _Vogue_ and Liebowitz are in charge of those changes, not the subject of the photograph. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-offensive-apatow-and-dunham-takes-offense-at-question-regarding-nudity/678460/85 "2014-01-18T14:00:08Z")
I assume (not really caring myself) the criticism would be her willing support and appearance on the cover of a magazine that you know will heavily edit and re-touch the photo. “Hey, I just dropped the cow off at the slaughterhouse, I can’t help what happens after that” isn’t much of an excuse. To her credit, that doesn’t seem to have been her “defense” and she didn’t really defend it at all. She said Vogue is fantasy and they’re great and anyone who wants to see the “real her” should watch her TV show. Because I guess scripted (and “reality”) TV isn’t fantasy, I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-offensive-apatow-and-dunham-takes-offense-at-question-regarding-nudity/678460/86 "2014-01-18T18:05:31Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Because people get frustrated answering the same stupid question over and over, and sometimes lose their temper. > > Humans being human, as someone said. Then don’t do press. Not everyone does. Some of the shows I listen to get into the real behind the scenes stuff that goes on in the lives of various actors. On press junkets for movies or TV they get asked the same questions dozens of times. Sometimes all in the same day. No one likes it but that’s how you sell your product. The ones that are good at it make their answers seem fresh. Those that are bad at it give pat wooden answers. Those that are full of themselves will blow up at the interviewer. And some don’t want to play the game and don’t do press. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-offensive-apatow-and-dunham-takes-offense-at-question-regarding-nudity/678460/87 "2014-01-18T18:18:04Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > The series begins with her being told that her parents aren’t going to support her living in NYC anymore. She is living in Brooklyn, not Manhattan, but that’s still not a cheap indulgence to extend to your kid. My parents were far from poor, but I was lucky to live in their house for free after college. If your character’s parents can afford to support you in NYC for two years, their background is probably at least upper middle class. Brooklyn is known to be the Hipster capital. Especially Williamsburg. Lena Dunham lives in Brooklyn Heights. 800 square feet one bedroom $500,000. [Lena Dunham Buys $500,000 Apartment In "Grown Up Brooklyn" - Gothamist](http://gothamist.com/2012/06/12/lena_dunham_buys_500k_pad_in_brookl.php) How to be a hipster. > **[How I Became a Hipster (Published 2013)](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/fashion/williamsburg.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)** > > “Brooklyn” is now a byword for cool from Paris to Sweden to the Middle East, so the author, an avowed Manhattanite, set out to explore this artisan-loving borough. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-offensive-apatow-and-dunham-takes-offense-at-question-regarding-nudity/678460.md?page=4)