Netflix’s Girlboss: Adulthood Is Where Dreams Die

This show is loosely based on true story of ‘Nasty Gal’ founder Sophia Amoruso. Sophie drifts from one day to the next, in a job she hates for bum paychecks that she needs, to pay the rent each month. She’s an outcast to society’s norms and its okay attitude to take shit from people for money. She sees that if you want something to happen, you have to make it happen. She’s a non-belonger with an enthusiasm for fashion, becoming an unlikely entrepreneur in the process. As her business grows, she has to adapt to being her own boss, a girlboss, and it’s harder than it looks.

Netflix’s Girlboss is inspired on the real life tale of Sophia Amoruso, a rags to riches story in mind and bank account. From college dropout to shoplifter to flogging second-hand clothes on eBay and ultimately running a multi-million dollar fashion label. And I truly hope Netflix commission a second season to this comedy-drama because it deserves one. Based on #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso and written for the screen by Kay Cannon (Pitch Perfect), this show has spirit and it’s got legs, especially Britt Robertson (Tomorrowland) in the lead as the our main character Sophia Marlowe.

That moment when you get a jacket worth megabucks for $9 and some advice
(Girlboss, Netflix)

“We all just walk around like sheep in a jail of capitalism” says Sophia (Robertson), and is she wrong? I don’t think so. Too many people are willing to sell their souls for a bit of money, flushing their dignity and self-respect down the toilet. There’s lessons everywhere, even when she’s degraded to fishing food from street-side bins. With executive producer Charlize Theron, I’m seeing a trend of thought-to-be only A-list actors taking a dabble in production. And Girlboss takes a dramatic turn when we learn of Sophia’s backstory, and her recklessness can be traced back to the mother who ran out on her as a child.

Sophia Marlowe is a mess. She’s a disaster. She’s always late, shoplifting, always behind on rent and can’t stay in a job. She’s so different from her collected father (Breaking Bad’s Dean Norris). When she’s fired from her assistant role in a shoe shop in San Francisco, things are to get worse still. Her being fired wasn’t even for a good reason. She got hungry and started eating her manager’s sandwich knowing it was her manager’s sandwich. It’s comical and her zero respect for authority is duly noted in many episodes throughout. Though, this doesn’t stop her and this is when she has the epiphany that became Nasty Gal.

Girlboss shows the hardships for women in business, especially when your own father doesn’t believe in you
(Girlboss, Netflix)

The show’s supporting characters are great. We have Annie (Ellie Reed) as Sophia’s supportive best friend. Honestly, these two are what the history books will remember of the millennial generation. To put it simply, they’re selfies with legs and they both give good performances. My favourite character was Sophia’s “landlord”, the pot-smoking, sass-mouthing, airport-working Lionel (RuPaul Charles). He an all-round funny guy who has some meaningful stuff to say every so often. We also have Sophia’s dad who isn’t really that interesting, and her boyfriend Shane (Johnny Simmons), who typically, turns out to be a scumbag.

From the main characters to the supporting ones and that excellent soundtrack, Girlboss is a snapshot of the millennial generation and our technological narcissism. The show is wild and as carefree as today’s teenagers. It critiques gender, class, race and capitalism in interesting, creative and innovative ways. It’s gritty in the sense that that it critiques what it’s like be female in business without being preachy and that’s great. Cultural appropriation, digs at the capitalist machine and dad’s being dads aren’t off the menu. The show looks at real issues that impact all of us but something tells me those of a certain age won’t get it.

Sometimes if you need something done, you have to go out and make it happen yourself
(Girlboss, Netflix)

From its performances to the soundtrack to the issues discussed, this is the millennials’ television show of the 2010s. It’s borderline chick flick, but it’s no Mean Girls. It’s handsfree and it knows what it is, even if those very non-modern-minded critics do not. Sometimes, you have to hang loose and do your own thing without caring about public opinion, and that’s what Girlboss is all about.

An adult’s guide to what it means to be in the head of a millennial, and a bunch of other stuff too

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