The shape of GIRLS Season Two after the first three episodes.

After watching a video explaining Kurt Vonnegut’s idea of the ‘Shape of Stories‘ and looking at the infographic that Maya Eliam made using his theory, I decided to look at the television series, GIRLS, and see what shape the first three episodes of the second season would take on. While I knew that there would be ups and downs, I did not realize how much moment there would be within the shape of the story.

I love GIRLS and the crazy unpredictable things that happen in the lives of the main characters. I also realized while analyzing the show that many events, if taken out of context could be seen as being different. For example, one of the major plot points in episode three is that Hannah and Elijah acquire cocaine and experiment with it. While this might be seen as negative by some, it really helps to move the plot along.

All three episodes have some high highs and some low lows, but both the highest and lowest events happen in the season two premier. Hannah and Elijah’s housewarming party was the high point of the season so far, since almost everyone is happy at that point, something that rarely happens on the show. Conversely, Elijah’s decision to hookup with Marnie while drunk later in the episode is the low point of the season so far, since it triggers some issues in the two episodes that follow it including Elijah’s breakup with his boyfriend, George in episode two and Hannah’s announcement that she is kicking Elijah out of her apartment at the end of episode three after she finds out about what she did.

When it comes to Digital Stories, Vonnegut’s theory still applies, but depending on how a digital story is read, the shape can change with each reading. The best example I can find of this is Ergon/Logos by MolleIndustria. The game is a ‘choose your own adventure’ game in a way in that you roll over paths you choose. The paths you choose shape how your story goes, whether it is short or long and what happens to you as the ‘hero.’ You can get stuck in a loop, seeing the same words over and over before you reach one of the many endings to the story. It challenges preconceived notions of what a story is and what it should be.