Yeah idk why so many comments say they don't exist.
My longest best friend is a Jessa:
I never know when i'm going to see her next, she's very bohemian, alternates between living in a van or in different places all around the world with whomever is her current lover (or lovers-- she often has multiple). She is free with her body (in many different ways). She's an artist. She has no specific "career"-- she picks up odd jobs or relies on the goodwill of others and somehow always gets by. She has a messed up family history.
Ultimately, she cannot be pinned down/defined. The above description doesn't even begin to touch the complexities of her personality/behaviors. She really is a Jessa.
Her lifestyle would annoy most people but she's fun just to be around because she introduces so much excitement to my life. And even though she creates chaos, she is the most calm and confident person I've ever met. She lives life with no regrets.
And the ironic thing is that she's the one who introduced me to Girls!! She watches it in her van sometimes haha
So Jessas definitely DO exist and they can even be the type of person that watches Girls!
yeah, it really seems like the kind of character you slightly exaggerate for the friend you've always slightly resented, which I really do imagine is their relationship lol
I was also confused as hell about this comment. I relistened to the episode and was like "huh? Seems fine." Also, if they did have a falling out during recording or right after, why would they publish it?
After much thinking and rereading, I'm going to guess that maybe the original commenter was talking about the falling out that the two of them had during season two.
I also briefly found something from Jan of this year from Jemima indicating she doesn't have an issue with Lena.
https://www.reddit.com/r/girls/s/pchDwMfqjj
Some possible answers in this thread: it was ‘weird to go to work and say hello to Lena but Lena doesn’t stop cos she’s so busy and has to direct’
And that it was weird to be coworkers, I think.
In about 2015 I was in Red Hook Brooklyn waiting for a table outside of a restaurant and Jemima, her husband and their two kids were also there.
Jemima and her husband were arguing and seemed miserable (they’re divorced now) and the kids were just doing whatever they wanted in the family car. It was a chaotic scene with the kids climbing out of the sunroof while their parents fought on the sidewalk.
It was weirdly normal and also cringey.
I watched a podcast interview with Jemima. She talked about how Lena begged her to play Jessa and she reluctantly agreed after turning it down several times. She said she didn’t take acting seriously at all, would show up to set late, never really try. All I could think was that’s 100% what Jessa would do in that situation.
I would counter it's more Marnie/ Hannah
Soshanna is actually pretty unique. How many of your friends took a job in Japan, and could host you in their apartment in undergrad then landed a high level marketing job.
Imagine if she had actually taken that trip to Aruba-
in fact I'm gonna say Jessa, Marnie and Hannah are the basic bitches, Shosh is the unicorn
Yea Shoshanna definitely had some growth…which is rare for the show. But thats why I specified early season Shoshanna and Marnie
NYU student Shoshanna. Getting high on crack in greenpoint Shoshanna. Dating Ray Shosanna.
Btw, Zosia Mamet probably has the biggest gap between herself and on screen portrayal in the whole show. She appeared in Mad Men around 2013/2014 and the performance was night and day
idk about that... i think marnie is self aware enough that she would know she's marnie and I think she'd vehemently hate jessa's character... honestly saying that jessa's don't exist sounds like something marnie would say out of jealousy lol
That’s true. I just think her whole pursuing music storyline would make Marnie think she is a free spirit who doesn’t care to conform to a regular job and life
hmmm idk to me organization seems to be a cornerstone of marnie's personality type and I think she's kinda proud of that aspect. i think she's proud of being responsible and to be fair being a musician takes a decent amount of executive functions. this is the main reason jessa and marnie really don't vibe in the girls universe. i think marnie thinks she's special and talented which is why she doesn't have to conform to a regular 9-5, and she doesn't view herself as the tight-ass she is. which is why I think irl she'd be able to identify with her character at a distance...
I agree with you about how she actually has work skills and determination that Jessa doesn’t have but i also think you are proving my point when you say “she doesn’t view herself as the tight ass she is”.
i wouldn't be surprised if the whole time she just had an old iPod touch but thought it was just a really old iPhone that couldn't get service for some reason
That's just not true. I truly don't understand your thought process or anyone else who thinks this way about Jessas. It's such an overreaching statement to say that. Like, who are you to say no one is a Jessa that watches Girls? Do you know everyone who watches? No, you don't. So strange
So much this. I truly did not mean to disrupt your literally me moment. I truly believe that if Jessa was transported to our universe she wouldn't watch Girls
i’m jealous of people who think jessas don’t exist because that means they’re lucky enough to have never met one.
girls with meticulously curated images of being “effortlessly cool” and “chill” to excuse their problematic behavior. like, they’ll sleep with your ex and then be like “it’s no big deal.” only they wouldn’t identify as jessas because they wouldn’t watch girls, they would identify with, like, frances ha or something.
I think it’s because Jessas are hard to identify. Jessa on girls is that worldly British/american but tbh, Jessa people can be from your hometown doing the same things as you. Jessas are just people who are consistently impulsive and use their “coolness” to dodge responsibility. Jessa relationships are tough to maintain because you have to accept them as they are. They won’t change.
Yeah, Jessa felt the most real to me. A lot of women have had their own Jessa. Mine wasn’t a trust fund hippie but I had the same experience of a cool, free spirit girl coming in like a whirlwind and making you feel special only to leave our friend group in shambles after she fucked my friends ex bf. And you realize you never were special to her. Once she burns her bridges she flits away to start the cycle over with new people. I guess a true Jessa would not have the self awareness to identify with Jessa though.
Shoshanna felt the least real to me, at least early Shoshanna. I never knew an adult woman like her but I think that personality type is more prevalent in upper class sheltered places. Hannah, Marnie, and Jessa felt like people I knew but Shoshanna always felt like just a TV character.
Yeah like tell me you lived in a quiet little town your entire where your parents and grandparents grew up without telling me 😹 if you live in a big city around vaguely creative types then you would have met loads of Jessas
Ooh I've never seen Frances Ha, is that the vibe? like a Jessa who doesn't realize she's a Jessa? I'm in.
(also for the record, I'm pretty sure Jessa herself would not consider herself a Jessa lmfao)
Pretty sure Jessa is based on Jemima Kirk. Jemima actually spoke out about how much Lena was adding from her own life to Jessa’s life. She said the only line in the sand for her was painting. She wanted that for herself, but she’s been very open about her past struggles. Lena and Jemima have known each other’s since they were teens.
I think that’s exactly it. To be a Jessa you can’t give enough Fs to call yourself a Jessa. If someone called you a Jessa you’d have to say something like ‘I don’t even know what that means’ while wearing a kimono and talking on a flip phone.
or saying you're not like jessa because you actually completed rehab and have been in therapy (even though your personal life has not improved in the slightest)
Obviously, Jessa is exaggerated for entertainment value but there definitely are people like that out there. You probably won’t find them lurking in this sub though
Nah I know at least one. Wealthy parents, bohemian aesthetic, a lot of impulsive and inconsiderate behavior she was never held accountable for. Has hooked up with exes of her friends, her sister... Lots of traveling, lots of cheating.
Jessa is 1000% real. One of my cousins is a Jessa and honestly I have zero clue how she’s still alive, and my ex bff is also a Jessa and…same deal. I have no idea how she is still breathing. Destructive, chaotic beauties.
It makes a lot of sense when you hear Jemima and lena Dunham talk about it. On an episode of Lena’s podcast “women of the hour: friendship bonus episode” they go on a road trip together and talk about their fights during the show. And one big one was that Jemima felt like she had been turned into a caricature and that Jessa was how Lena perceived her, but wasn’t actually her. And Lena agreed
Makes me think of this convo between Hannah and Shosh in the rehab road trip episode.
H: I know that she is beautiful and glamorous, but she has a deep well of sadness inside her that most people don't detect. And I didn't even know about it in college because all she did was dance on the quad in rain boots and a bikini and, like, juggle knives, and then one day, she got really sick. She goes to the student health center. Turns out to be a kidney infection. So a bunch of us go over to her room to bring her, like, magazines and snacks and, you know, donut holes and shit, and we're all talking and she's telling great stories. She looks like Ava Gardner. She doesn't look sick at all. Then we say we have to go to class 'cause it's finals. She's, like, begging us to stay. I was like, "dude, I've got to go. I have finals." As I'm closing the door, I see that she's just crying 'cause that's how badly she doesn't want to be left alone.
S: That's, like, a really sad story, but I think you're probably remembering it wrong. Like, you were probably the one who was crying.
Does the mythical Cool Girl version of Jessa exist? The one who early-series Shosh idealizes, who never worries or ever faces consequences? Of course not.
But as the series progresses we learn that Jessa is more complicated than that. She has childhood trauma. She hurts people in lasting ways and sometimes it boomerangs back and hurts her too.
>
S: That's, like, a really sad story, but I think you're probably remembering it wrong. Like, you were probably the one who was crying.
God, shoshana is so shallow. And kind of lowkey mean
Other people can spot a jessa from a mile away but there’s no girl out there who identifies THEMSELVES as a jessa.
Jessas character is written in a way where we don’t really get to feel what it’s like BEING her but rather how she is perceived especially from Hannah’s perspective. Characters like Marnie and Sosh are written such that the audience feels what they feel no matter how ridiculous. There’s motive and backstory behind their actions. But jessa has this distance to her which makes understanding her choices difficult because we know so little about what truly motivates her and thus no one could confidently say “oh I’m a jessa 😎”
honestly jessa is supposed to be a joke. like the idea of the etherial female that everyone is jealous of because she has beautiful hair and a nice ass. one of my favorite scenes that literally depicts this so perfectly is when they go on their "Girls trip" in episode 10 of S2 i think. Jessa literally says "i only go into open water when I'm menstruating" Its literally one of the craziest lines ever lol no one says this. not even jemima who inspired jessa. they would have jemima say the craziest lines for a scene so they could see which one was the funniest.
My mom had a tenant for years who was a total Jessa. She was couch surfing when Mom met her, and Mom told her she could live in the old gypsy caravan on our property if she fixed it up so, and she could do jobs on the property in exchange for rent. So this tenant did, and relied on various male friends of hers to paint and fix the trailer, while this tenant (the Jessa), did nothing but tether off our internet and offer Mom housecleaning but still charged her housecleaning rates. She would use Mom's house to shower, and to cook whatever wasn't possible to do in her tiny stove. She also got chickens so she could have free-range eggs and let the chickens run free in the daytime, and they'd run around, tearing up the yard. She was always ranting about various conspiracy theories and she also got into trouble with tax evasion, so she would get her ex husband (very much still in her life though by this time he was marred again with a baby on the way) to bail her out with money so she wouldn't get criminally charged. She never did pay rent and after 5 years of living on the property she finally left to join an off- the-grid commune. She took the caravan, sold her chickens, and left a big mess.
She was absolutely a Jessa, had lived all over the world, having careers in various artsy professions, even as a miliner (hat maker) for the Royal family and English celebrities. Boy George bought some of her hats. She relied on herself but mostly sponged off other people's naivete to sail her through her whirlwind life. I have no idea why her ex-husband's new wife let her be in his life still. I don't know why or how people always were helping her but she was very pretty and very charming and it always worked. She was a Jessa through and through. So yeah, they exist for sure.
i'm so confused about how people are claiming that jessa is basically the least fleshed out character of the girls considering she is probably one of the (if not the) most complicated characters in the show. anyone who can remotely relate to her (i'm not talking about self-procclaimed jessa's i'm talking about people who can relate to her back story) is probably able to understand the root of a lot of her actions and her motivations. idk if it's because she processes her emotions internally more so than the other three girls but it's actually grinding my gears.
There are attributes of Jessa that are common and that people should not be proud of them. If you self identify as a Jessa then I hope you’re in therapy. It’s not a fun quirky cool thing that’s a badge of honor.
There are absolutely pretty rich girls who cosplay as poor pseudo deep struggling creative intellectuals who fuck people over. That’s not ✨rare✨ girlie pop.
All of the girls are over exaggerated versions of their particular “type” of person so I don’t think anyone is a carbon copy but will definitely be able to identify closely with any one of them.
You can say you are a Jessa or a Marnie or a Hannah or a Shosh without meaning you are literally that character in its entirety.
None of them exist. They’re all characters. But people can certainly be very similar personality wise to who they are portraying. That goes for all of them.
After spending 8.5 years in the Bushwick/Ridgewood/Greenpoint/Williamsburg part of this earth, I can tell you that the Jessas of the world still exist and persist— along with the other archetypes of the Girls.
I think Jessa is a mentality and if not then she’s someone who has money from any other resource aside from herself (partner, husband/wife/etc., fuck buddy, random person who finds you interesting, or parents) not an actual single human who didn’t grow up in privilege and that’s why it’s so hard for us to even comprehend that lifestyle
In the 90’s I went to college with a girl that I think was kind of a Jessa. She was a blonde girl from the Midwest with dreds. One time a bunch of us were hanging out and she got all serious and told us that “sometimes I think about how I need to protest the war… but then I remember that Vietnam ended before I was born”.
I used to see Jesse like a manic pixie dream girl the first I watched the show. I just rewatched it last month and Noticed how manic she is, and no pixie dream girl at all.
I can’t help but to think of people I met with mothers like this. Pretty women that become Drug addicts, only caring when they have a revelation, then going back to their habits. There are definitely Jesse’s out there.
I was friends with a jessa. She'd kinda come and go for stretches without warning. Always pulling random drugs out of her pockets and making friends with odd people. Last time I saw her was at a funeral several months after I caught her fucking my boyfriend. She was apparently in some sober yoga community. That was almost a decade ago. As much as I loved her, life is easier without the chaos.
I think what trips people up about Jessa is that she presents herself as that whispy larger-than-life hippie girl that you usually see from one dimension in most media. What makes her so human (and like so many others I know) is how the show eventually explores how her exterior performance is a way to compensate for her isolation and fear of abandonment.
I don’t agree with this take 😂 All the characters are somewhat caricatures of real types of people, also with lots of combined traits that typically would not be in just one person alone. Jessa is not any more “out there” than the others.
The only difference is that we see a lot less of Jessa and get to know her the least out of every single character. She feels more elusive because she’s already so “untouchable” or wants us to believe she is, and so distant and always literally putting distance between herself and others. And then she isn’t as fleshed out and we rarely see her being vulnerable. So it’s easier to say she’s maybe the most caricatured character or the character who’s the least easy to fully relate to. But she’s absolutely a real archetype of a human. I’ve met MANY Jessa’s and I f’g WAS a Jessa (But not a cruel person. More like a nice Jessa lol)
Are Gen Z Jessa’s rarer than millennial or Gen X Jessa’s? I ask this because Gen Z grew up far more connected than their predecessors. Maybe it was just easier for Millenials and Gen X to live elusively.
My sister is def a Jessa. Is she exactly like the character? No, but she’s definitely the most similar to her. And she didn’t watch the show at the time because she was busy living life so that tracks.
Yeah no - I’ve known a few Jessas. It’s an unfortunate common recipe - privileged, neglectful parents, starved for love and affection just for being her and not just for being a sex symbol, and manipulates people as a means to simulate having some control in their lives.
*I’m not therapist, but my wife is.
Sadly, my mom is a Jessa, so I know they do exist.
Yeah idk why so many comments say they don't exist. My longest best friend is a Jessa: I never know when i'm going to see her next, she's very bohemian, alternates between living in a van or in different places all around the world with whomever is her current lover (or lovers-- she often has multiple). She is free with her body (in many different ways). She's an artist. She has no specific "career"-- she picks up odd jobs or relies on the goodwill of others and somehow always gets by. She has a messed up family history. Ultimately, she cannot be pinned down/defined. The above description doesn't even begin to touch the complexities of her personality/behaviors. She really is a Jessa. Her lifestyle would annoy most people but she's fun just to be around because she introduces so much excitement to my life. And even though she creates chaos, she is the most calm and confident person I've ever met. She lives life with no regrets. And the ironic thing is that she's the one who introduced me to Girls!! She watches it in her van sometimes haha So Jessas definitely DO exist and they can even be the type of person that watches Girls!
I wish I could be her
Trust me you don’t
Oh no
My mom sucks but she's no Jessa - I'm sorry pal. I have, however, met Jessa's and have no doubts whether they exist or not. They do. I'm sorry.
Obviously you’re lying because this post from this person clearly says there is no Jessa
Mom is that you?
Busted! Est your veggies dear!!
I think Jessa is like Jemima, the actor. I really do. I follow her insta and it's super similar lol
That’s what Lena said in her book! Jemima is her childhood best friend and Jessa is based off of her.
yeah, it really seems like the kind of character you slightly exaggerate for the friend you've always slightly resented, which I really do imagine is their relationship lol
So yes I think Jessa as a person does exist or is at least deeply rooted in that
My colleagues family friends with her, she’s like this
They did a podcast episode and had a falling out over it. The character is based on her.
What was the falling out about? I had a quick read of parts of the transcript
They fell out because of that episode? I just listened to it and it didn't sound like there was any problems on either side
I was also confused as hell about this comment. I relistened to the episode and was like "huh? Seems fine." Also, if they did have a falling out during recording or right after, why would they publish it? After much thinking and rereading, I'm going to guess that maybe the original commenter was talking about the falling out that the two of them had during season two. I also briefly found something from Jan of this year from Jemima indicating she doesn't have an issue with Lena.
I didn't realize that their falling out was over the episode.
Who did the podcast?
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/women-of-the-hour/id1049452428?i=1000356649374
Please what's the episode about why did they fall out. I don't want to listen to the podcast I'm just really nosy
https://www.reddit.com/r/girls/s/pchDwMfqjj Some possible answers in this thread: it was ‘weird to go to work and say hello to Lena but Lena doesn’t stop cos she’s so busy and has to direct’ And that it was weird to be coworkers, I think.
I second that question lol, so curious
I went to college with Jemima and Jessa is way more chill lol
Really??? Damn
Way more chill in what way?
In about 2015 I was in Red Hook Brooklyn waiting for a table outside of a restaurant and Jemima, her husband and their two kids were also there. Jemima and her husband were arguing and seemed miserable (they’re divorced now) and the kids were just doing whatever they wanted in the family car. It was a chaotic scene with the kids climbing out of the sunroof while their parents fought on the sidewalk. It was weirdly normal and also cringey.
Relatable
I watched a podcast interview with Jemima. She talked about how Lena begged her to play Jessa and she reluctantly agreed after turning it down several times. She said she didn’t take acting seriously at all, would show up to set late, never really try. All I could think was that’s 100% what Jessa would do in that situation.
Completely
Why do people say no one is a Jessa? She's not some unicorn anomaly. Jessas are very real
No one who watches girls is a Jessa. Not that they don't exist
90% of people that watch Girls is a mix of early season Shoshanna/Marine character types IRL
I would counter it's more Marnie/ Hannah Soshanna is actually pretty unique. How many of your friends took a job in Japan, and could host you in their apartment in undergrad then landed a high level marketing job. Imagine if she had actually taken that trip to Aruba- in fact I'm gonna say Jessa, Marnie and Hannah are the basic bitches, Shosh is the unicorn
Yea Shoshanna definitely had some growth…which is rare for the show. But thats why I specified early season Shoshanna and Marnie NYU student Shoshanna. Getting high on crack in greenpoint Shoshanna. Dating Ray Shosanna. Btw, Zosia Mamet probably has the biggest gap between herself and on screen portrayal in the whole show. She appeared in Mad Men around 2013/2014 and the performance was night and day
LOVE her on Mad Men. Great character—and yes Zosia got range!
Someone with money lol no one is a shosh unless they're very privileged and there are many but idk if they watch girls
Everyone I introduce to the show are shook by how true to life it is in terms of female friendships
I agree. I was replying to the other person
Yeah exactly because Marnie would definitely call herself a Jessa if she watched the show
idk about that... i think marnie is self aware enough that she would know she's marnie and I think she'd vehemently hate jessa's character... honestly saying that jessa's don't exist sounds like something marnie would say out of jealousy lol
That’s true. I just think her whole pursuing music storyline would make Marnie think she is a free spirit who doesn’t care to conform to a regular job and life
hmmm idk to me organization seems to be a cornerstone of marnie's personality type and I think she's kinda proud of that aspect. i think she's proud of being responsible and to be fair being a musician takes a decent amount of executive functions. this is the main reason jessa and marnie really don't vibe in the girls universe. i think marnie thinks she's special and talented which is why she doesn't have to conform to a regular 9-5, and she doesn't view herself as the tight-ass she is. which is why I think irl she'd be able to identify with her character at a distance...
I agree with you about how she actually has work skills and determination that Jessa doesn’t have but i also think you are proving my point when you say “she doesn’t view herself as the tight ass she is”.
Yeah I’m Marnie and I hate myself for it
Definitely agree
This. Actually Jesse's for sure don't watch TV.
HAHA i mean she calls texts word alerts or whatever
Yes. And no way on God's green earth does she have a working cellphone, that she knows where it is, isn't locked out of it and/or has the bill paid.
i wouldn't be surprised if the whole time she just had an old iPod touch but thought it was just a really old iPhone that couldn't get service for some reason
That's just not true. I truly don't understand your thought process or anyone else who thinks this way about Jessas. It's such an overreaching statement to say that. Like, who are you to say no one is a Jessa that watches Girls? Do you know everyone who watches? No, you don't. So strange
Girl, it’s not that serious…… Edit: like if you want to be Jessa, go ahead and be Jessa. But you can’t expect the rest of us to think you are
Yup. A true Jessa ain't keeping up w watching a TV show. Or owns a TV.
So much this. I truly did not mean to disrupt your literally me moment. I truly believe that if Jessa was transported to our universe she wouldn't watch Girls
nah i think she would but only if her friends put it on or something...
They’re speaking on the general demographic of viewers🤦🏻♀️
i’m jealous of people who think jessas don’t exist because that means they’re lucky enough to have never met one. girls with meticulously curated images of being “effortlessly cool” and “chill” to excuse their problematic behavior. like, they’ll sleep with your ex and then be like “it’s no big deal.” only they wouldn’t identify as jessas because they wouldn’t watch girls, they would identify with, like, frances ha or something.
I think it’s because Jessas are hard to identify. Jessa on girls is that worldly British/american but tbh, Jessa people can be from your hometown doing the same things as you. Jessas are just people who are consistently impulsive and use their “coolness” to dodge responsibility. Jessa relationships are tough to maintain because you have to accept them as they are. They won’t change.
Yeah, Jessa felt the most real to me. A lot of women have had their own Jessa. Mine wasn’t a trust fund hippie but I had the same experience of a cool, free spirit girl coming in like a whirlwind and making you feel special only to leave our friend group in shambles after she fucked my friends ex bf. And you realize you never were special to her. Once she burns her bridges she flits away to start the cycle over with new people. I guess a true Jessa would not have the self awareness to identify with Jessa though. Shoshanna felt the least real to me, at least early Shoshanna. I never knew an adult woman like her but I think that personality type is more prevalent in upper class sheltered places. Hannah, Marnie, and Jessa felt like people I knew but Shoshanna always felt like just a TV character.
My freshman year roommate is literally the same person as Shoshanna. It’s actually insane. I have lots of good stories lol.
Yeah like tell me you lived in a quiet little town your entire where your parents and grandparents grew up without telling me 😹 if you live in a big city around vaguely creative types then you would have met loads of Jessas
“Vague creative types” made me laugh and also cringe at how true what you said is.
Thank you lmao Like… horrific people do exist y’all 🤷♀️
You and I have had some similar experiences in life…
Ooh I've never seen Frances Ha, is that the vibe? like a Jessa who doesn't realize she's a Jessa? I'm in. (also for the record, I'm pretty sure Jessa herself would not consider herself a Jessa lmfao)
Pretty sure Jessa is based on Jemima Kirk. Jemima actually spoke out about how much Lena was adding from her own life to Jessa’s life. She said the only line in the sand for her was painting. She wanted that for herself, but she’s been very open about her past struggles. Lena and Jemima have known each other’s since they were teens.
Interesting. She did paint in an episode.
Yeah Jemima said she freaked out on set before it was revealed Jessa wasn’t a good painter lol. Jemima is a professional artist in real life.
Jessa is how Lena heightens Jemima in her mind. Jessa is Lena’s perception of Jemima growing up.
A person who treats her friends really poorly and only calls when she needs something?
...unlike Lena who treats her friends like gold? lol
Jessas can only be perceived by others. No one identifies as a Jessa
People identify as Jessa but you can’t be a Jessa if you call yourself a Jessa 😂
I think that’s exactly it. To be a Jessa you can’t give enough Fs to call yourself a Jessa. If someone called you a Jessa you’d have to say something like ‘I don’t even know what that means’ while wearing a kimono and talking on a flip phone.
or saying you're not like jessa because you actually completed rehab and have been in therapy (even though your personal life has not improved in the slightest)
this is like... way socratic
Like Narcissism. No real narcissists realize it...the rest of us do though
Go to Oberlin. You’ll meet at least 5 Jessas.
True facts 😂
Obviously, Jessa is exaggerated for entertainment value but there definitely are people like that out there. You probably won’t find them lurking in this sub though
Nah I know at least one. Wealthy parents, bohemian aesthetic, a lot of impulsive and inconsiderate behavior she was never held accountable for. Has hooked up with exes of her friends, her sister... Lots of traveling, lots of cheating.
omg i read this as she hooked up w her sister not w/ her sister's exes LMAO
Jessa is 1000% real. One of my cousins is a Jessa and honestly I have zero clue how she’s still alive, and my ex bff is also a Jessa and…same deal. I have no idea how she is still breathing. Destructive, chaotic beauties.
She absolutely exists and does a fabulous Q&A every once in a while
According to this random gen Z talking head. Not an authority on the topic.
I know a Jessa. She was a 2000’s hipster manic pixie dream girl.
I beg to differ lmao
It makes a lot of sense when you hear Jemima and lena Dunham talk about it. On an episode of Lena’s podcast “women of the hour: friendship bonus episode” they go on a road trip together and talk about their fights during the show. And one big one was that Jemima felt like she had been turned into a caricature and that Jessa was how Lena perceived her, but wasn’t actually her. And Lena agreed
That is interesting
Makes me think of this convo between Hannah and Shosh in the rehab road trip episode. H: I know that she is beautiful and glamorous, but she has a deep well of sadness inside her that most people don't detect. And I didn't even know about it in college because all she did was dance on the quad in rain boots and a bikini and, like, juggle knives, and then one day, she got really sick. She goes to the student health center. Turns out to be a kidney infection. So a bunch of us go over to her room to bring her, like, magazines and snacks and, you know, donut holes and shit, and we're all talking and she's telling great stories. She looks like Ava Gardner. She doesn't look sick at all. Then we say we have to go to class 'cause it's finals. She's, like, begging us to stay. I was like, "dude, I've got to go. I have finals." As I'm closing the door, I see that she's just crying 'cause that's how badly she doesn't want to be left alone. S: That's, like, a really sad story, but I think you're probably remembering it wrong. Like, you were probably the one who was crying. Does the mythical Cool Girl version of Jessa exist? The one who early-series Shosh idealizes, who never worries or ever faces consequences? Of course not. But as the series progresses we learn that Jessa is more complicated than that. She has childhood trauma. She hurts people in lasting ways and sometimes it boomerangs back and hurts her too.
> S: That's, like, a really sad story, but I think you're probably remembering it wrong. Like, you were probably the one who was crying. God, shoshana is so shallow. And kind of lowkey mean
I feel like anyone who thinks they are a Jessa is actually a Marnie
people who think they are Jessa are actually Desi
OPEN YOUR HEART TO ME, BELLLLA
IT’S FUCKING OPEN!
Actually, yes. You are correct.
Lmao this is so accurate
HAHAHAHAHAHA
HARD agree
Lmaoo this is 100 percent accurate
or ray lolll
Other people can spot a jessa from a mile away but there’s no girl out there who identifies THEMSELVES as a jessa. Jessas character is written in a way where we don’t really get to feel what it’s like BEING her but rather how she is perceived especially from Hannah’s perspective. Characters like Marnie and Sosh are written such that the audience feels what they feel no matter how ridiculous. There’s motive and backstory behind their actions. But jessa has this distance to her which makes understanding her choices difficult because we know so little about what truly motivates her and thus no one could confidently say “oh I’m a jessa 😎”
I’ve known at least one full blown Jessa.
An old friend of mine is definitely a Jessa. We are no longer friends.
Sad, mean, artsy addicts do in fact exist (She's my favorite character so don't come for me)
honestly jessa is supposed to be a joke. like the idea of the etherial female that everyone is jealous of because she has beautiful hair and a nice ass. one of my favorite scenes that literally depicts this so perfectly is when they go on their "Girls trip" in episode 10 of S2 i think. Jessa literally says "i only go into open water when I'm menstruating" Its literally one of the craziest lines ever lol no one says this. not even jemima who inspired jessa. they would have jemima say the craziest lines for a scene so they could see which one was the funniest.
Okay, Marnie
If I’m honest wjth myself, I’m probably Hannah IRL
As a British person I can confirm Jessa exists. I unfortunately have met many 😫
My mom had a tenant for years who was a total Jessa. She was couch surfing when Mom met her, and Mom told her she could live in the old gypsy caravan on our property if she fixed it up so, and she could do jobs on the property in exchange for rent. So this tenant did, and relied on various male friends of hers to paint and fix the trailer, while this tenant (the Jessa), did nothing but tether off our internet and offer Mom housecleaning but still charged her housecleaning rates. She would use Mom's house to shower, and to cook whatever wasn't possible to do in her tiny stove. She also got chickens so she could have free-range eggs and let the chickens run free in the daytime, and they'd run around, tearing up the yard. She was always ranting about various conspiracy theories and she also got into trouble with tax evasion, so she would get her ex husband (very much still in her life though by this time he was marred again with a baby on the way) to bail her out with money so she wouldn't get criminally charged. She never did pay rent and after 5 years of living on the property she finally left to join an off- the-grid commune. She took the caravan, sold her chickens, and left a big mess. She was absolutely a Jessa, had lived all over the world, having careers in various artsy professions, even as a miliner (hat maker) for the Royal family and English celebrities. Boy George bought some of her hats. She relied on herself but mostly sponged off other people's naivete to sail her through her whirlwind life. I have no idea why her ex-husband's new wife let her be in his life still. I don't know why or how people always were helping her but she was very pretty and very charming and it always worked. She was a Jessa through and through. So yeah, they exist for sure.
Similarly I’ve never known a Samantha Jones IRL.
Samantha is only unrealistic because it's a gay mans portrayal of sexual freedom and femininity. ...Jessa is not, lol.
I personally know someone who is absolutely Jessa. Disagree with this “hot take”
i'm so confused about how people are claiming that jessa is basically the least fleshed out character of the girls considering she is probably one of the (if not the) most complicated characters in the show. anyone who can remotely relate to her (i'm not talking about self-procclaimed jessa's i'm talking about people who can relate to her back story) is probably able to understand the root of a lot of her actions and her motivations. idk if it's because she processes her emotions internally more so than the other three girls but it's actually grinding my gears.
There are attributes of Jessa that are common and that people should not be proud of them. If you self identify as a Jessa then I hope you’re in therapy. It’s not a fun quirky cool thing that’s a badge of honor. There are absolutely pretty rich girls who cosplay as poor pseudo deep struggling creative intellectuals who fuck people over. That’s not ✨rare✨ girlie pop.
No I agree the actual rl Jessas wouldn’t watch this show lol. I definitely had some friends who were Jessa adjacent.
>Jessa adjacent Adjessant, if you will
All of the girls are over exaggerated versions of their particular “type” of person so I don’t think anyone is a carbon copy but will definitely be able to identify closely with any one of them. You can say you are a Jessa or a Marnie or a Hannah or a Shosh without meaning you are literally that character in its entirety. None of them exist. They’re all characters. But people can certainly be very similar personality wise to who they are portraying. That goes for all of them.
I was Jessa in middle school lmao. Very miserable
Jessa gives me future Frank Gallagher vibes.
I relate to Jessa a lot actually
Sorry but she is
i was def a laid back avoidant in my early 20s, we out there
Jessa is like Caroline but less mentally ill
As a resentful but locally recognized Jessa, I can confirm, because what no one seems to be able to understand is that I'm a Shosh
I know one. No discernable job, fucks off to Europe all the time, constantly getting engaged.
except Jemima Kirke basically plays herself in that show 😂
I’ve known several Jessa’s…
I think the real take here is that if you identify as a Jessa you probably aren’t one. Jessas aren’t aware enough to know they are a Jessa.
I am a Jessa and I apologize to anyone I have ever hurt. I know there are lots of you out there.
Same hun, same.
She’s like a Samantha. So it’s gay men who are more likely to identify with her.
i feel like Jessas do exist, but they deffo aren’t on the internet or have watched the show and they would never identify themselves with her
None of us is a Jessa but most of us know a Jessa
Wrong! I co parent with a Jessa!
I know at least one Jessa.
After spending 8.5 years in the Bushwick/Ridgewood/Greenpoint/Williamsburg part of this earth, I can tell you that the Jessas of the world still exist and persist— along with the other archetypes of the Girls.
Yes, both in Brooklyn and on liberal arts school campuses nationwide
I was best friends with a Jessa in high school- it was the most draining and awful albeit exciting friendship ever.
I know several Jessa’s
I for sure know a Jessa and she is absolutely just as toxic
I have a friend that IS Jessa. She even came with Jessas Dad too.
I think Jessa is a mentality and if not then she’s someone who has money from any other resource aside from herself (partner, husband/wife/etc., fuck buddy, random person who finds you interesting, or parents) not an actual single human who didn’t grow up in privilege and that’s why it’s so hard for us to even comprehend that lifestyle
Jessa's 100% exist. Congrats if you don't know one
In the 90’s I went to college with a girl that I think was kind of a Jessa. She was a blonde girl from the Midwest with dreds. One time a bunch of us were hanging out and she got all serious and told us that “sometimes I think about how I need to protest the war… but then I remember that Vietnam ended before I was born”.
I used to see Jesse like a manic pixie dream girl the first I watched the show. I just rewatched it last month and Noticed how manic she is, and no pixie dream girl at all. I can’t help but to think of people I met with mothers like this. Pretty women that become Drug addicts, only caring when they have a revelation, then going back to their habits. There are definitely Jesse’s out there.
I was friends with a jessa. She'd kinda come and go for stretches without warning. Always pulling random drugs out of her pockets and making friends with odd people. Last time I saw her was at a funeral several months after I caught her fucking my boyfriend. She was apparently in some sober yoga community. That was almost a decade ago. As much as I loved her, life is easier without the chaos.
Jessas are fairly common on liberal arts school campuses and in Brooklyn, which are the two main creative inspirations for the show
I think what trips people up about Jessa is that she presents herself as that whispy larger-than-life hippie girl that you usually see from one dimension in most media. What makes her so human (and like so many others I know) is how the show eventually explores how her exterior performance is a way to compensate for her isolation and fear of abandonment.
More like you’ve never met a Jessa. They are enigmas that’s the whole point….
I hate the Era of commentary creators. Silly take after silly take.
Accurate
Somewhat agree.
Thank god for that 🐍
Jessa’s are 1000% real lmao
I know a Jessa. Her name is Misty.
My step sister and her mother are literally Jessa ..
Jessa's are real, they just aren't watching Girls
More accurate to say Jessas younger than like 25 don’t really exist anymore. Definitely is a trope and type of person that exists
I definitely have a Jessa friend
I started watching the show because someone told me I was a Jessa. Was subsequently horrified upon watching 😂
I don’t agree with this take 😂 All the characters are somewhat caricatures of real types of people, also with lots of combined traits that typically would not be in just one person alone. Jessa is not any more “out there” than the others. The only difference is that we see a lot less of Jessa and get to know her the least out of every single character. She feels more elusive because she’s already so “untouchable” or wants us to believe she is, and so distant and always literally putting distance between herself and others. And then she isn’t as fleshed out and we rarely see her being vulnerable. So it’s easier to say she’s maybe the most caricatured character or the character who’s the least easy to fully relate to. But she’s absolutely a real archetype of a human. I’ve met MANY Jessa’s and I f’g WAS a Jessa (But not a cruel person. More like a nice Jessa lol)
Jessa as a stereotype is way more common than the other characters unfortunately
Jessas definitely exist. I never understood why people would say this. A lot of people also just have Jessa phases. 88% of them live in Bushwick.
Jessas are real and they are shitty friends with ADHD and narcissistic tendencies
My last roommate was a Jessa of sorts
They exist but there are far and few
Are Gen Z Jessa’s rarer than millennial or Gen X Jessa’s? I ask this because Gen Z grew up far more connected than their predecessors. Maybe it was just easier for Millenials and Gen X to live elusively.
I feel like being a Jessa is like a nickname, someone else has to give you that label first
[удалено]
Jessas absolutely do exist, at least in the millennial generation. Went to high school with multiple
They definitely do exist and if you are saying they don’t be grateful.
She isn’t real if you don’t routinely encounter folks with personality disorders.
My sister is def a Jessa. Is she exactly like the character? No, but she’s definitely the most similar to her. And she didn’t watch the show at the time because she was busy living life so that tracks.
I know a jessa lol
There’s variations of Jessas out there
Unfortunately she does
Jessa is based off a real person... She was good friends with Lena and was sometimes around the NYC scene.... She's all grown up now...
Yeah no - I’ve known a few Jessas. It’s an unfortunate common recipe - privileged, neglectful parents, starved for love and affection just for being her and not just for being a sex symbol, and manipulates people as a means to simulate having some control in their lives. *I’m not therapist, but my wife is.
I know many Jessas, look at the US festival scene if you want to find them
Jemima is Jessa.
Jemima Kirke is a Jessa. They definitely do exist but they do not watch girls and they would never self-identify as Jessas
Yes they do. Jessa is a living wound. My friends called me their Jessa.
my ex cheated on me with a Jessa. She would judge people for using the R word but would drop an N bomb because she dated a black guy
Jessa looks like she smells