{"id":168,"date":"2021-07-23T20:50:18","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T20:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/understanding-literacy-in-our-lives\/?post_type=chapter&p=168"},"modified":"2021-07-23T20:50:18","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T20:50:18","slug":"6-2-4-girlhood-on-film-the-impacts-of-media-on-young-women-research-essay","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/understanding-literacy-in-our-lives\/chapter\/6-2-4-girlhood-on-film-the-impacts-of-media-on-young-women-research-essay\/","title":{"rendered":"6.2.4 Girlhood on film: The impacts of media on young women (research essay)"},"content":{"raw":"

English 102, November 2020<\/h3>\r\nGrowing up, I, like many other children, was fascinated by movies. The feeling of walking out of a movie theater, into the lighted corridor, reflecting on everything that you have seen, heard, and felt in the last two hours. That feeling stuck with me long after I left the theater, on the car ride home, all the way to my little pink bedroom where I laid awake captivated by those movies. One of the first times I remember this feeling is when I went to see the movie\u00a0Stardust<\/em>\u00a0(2007) with my parents. In brief, the movie is about a shooting star that falls from the sky and becomes a young woman, and a man who captures her to bring as a gift to his maiden, but then falls in love with the star instead. I remember leaving the theater, staring at the setting sun and thinking, \u201cI want to be a star too.\u201d What I did not yet understand then was that I wanted to be more than a star, I wanted to be sought after, like a prize to be won. That is essentially the message of the movie: a pretty girl is like a prize, and she can be won by a man capturing her. You may say that I am looking too deeply into the movie, but when you look closer, you realize that this is not a unique plot, and even if you don\u2019t realize it, this trope, and others of the same vein, have\u00a0had an effect on\u00a0the way you view the world.\r\n\r\nAs a child who grew up on media of the 90s and early 2000s, I grew up through a period of change for what it means to be a girl. Unbeknownst to me, the United States was cultivating a new image of who I could be. Now,\u00a0Barbie\u2122 could be a CEO, girls could be\u00a0Totally Spies\u00a0<\/em>(2001), and there were not only one but two girl Power Rangers\u2122! Suddenly I felt like the world had completely\u00a0opened up\u00a0to me. There were so many possibilities! But was that the reality? Was it really that easy?\r\n\r\nThe new concept of \u201cgirl power\u201d was everywhere, touting the unofficial motto \u201cgirls can do this stuff too!\u201d There were stickers, purses, and shirts galore to spread this message. \u201cGirl power\u201d can be defined as the idea that girls can do\u00a0anything\u00a0they put their minds too, because they are no different than boys,\u00a0right?\r\n\r\n\u201cGirl power\u201d send a message of equality, which at first glance seems like an amazing, revolutionary movement. But this movement does not come from such humble intentions. In fact, it was really created by corporations in order to sell more products. It is pandering to an audience that desperately wants change. It is saying, \u201chere, look, change has been made! Girls are doing boy stuff now, so everything is equal!\u201d But the thing is, girls are not just the same as boys. Girls are unique. Girls are not just boys that wear frilly clothes and bows. We are our own kind, as we have been taught to. You can\u2019t just take that away from\u00a0us, and\u00a0tell us that we are now part of the boys\u2019 club. Equity, as opposed to equality, is what is needed here. Whereas equality poses that everybody should get the same treatment, equity argues that people need different levels and kinds of treatment. The whole concept of equality, in a way, is inherently unequal, because men and women do not necessarily have the same needs, goals, and desires. Therefore, we cannot just treat them\u00a0exactly the same.\u00a0So\u00a0while\u00a0its\u00a0really cool to see the pink Power Ranger\u2122 fighting bad guys, we must not let that distract us from the realities of girls and women. It is important that we analyze the media we are being presented, otherwise we fall victim to it.\r\n\r\nWhat kind of impact can this media have on girls? Author Sarah Hentges writes that \u201cwhat consumer \u2018girl power\u2019 fails to take into account is girls\u2019 lack of power in [areas other than popular culture]\u201d (Hentges 9). Doctor Barbie\u2122 is not real. The profession of a popular doll can offer inspiration, but it cannot offer opportunities to pursue something as a career. To tell a girl that she can do anything, and then have her go into the world believing\u00a0that,\u00a0is honestly unfair. Even\u00a0in this day and age, she will undoubtedly face discrimination. She will not be prepared to deal with the challenges of the real world. On the flipside, displaying women as objects to be attained enforces the idea that a girl\u2019s only worth is her looks. This offers a very small world to girls, making them think that they must stay inside the boundaries they are placed in. So where can we meet in the middle? And how does one depict the realities of growing up as a girl, and all the complexities it entails?\r\n\r\nAuthor Sarah Hentges explains that \u201cit is important to consider the difference between \u2018girl power\u2019 as a function of the mainstream, and girls\u2019 empowerment as negotiated in and out of the mainstream\u201d (Hentges 9). Hentges is saying that the popular culture media representing \u201cgirl power\u201d is not what is really going to push for women\u2019s rights and inclusion in male-dominated careers. What is going to make change is when people take concrete action to further the movement for gender equity. One way that this can be done is by amplifying our voices to help us share our stories. One powerful way women\u00a0open up\u00a0about their experiences and what they are passionate about is through film. The relationship between women and film is a powerful\u00a0one, and\u00a0spans back over a century. Since the Victorian era, women have explored the medium of film to express their emotions and desires, often specifically relating to womanhood. In 1916, female director Lois Weber released a movie entitled\u00a0Where Are My Children?<\/em>\u00a0in which she radically argues for the legalization of abortion (Kaplan 17). Weber and several others such as Alice Guy Blanche created films that expressed the emotional strife of fulfilling their roles as wife, mother,\u00a0homekeeper,\u00a0etc..\u00a0Although many of these films have been lost, and as such many do not know of this early history of women\u2019s\u2019 filmmaking, it is nonetheless a powerful beginning. Since the beginning, women have been creating realistic portrayals of their life on the screen. Emma Wilson, an academic and writer specializing in French literature and cinema, discusses in her essay \u201cEtat Present: Contemporary French Women Filmmakers\u201d the common themes of intimacy and family in women\u2019s\u2019 film. These real-life stories being depicted shows how women desired to share their struggles with the world, and no doubt had an impact on other women\u2019s\u00a0lives.\r\n\r\nBut what about younger girls? Where are their stories? Arguably one of the most impactful films about girlhood is Catherine Hardwicke\u2019s\u00a0Thirteen<\/em>. The raw portrait of girls\u2019 adolescence is based on the life of a real girl, Nikki Reed, who in fact wrote much of the screenplay for the film. This inclusion of young girls in the process of filmmaking is groundbreaking and incredibly important in order to depict the realities of girls\u2019 lives. The film centers around 13-year-old Tracy, a girl who is struggling with her mental health partially due to her parents\u2019 divorce and her mother\u2019s subsequent relationship with a new man, as well as them being ex-addicts. Tracy feels isolated as her mother fails to notice her growing mental health issues. Tracy faces bullying at school for dressing like a little girl and becomes frustrated with this image, begging her mother to take her shopping for new clothes despite being unable to afford them. Donning a new image, Tracy is noticed buy schoolmate Evie, played by co-screenwriter Nikki Reed, a popular girl with a reputation for acting older than her age. Evie introduces Tracy to a lifestyle of drugs, sex, and crime, to which Tracy feels pressured to join in order to seem \u201ccool\u201d\u00a0and also\u00a0to find release from her depression. As the girls begin to spend more time together, Tracy drifts farther away from her mother, who grows worried by their relationship and behavior. An infamous scene entails Tracy and Evie getting high and hitting and punching each other. This is one of several instances where we see Tracy feeling the need to hurt herself to cope with her deteriorating mental health. She also struggles from cutting, a form of self-harm. After a fight, the girls break up their friendship which leads to Tracy getting bullied again. Tracy also learns that she will need to repeat the seventh grade as a result of her behavior. Tracy\u2019s mother confronts her and learns of her daughter\u2019s self-harm, sobbing and embracing her daughter in an emotionally jarring scene of connection between mother and daughter. The final scene shows a dream sequence of Tracy\u2019s in which she is riding alone, screaming, on a merry-go-round, a metaphor for the pain of losing her childhood.\r\n\r\nBefore this movie, the dark side of girls\u2019 adolescence was largely underreported. There seemed to be two defined\u00a0stage: little girl and grown-up, with no in-between. The painful in-between stage of preteen and teen girlhood was ignored and left to fester in the shadows. It is a common stereotype for the teenage girl to be somewhat of a \u201cliving hell\u201d for mothers, they shrug it off, saying \u201coh, they\u2019re just going through\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>phase.\u201d If you are a woman, you know this to be true. There is a period of disconnect that occurs between mother and daughter, a period of mystery. What is going on behind her bedroom door? Most often, mothers simply do not know what to do. They fear the truth is worse than their imagination. They fear that the chasm between them and their lovely little girl will only grow if they try to intervene. But in turn, this almost always makes things worse. As a teenager, you feel like\u00a0the complete opposite of\u00a0your parents, and you think that they could never understand you. In part, this feeling may relate to how \u201cthe early maturation of female bodies has contributed to girls being treated as sexual beings at younger ages\u2026girls are required to become street-wise long before their mothers were.\u201d (Kearney 129). It is already scary enough for a mother to imagine her daughter growing up, but to see one\u2019s daughter mature earlier than expected is incredibly overwhelming, making the mother feel that she cannot relate to her child either. What\u00a0Thirteen\u00a0<\/em>reminds\u00a0us\u00a0is that nothing is worse than feeling utterly alone. Thus, the representation of this film had a two-fold impact. Teen girls, such as\u00a0myself, felt seen and understood, and mothers, albeit shocked and disturbed, felt the need to connect with and listen to their daughters. In an article from the Center for Parent\/Youth Understanding, Walt Mueller cautions that \u201cif [Thirteen<\/em>] is indeed [young people\u2019s] world and we haven\u2019t been listening, [parents] better start paying attention\u201d (Center for Parent\/Youth Understanding).\r\n\r\nIt would be easy to compare the film\u00a0Thirteen\u00a0<\/em>to the concept of the Ophelia: the silent, wounded, and defenseless girl who has been tortured by the world. The term was made popular by the 1994 book\u00a0Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls<\/em>\u00a0written by psychologist Mary Pipher, in which the author compares struggling young women to the character Ophelia from Shakespeare\u2019s\u00a0Hamlet<\/em>\u00a0who ends up letting herself drown to death. Though the book was received extremely well by the public, it has also undergone much criticism, not unlike \u201cgirl power\u201d has (Gonick 11). While young girls are indeed very vulnerable, to view them as simply victims\u00a0is\u00a0to erase every other aspect of their identity. Girls cannot be passive in their own healing. They cannot simply be fixed by others. Girls need to be involved in their own recovery and growth. Simply speaking over girls, explaining them to themselves, does nothing to aid the situation. In fact, it really makes them feel more alone. Nikki Reed, co-screenwriter of\u00a0Thirteen<\/em>, explains during an interview with Oprah Winfrey that during the period of her life that inspired the film, \u201c[she] felt like [she] wasn\u2019t understood and like no one was listening to [her]\u201d (CPYU). When girls don\u2019t feel like they are being heard, they will retreat further into themselves, making them harder and harder to reach. In my opinion, while each may offer some positives, neither \u201creviving Ophelia\u201d nor \u201cgirl power\u201d are adequately contributing to creating a better world for young girls. I do not believe we will find the solution within one sole theory or concept, because I do not believe there is one solution. The answer is different for every girl, which further shows how our first step should be listening to the girls themselves.\r\n\r\nWhen we look back at the concept of \u201cgirl power\u201d with new context, we begin to see more inconsistencies within it. Nowhere in the definition or representation of this concept do we see or hear from real adolescent girls. These girls\u2019 voices, subsequently, are being ignored by the public. Through films like\u00a0Thirteen<\/em>, our society\u2019s idea of the teen girl is revealed to be a manufactured image, held together by glitter glue and smiley-face stickers. This centralized image\u00a0in itself stands\u00a0as a danger to young girls, for there is no \u201cone\u201d girl that can represent the lives of the billions of girls living across the globe. This just further alienates girls who differ from the mainstream. So where do girls go to when they can\u2019t find the answers they are looking for? And where do they go when they don\u2019t know what\u2019s right and what\u2019s wrong? The media has proven itself to be unreliable at best, oftentimes dangerous resource for young girls.\u00a0This is why\u00a0it is crucial for girls to have strong bonds with trusted adults in their lives, adults who take the time to listen and work to find healthy outlets and activities to help combat the negativity of adolescence. These relationships need to be safe spaces where girls can share their thoughts and feelings without fear of hostility, for these kinds of discussions are necessary in order to learn and grow. Young girls need guidance to help them make the right decisions, and they need someone who will try to understand them.\r\n\r\nAn example of a film that epitomizes the idea of \u201cgirl power\u201d is the 2001 feature\u00a0The Princess Diaries<\/em>. The movie is based on a series of books written by author Meg Cabot, adapted to screen by director Garry Marshall. At surface level, it seems like a female-empowerment film: a quirky teenage girl learns that she is\u00a0actually the\u00a0princess of a small\u00a0country, and\u00a0learns how to govern said country. Quite literally, she is a girl with power. Over the course of the movie, we see our lead character Mia rise to popularity after learning of her royal status and changing her appearance, causing strife among her friendships, but in the\u00a0end\u00a0everything works out perfectly. A product of the \u201cgirl power\u201d movement, the movie offers comedic relief towards the antiquated requirements of becoming a princess. For example, the main character, Mia, is naturally quite clumsy, so her\u00a0Grandmother, the Queen of Genovia, teaches her how to balance with the classic practice of balancing a book on one\u2019s head. Much physical comedy ensues as Mia struggles to complete the task. In moments like these we laugh at how ridiculous gender roles are. However, soon this idea is brushed away as we enter perhaps one of the most popular \u201cmakeover scenes\u201d in modern film history. Mia, initially somewhat of a tomboy, with big curly hair, bushy brows, combat boots, and glasses, is groomed to look more like a proper princess,\u00a0i.e.\u00a0straightened hair, no glasses, high heels, and a full face of makeup. During the makeover, the hairdresser even compares her natural hair to that of an animal. It goes without saying that this scene presents an image of the ideal girl, and the non-ideal girl. Not only is this movie making it seem as if Mia\u2019s natural traits are undesirable, which is already\u00a0harmful in itself, but\u00a0it also sends the message that girls should change their appearance in order to be accepted.\u00a0Similarly\u00a0to\u00a0Thirteen,\u00a0<\/em>we are introduced to the concept of the popular girl: well-liked by all, conventionally attractive, and abides by gender roles. The main character in each film wishes to be like the popular girl, and thus changes aspects of herself in order to achieve that goal.\u00a0The Princess Diaries<\/em>\u00a0ultimately presents the clich\u00e9 message that friends are more important than popularity, but there is much more that is left unsaid. It all really boils down to the quintessential makeover scene. After all, it is the real reason she succeeds in the end by both becoming the princess and getting the guy she likes. She does not end the movie by going back to her old appearance, and it is almost as if we as the audience are supposed to forget she ever had a makeover. While\u00a0Thirteen\u00a0<\/em>shows us the consequences of changing oneself in order to appease others,\u00a0The Princess Diaries<\/em>\u00a0only shows a classic fairytale.\r\n\r\nIn both films, we see that the desire of our main character is to \u201cgrow up\u201d in order to fulfill a role, whether it be the cool girl or the princess. There is such a pressure towards young girls to act older, and there is this myth that after they \u201cgrow up\u201d, their lives will be much better. Movies like\u00a0The Princess Diaries\u00a0<\/em>make this myth appear true. Growing up is seen as something easy, something base level: putting on makeup, wearing different clothes, swearing. These self-inflicted changes offer a feeling of empowerment, a feeling of independence to the girl. It gives the idea that one is in control of their identity. Because of this early pressure to mature, they are \u201cforced to recognize the power imbalances that structure our society, [they] must learn and practice the strategies that will help them survive in an environment that is often hostile to both females and the young\u201d (Kearney 129). These strategies of self-defense are not always carrying pepper-spray. They can also be as simple as dressing like the popular girls, like Tracy did in\u00a0Thirteen<\/em>\u00a0to try and stop people from bullying her. Surviving as a girl in a world of hostility often involves going against your own will, staying silent when you want to speak, and changing yourself to fit others\u2019 standards. What is never shown or explained is the mental processes that are involved in the actuality of \u201cgrowing up.\u201d This directly reflects how the reality of \u201cgirl power\u201d is based on consumerism, and not the consumer themself.\r\n\r\nThere is not an easy solution to the problems at hand. It is going to take a lot of effort and care to change the world\u2019s view of teenage girls into one that is truly empowering, and to ameliorate the damage that has been done. I believe that there are two main areas that need to be focused on: representation and education. Firstly, we need girls to feel like they are being seen, much like I felt after watching\u00a0Thirteen<\/em>. This relates not only to who is in front of the camera, but also who is behind it. In a study from the Sundance Institute and Women in Film Los Angeles Women Filmmakers Initiative, research showed that female filmmakers have an\u00a0affect\u00a0on the types of stories that are told. Not only are female filmmakers more likely to cast more girls and women in their movies than their male counterparts, but they also have a large impact on the stories that are told. Women were known to focus more on the humanity of a story, taking time to make the characters realistic and relatable (3).\u00a0In order for\u00a0girls to feel understood, they need to see people like them in the media they consume.\u00a0This is why\u00a0more films about girlhood, specifically directed, produced, and\/or written by women, need to be made. Catherine Hardwicke, the director of\u00a0Thirteen<\/em>, discusses the importance of representation in film in an interview, explaining that\u00a0\u201cif you have cool images out there of multidimensional women who have interesting jobs and interesting lives, and actually have lines of dialogue with other women, you show these wonderful possibilities for people \u2014 it just gives hope. It gives kids all over the world a more realistic view, more exciting opportunities\u201d (Street Roots).\r\n\r\nAnother crucial factor to this situation is media literacy. Media literacy involves the understanding of how to critically analyze media in order to interpret the messages it sends. Media literacy education has become much more popular in the past couple decades, and many media educators and scholars have been arguing to include the facets of media production in the material taught. The facilitators of these studies aim to stress the importance of treating young people as \u201cintelligent, engaged members of society who have the ability to become further empowered through media education and practice\u201d (Kearney 19). Treating the youth with this kind of respect is necessary when treating this issue, otherwise we will further disconnect from them when they need us most. I believe that with proper media literacy education, girls will be able to identify harmful stereotypes in media and critically analyze them. Further, I believe they will be able to see how these stereotypes can affect them and the girls around them. This awareness is the first step to making change. Showing girls that what they are seeing in media is not realistic lets them know that they should not feel wrong for being different, that what they are going through is normal, and that they are not alone.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nWorks Cited\r\n\r\nGonik, Marnina. \u201cBetween \u2018Girl Power\u2019 and \u2018Reviving Ophelia\u2019: Constituting the Neoliberal Girl Subject.\u201d 2006.\u00a0michelepolak.com\/3099spring13\/Weekly_Schedule_files\/Gonick.pdf<\/a>.\r\n\r\nMueller, Walt. \u201cTracy Speaks: An Excerpt about \u2018Thirteen.<\/em>\u2019\u201d\u00a0Center for Parent\/Youth Understanding<\/em>. 2004.\u00a0cpyu.org\/resource\/tracy-speaks-an-excerpt-about-thirteen\/<\/a>.\r\n\r\nHansell, Sarah. \u201c\u2019Twilight\u00b4\u00a0<\/em>Director Catherine Hardwicke Advocates for Women in Film.\u201d\u00a0Street Roots<\/em>. 25 February 2016.\u00a0streetroots.org\/news\/2016\/02\/25\/twilight-director-catherine-hardwicke-advocates-women-film<\/a>.\r\n\r\nSmith, Stacy L., et al. \u201cExploring the Barriers and Opportunities for Independent Women Filmmakers.\u201d\u00a0Sundance Institute and Women\u00a0In\u00a0Film Los Angeles Women Filmmakers Initiative<\/em>, 1 Jan. 2013, pp. 1\u201343.\u00a0annenberg.usc.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/MDSCI_2013_Exploring-The-Barriers.pdf<\/a>.\r\n\r\nKearney, Mary Celeste. \u201cGirlfriends and Girl Power: Female Adolescence in Contemporary U.S. Cinema.\u201d\u00a0Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice: Cinemas of Girlhood,\u00a0<\/em>Chuck Kleinhans et al, Wayne State University Press, 2002, pp. 125-45.\u00a0Google Books,<\/em>\u00a0books.google.com\/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ywsajx7jqAMC&oi=fnd&pg=PA125&dq=women+filmmakers+female+director+movies+about+girls+girlhood+coming+of+age+growing+up&ots=wPcs7PdGQ6&sig=fdMkW8HYAjCRyPft4KSBOv_GxIQ#v=onepage&q&f=false<\/a>.\r\n\r\nKearney, Mary Celeste. \u201cGirls Make Movies.\u201d\u00a0Youth Cultures: Texts, Images, and Identities,\u00a0<\/em>Edited by Kerry\u00a0Mallan, Sharyn Pearce, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, pp. 17-25.\u00a0Google Books,\u00a0<\/em>books.google.com\/books?hl=en&lr=&id=S-sw3qbIoFwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA17&dq=women+filmmakers+female+director+movies+about+girls+girlhood+coming+of+age+growing+up&ots=AhXv9Oz_mg&sig=WfwGnWnExQJnzwSey1TmG07STaw#v=onepage&q&f=false<\/a>.\r\n\r\nHentges, Sarah.\u00a0Pictures of Girlhood: Modern Female Adolescence on Film.\u00a0<\/em>McFarland, 2015.\u00a0Google Books<\/em>,\u00a0books.google.com\/books?hl=en&lr=&id=PfwJBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=women+filmmakers+female+director+movies+about+girls+girlhood+coming+of+age+growing+up&ots=3Zhb45_vk9&sig=Xujjox57ZqF0KGPb8I0yZEG9Uu8#v=onepage&q&f=false<\/a>.\r\n\r\nKaplan, E. Ann. \u201cWomen, Film, Resistance: Changing Paradigms.\u201d\u202fWomen Filmmakers: Refocusing<\/em>, edited by Jacqueline Levitin et al., London, Routledge, 2003.\r\n\r\nSmith, Stacy L., et al. \u201cExploring the Barriers and Opportunities for Independent Women Filmmakers.\u201d\u00a0Sundance Institute and Women\u00a0In\u00a0Film Los Angeles Women Filmmakers Initiative<\/em>, 1 Jan. 2013, pp. 1\u201343.\r\n\r\nWilson, Emma. \u201cContemporary French Women Filmmakers.\u201d\u00a0French Studies<\/em>, vol. 59, no. 2, 2005, pp. 217\u2013223., doi:10.1093\/fs\/kni132.","rendered":"

English 102, November 2020<\/h3>\n

Growing up, I, like many other children, was fascinated by movies. The feeling of walking out of a movie theater, into the lighted corridor, reflecting on everything that you have seen, heard, and felt in the last two hours. That feeling stuck with me long after I left the theater, on the car ride home, all the way to my little pink bedroom where I laid awake captivated by those movies. One of the first times I remember this feeling is when I went to see the movie\u00a0Stardust<\/em>\u00a0(2007) with my parents. In brief, the movie is about a shooting star that falls from the sky and becomes a young woman, and a man who captures her to bring as a gift to his maiden, but then falls in love with the star instead. I remember leaving the theater, staring at the setting sun and thinking, \u201cI want to be a star too.\u201d What I did not yet understand then was that I wanted to be more than a star, I wanted to be sought after, like a prize to be won. That is essentially the message of the movie: a pretty girl is like a prize, and she can be won by a man capturing her. You may say that I am looking too deeply into the movie, but when you look closer, you realize that this is not a unique plot, and even if you don\u2019t realize it, this trope, and others of the same vein, have\u00a0had an effect on\u00a0the way you view the world.<\/p>\n

As a child who grew up on media of the 90s and early 2000s, I grew up through a period of change for what it means to be a girl. Unbeknownst to me, the United States was cultivating a new image of who I could be. Now,\u00a0Barbie\u2122 could be a CEO, girls could be\u00a0Totally Spies\u00a0<\/em>(2001), and there were not only one but two girl Power Rangers\u2122! Suddenly I felt like the world had completely\u00a0opened up\u00a0to me. There were so many possibilities! But was that the reality? Was it really that easy?<\/p>\n

The new concept of \u201cgirl power\u201d was everywhere, touting the unofficial motto \u201cgirls can do this stuff too!\u201d There were stickers, purses, and shirts galore to spread this message. \u201cGirl power\u201d can be defined as the idea that girls can do\u00a0anything\u00a0they put their minds too, because they are no different than boys,\u00a0right?<\/p>\n

\u201cGirl power\u201d send a message of equality, which at first glance seems like an amazing, revolutionary movement. But this movement does not come from such humble intentions. In fact, it was really created by corporations in order to sell more products. It is pandering to an audience that desperately wants change. It is saying, \u201chere, look, change has been made! Girls are doing boy stuff now, so everything is equal!\u201d But the thing is, girls are not just the same as boys. Girls are unique. Girls are not just boys that wear frilly clothes and bows. We are our own kind, as we have been taught to. You can\u2019t just take that away from\u00a0us, and\u00a0tell us that we are now part of the boys\u2019 club. Equity, as opposed to equality, is what is needed here. Whereas equality poses that everybody should get the same treatment, equity argues that people need different levels and kinds of treatment. The whole concept of equality, in a way, is inherently unequal, because men and women do not necessarily have the same needs, goals, and desires. Therefore, we cannot just treat them\u00a0exactly the same.\u00a0So\u00a0while\u00a0its\u00a0really cool to see the pink Power Ranger\u2122 fighting bad guys, we must not let that distract us from the realities of girls and women. It is important that we analyze the media we are being presented, otherwise we fall victim to it.<\/p>\n

What kind of impact can this media have on girls? Author Sarah Hentges writes that \u201cwhat consumer \u2018girl power\u2019 fails to take into account is girls\u2019 lack of power in [areas other than popular culture]\u201d (Hentges 9). Doctor Barbie\u2122 is not real. The profession of a popular doll can offer inspiration, but it cannot offer opportunities to pursue something as a career. To tell a girl that she can do anything, and then have her go into the world believing\u00a0that,\u00a0is honestly unfair. Even\u00a0in this day and age, she will undoubtedly face discrimination. She will not be prepared to deal with the challenges of the real world. On the flipside, displaying women as objects to be attained enforces the idea that a girl\u2019s only worth is her looks. This offers a very small world to girls, making them think that they must stay inside the boundaries they are placed in. So where can we meet in the middle? And how does one depict the realities of growing up as a girl, and all the complexities it entails?<\/p>\n

Author Sarah Hentges explains that \u201cit is important to consider the difference between \u2018girl power\u2019 as a function of the mainstream, and girls\u2019 empowerment as negotiated in and out of the mainstream\u201d (Hentges 9). Hentges is saying that the popular culture media representing \u201cgirl power\u201d is not what is really going to push for women\u2019s rights and inclusion in male-dominated careers. What is going to make change is when people take concrete action to further the movement for gender equity. One way that this can be done is by amplifying our voices to help us share our stories. One powerful way women\u00a0open up\u00a0about their experiences and what they are passionate about is through film. The relationship between women and film is a powerful\u00a0one, and\u00a0spans back over a century. Since the Victorian era, women have explored the medium of film to express their emotions and desires, often specifically relating to womanhood. In 1916, female director Lois Weber released a movie entitled\u00a0Where Are My Children?<\/em>\u00a0in which she radically argues for the legalization of abortion (Kaplan 17). Weber and several others such as Alice Guy Blanche created films that expressed the emotional strife of fulfilling their roles as wife, mother,\u00a0homekeeper,\u00a0etc..\u00a0Although many of these films have been lost, and as such many do not know of this early history of women\u2019s\u2019 filmmaking, it is nonetheless a powerful beginning. Since the beginning, women have been creating realistic portrayals of their life on the screen. Emma Wilson, an academic and writer specializing in French literature and cinema, discusses in her essay \u201cEtat Present: Contemporary French Women Filmmakers\u201d the common themes of intimacy and family in women\u2019s\u2019 film. These real-life stories being depicted shows how women desired to share their struggles with the world, and no doubt had an impact on other women\u2019s\u00a0lives.<\/p>\n

But what about younger girls? Where are their stories? Arguably one of the most impactful films about girlhood is Catherine Hardwicke\u2019s\u00a0Thirteen<\/em>. The raw portrait of girls\u2019 adolescence is based on the life of a real girl, Nikki Reed, who in fact wrote much of the screenplay for the film. This inclusion of young girls in the process of filmmaking is groundbreaking and incredibly important in order to depict the realities of girls\u2019 lives. The film centers around 13-year-old Tracy, a girl who is struggling with her mental health partially due to her parents\u2019 divorce and her mother\u2019s subsequent relationship with a new man, as well as them being ex-addicts. Tracy feels isolated as her mother fails to notice her growing mental health issues. Tracy faces bullying at school for dressing like a little girl and becomes frustrated with this image, begging her mother to take her shopping for new clothes despite being unable to afford them. Donning a new image, Tracy is noticed buy schoolmate Evie, played by co-screenwriter Nikki Reed, a popular girl with a reputation for acting older than her age. Evie introduces Tracy to a lifestyle of drugs, sex, and crime, to which Tracy feels pressured to join in order to seem \u201ccool\u201d\u00a0and also\u00a0to find release from her depression. As the girls begin to spend more time together, Tracy drifts farther away from her mother, who grows worried by their relationship and behavior. An infamous scene entails Tracy and Evie getting high and hitting and punching each other. This is one of several instances where we see Tracy feeling the need to hurt herself to cope with her deteriorating mental health. She also struggles from cutting, a form of self-harm. After a fight, the girls break up their friendship which leads to Tracy getting bullied again. Tracy also learns that she will need to repeat the seventh grade as a result of her behavior. Tracy\u2019s mother confronts her and learns of her daughter\u2019s self-harm, sobbing and embracing her daughter in an emotionally jarring scene of connection between mother and daughter. The final scene shows a dream sequence of Tracy\u2019s in which she is riding alone, screaming, on a merry-go-round, a metaphor for the pain of losing her childhood.<\/p>\n

Before this movie, the dark side of girls\u2019 adolescence was largely underreported. There seemed to be two defined\u00a0stage: little girl and grown-up, with no in-between. The painful in-between stage of preteen and teen girlhood was ignored and left to fester in the shadows. It is a common stereotype for the teenage girl to be somewhat of a \u201cliving hell\u201d for mothers, they shrug it off, saying \u201coh, they\u2019re just going through\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>phase.\u201d If you are a woman, you know this to be true. There is a period of disconnect that occurs between mother and daughter, a period of mystery. What is going on behind her bedroom door? Most often, mothers simply do not know what to do. They fear the truth is worse than their imagination. They fear that the chasm between them and their lovely little girl will only grow if they try to intervene. But in turn, this almost always makes things worse. As a teenager, you feel like\u00a0the complete opposite of\u00a0your parents, and you think that they could never understand you. In part, this feeling may relate to how \u201cthe early maturation of female bodies has contributed to girls being treated as sexual beings at younger ages\u2026girls are required to become street-wise long before their mothers were.\u201d (Kearney 129). It is already scary enough for a mother to imagine her daughter growing up, but to see one\u2019s daughter mature earlier than expected is incredibly overwhelming, making the mother feel that she cannot relate to her child either. What\u00a0Thirteen\u00a0<\/em>reminds\u00a0us\u00a0is that nothing is worse than feeling utterly alone. Thus, the representation of this film had a two-fold impact. Teen girls, such as\u00a0myself, felt seen and understood, and mothers, albeit shocked and disturbed, felt the need to connect with and listen to their daughters. In an article from the Center for Parent\/Youth Understanding, Walt Mueller cautions that \u201cif [Thirteen<\/em>] is indeed [young people\u2019s] world and we haven\u2019t been listening, [parents] better start paying attention\u201d (Center for Parent\/Youth Understanding).<\/p>\n

It would be easy to compare the film\u00a0Thirteen\u00a0<\/em>to the concept of the Ophelia: the silent, wounded, and defenseless girl who has been tortured by the world. The term was made popular by the 1994 book\u00a0Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls<\/em>\u00a0written by psychologist Mary Pipher, in which the author compares struggling young women to the character Ophelia from Shakespeare\u2019s\u00a0Hamlet<\/em>\u00a0who ends up letting herself drown to death. Though the book was received extremely well by the public, it has also undergone much criticism, not unlike \u201cgirl power\u201d has (Gonick 11). While young girls are indeed very vulnerable, to view them as simply victims\u00a0is\u00a0to erase every other aspect of their identity. Girls cannot be passive in their own healing. They cannot simply be fixed by others. Girls need to be involved in their own recovery and growth. Simply speaking over girls, explaining them to themselves, does nothing to aid the situation. In fact, it really makes them feel more alone. Nikki Reed, co-screenwriter of\u00a0Thirteen<\/em>, explains during an interview with Oprah Winfrey that during the period of her life that inspired the film, \u201c[she] felt like [she] wasn\u2019t understood and like no one was listening to [her]\u201d (CPYU). When girls don\u2019t feel like they are being heard, they will retreat further into themselves, making them harder and harder to reach. In my opinion, while each may offer some positives, neither \u201creviving Ophelia\u201d nor \u201cgirl power\u201d are adequately contributing to creating a better world for young girls. I do not believe we will find the solution within one sole theory or concept, because I do not believe there is one solution. The answer is different for every girl, which further shows how our first step should be listening to the girls themselves.<\/p>\n

When we look back at the concept of \u201cgirl power\u201d with new context, we begin to see more inconsistencies within it. Nowhere in the definition or representation of this concept do we see or hear from real adolescent girls. These girls\u2019 voices, subsequently, are being ignored by the public. Through films like\u00a0Thirteen<\/em>, our society\u2019s idea of the teen girl is revealed to be a manufactured image, held together by glitter glue and smiley-face stickers. This centralized image\u00a0in itself stands\u00a0as a danger to young girls, for there is no \u201cone\u201d girl that can represent the lives of the billions of girls living across the globe. This just further alienates girls who differ from the mainstream. So where do girls go to when they can\u2019t find the answers they are looking for? And where do they go when they don\u2019t know what\u2019s right and what\u2019s wrong? The media has proven itself to be unreliable at best, oftentimes dangerous resource for young girls.\u00a0This is why\u00a0it is crucial for girls to have strong bonds with trusted adults in their lives, adults who take the time to listen and work to find healthy outlets and activities to help combat the negativity of adolescence. These relationships need to be safe spaces where girls can share their thoughts and feelings without fear of hostility, for these kinds of discussions are necessary in order to learn and grow. Young girls need guidance to help them make the right decisions, and they need someone who will try to understand them.<\/p>\n

An example of a film that epitomizes the idea of \u201cgirl power\u201d is the 2001 feature\u00a0The Princess Diaries<\/em>. The movie is based on a series of books written by author Meg Cabot, adapted to screen by director Garry Marshall. At surface level, it seems like a female-empowerment film: a quirky teenage girl learns that she is\u00a0actually the\u00a0princess of a small\u00a0country, and\u00a0learns how to govern said country. Quite literally, she is a girl with power. Over the course of the movie, we see our lead character Mia rise to popularity after learning of her royal status and changing her appearance, causing strife among her friendships, but in the\u00a0end\u00a0everything works out perfectly. A product of the \u201cgirl power\u201d movement, the movie offers comedic relief towards the antiquated requirements of becoming a princess. For example, the main character, Mia, is naturally quite clumsy, so her\u00a0Grandmother, the Queen of Genovia, teaches her how to balance with the classic practice of balancing a book on one\u2019s head. Much physical comedy ensues as Mia struggles to complete the task. In moments like these we laugh at how ridiculous gender roles are. However, soon this idea is brushed away as we enter perhaps one of the most popular \u201cmakeover scenes\u201d in modern film history. Mia, initially somewhat of a tomboy, with big curly hair, bushy brows, combat boots, and glasses, is groomed to look more like a proper princess,\u00a0i.e.\u00a0straightened hair, no glasses, high heels, and a full face of makeup. During the makeover, the hairdresser even compares her natural hair to that of an animal. It goes without saying that this scene presents an image of the ideal girl, and the non-ideal girl. Not only is this movie making it seem as if Mia\u2019s natural traits are undesirable, which is already\u00a0harmful in itself, but\u00a0it also sends the message that girls should change their appearance in order to be accepted.\u00a0Similarly\u00a0to\u00a0Thirteen,\u00a0<\/em>we are introduced to the concept of the popular girl: well-liked by all, conventionally attractive, and abides by gender roles. The main character in each film wishes to be like the popular girl, and thus changes aspects of herself in order to achieve that goal.\u00a0The Princess Diaries<\/em>\u00a0ultimately presents the clich\u00e9 message that friends are more important than popularity, but there is much more that is left unsaid. It all really boils down to the quintessential makeover scene. After all, it is the real reason she succeeds in the end by both becoming the princess and getting the guy she likes. She does not end the movie by going back to her old appearance, and it is almost as if we as the audience are supposed to forget she ever had a makeover. While\u00a0Thirteen\u00a0<\/em>shows us the consequences of changing oneself in order to appease others,\u00a0The Princess Diaries<\/em>\u00a0only shows a classic fairytale.<\/p>\n

In both films, we see that the desire of our main character is to \u201cgrow up\u201d in order to fulfill a role, whether it be the cool girl or the princess. There is such a pressure towards young girls to act older, and there is this myth that after they \u201cgrow up\u201d, their lives will be much better. Movies like\u00a0The Princess Diaries\u00a0<\/em>make this myth appear true. Growing up is seen as something easy, something base level: putting on makeup, wearing different clothes, swearing. These self-inflicted changes offer a feeling of empowerment, a feeling of independence to the girl. It gives the idea that one is in control of their identity. Because of this early pressure to mature, they are \u201cforced to recognize the power imbalances that structure our society, [they] must learn and practice the strategies that will help them survive in an environment that is often hostile to both females and the young\u201d (Kearney 129). These strategies of self-defense are not always carrying pepper-spray. They can also be as simple as dressing like the popular girls, like Tracy did in\u00a0Thirteen<\/em>\u00a0to try and stop people from bullying her. Surviving as a girl in a world of hostility often involves going against your own will, staying silent when you want to speak, and changing yourself to fit others\u2019 standards. What is never shown or explained is the mental processes that are involved in the actuality of \u201cgrowing up.\u201d This directly reflects how the reality of \u201cgirl power\u201d is based on consumerism, and not the consumer themself.<\/p>\n

There is not an easy solution to the problems at hand. It is going to take a lot of effort and care to change the world\u2019s view of teenage girls into one that is truly empowering, and to ameliorate the damage that has been done. I believe that there are two main areas that need to be focused on: representation and education. Firstly, we need girls to feel like they are being seen, much like I felt after watching\u00a0Thirteen<\/em>. This relates not only to who is in front of the camera, but also who is behind it. In a study from the Sundance Institute and Women in Film Los Angeles Women Filmmakers Initiative, research showed that female filmmakers have an\u00a0affect\u00a0on the types of stories that are told. Not only are female filmmakers more likely to cast more girls and women in their movies than their male counterparts, but they also have a large impact on the stories that are told. Women were known to focus more on the humanity of a story, taking time to make the characters realistic and relatable (3).\u00a0In order for\u00a0girls to feel understood, they need to see people like them in the media they consume.\u00a0This is why\u00a0more films about girlhood, specifically directed, produced, and\/or written by women, need to be made. Catherine Hardwicke, the director of\u00a0Thirteen<\/em>, discusses the importance of representation in film in an interview, explaining that\u00a0\u201cif you have cool images out there of multidimensional women who have interesting jobs and interesting lives, and actually have lines of dialogue with other women, you show these wonderful possibilities for people \u2014 it just gives hope. It gives kids all over the world a more realistic view, more exciting opportunities\u201d (Street Roots).<\/p>\n

Another crucial factor to this situation is media literacy. Media literacy involves the understanding of how to critically analyze media in order to interpret the messages it sends. Media literacy education has become much more popular in the past couple decades, and many media educators and scholars have been arguing to include the facets of media production in the material taught. The facilitators of these studies aim to stress the importance of treating young people as \u201cintelligent, engaged members of society who have the ability to become further empowered through media education and practice\u201d (Kearney 19). Treating the youth with this kind of respect is necessary when treating this issue, otherwise we will further disconnect from them when they need us most. I believe that with proper media literacy education, girls will be able to identify harmful stereotypes in media and critically analyze them. Further, I believe they will be able to see how these stereotypes can affect them and the girls around them. This awareness is the first step to making change. Showing girls that what they are seeing in media is not realistic lets them know that they should not feel wrong for being different, that what they are going through is normal, and that they are not alone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/p>\n

Gonik, Marnina. \u201cBetween \u2018Girl Power\u2019 and \u2018Reviving Ophelia\u2019: Constituting the Neoliberal Girl Subject.\u201d 2006.\u00a0michelepolak.com\/3099spring13\/Weekly_Schedule_files\/Gonick.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mueller, Walt. \u201cTracy Speaks: An Excerpt about \u2018Thirteen.<\/em>\u2019\u201d\u00a0Center for Parent\/Youth Understanding<\/em>. 2004.\u00a0cpyu.org\/resource\/tracy-speaks-an-excerpt-about-thirteen\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hansell, Sarah. \u201c\u2019Twilight\u00b4\u00a0<\/em>Director Catherine Hardwicke Advocates for Women in Film.\u201d\u00a0Street Roots<\/em>. 25 February 2016.\u00a0streetroots.org\/news\/2016\/02\/25\/twilight-director-catherine-hardwicke-advocates-women-film<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smith, Stacy L., et al. \u201cExploring the Barriers and Opportunities for Independent Women Filmmakers.\u201d\u00a0Sundance Institute and Women\u00a0In\u00a0Film Los Angeles Women Filmmakers Initiative<\/em>, 1 Jan. 2013, pp. 1\u201343.\u00a0annenberg.usc.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/MDSCI_2013_Exploring-The-Barriers.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kearney, Mary Celeste. \u201cGirlfriends and Girl Power: Female Adolescence in Contemporary U.S. Cinema.\u201d\u00a0Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice: Cinemas of Girlhood,\u00a0<\/em>Chuck Kleinhans et al, Wayne State University Press, 2002, pp. 125-45.\u00a0Google Books,<\/em>\u00a0books.google.com\/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ywsajx7jqAMC&oi=fnd&pg=PA125&dq=women+filmmakers+female+director+movies+about+girls+girlhood+coming+of+age+growing+up&ots=wPcs7PdGQ6&sig=fdMkW8HYAjCRyPft4KSBOv_GxIQ#v=onepage&q&f=false<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kearney, Mary Celeste. \u201cGirls Make Movies.\u201d\u00a0Youth Cultures: Texts, Images, and Identities,\u00a0<\/em>Edited by Kerry\u00a0Mallan, Sharyn Pearce, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, pp. 17-25.\u00a0Google Books,\u00a0<\/em>books.google.com\/books?hl=en&lr=&id=S-sw3qbIoFwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA17&dq=women+filmmakers+female+director+movies+about+girls+girlhood+coming+of+age+growing+up&ots=AhXv9Oz_mg&sig=WfwGnWnExQJnzwSey1TmG07STaw#v=onepage&q&f=false<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hentges, Sarah.\u00a0Pictures of Girlhood: Modern Female Adolescence on Film.\u00a0<\/em>McFarland, 2015.\u00a0Google Books<\/em>,\u00a0books.google.com\/books?hl=en&lr=&id=PfwJBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=women+filmmakers+female+director+movies+about+girls+girlhood+coming+of+age+growing+up&ots=3Zhb45_vk9&sig=Xujjox57ZqF0KGPb8I0yZEG9Uu8#v=onepage&q&f=false<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kaplan, E. Ann. \u201cWomen, Film, Resistance: Changing Paradigms.\u201d\u202fWomen Filmmakers: Refocusing<\/em>, edited by Jacqueline Levitin et al., London, Routledge, 2003.<\/p>\n

Smith, Stacy L., et al. \u201cExploring the Barriers and Opportunities for Independent Women Filmmakers.\u201d\u00a0Sundance Institute and Women\u00a0In\u00a0Film Los Angeles Women Filmmakers Initiative<\/em>, 1 Jan. 2013, pp. 1\u201343.<\/p>\n

Wilson, Emma. \u201cContemporary French Women Filmmakers.\u201d\u00a0French Studies<\/em>, vol. 59, no. 2, 2005, pp. 217\u2013223., doi:10.1093\/fs\/kni132.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"menu_order":6,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":["spatch"],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[65],"license":[],"class_list":["post-168","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","contributor-spatch"],"part":158,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/understanding-literacy-in-our-lives\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/understanding-literacy-in-our-lives\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/understanding-literacy-in-our-lives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/understanding-literacy-in-our-lives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/understanding-literacy-in-our-lives\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/understanding-literacy-in-our-lives\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/168\/revisions\/169"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/understanding-literacy-in-our-lives\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/158"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/understanding-literacy-in-our-lives\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/168\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/understanding-literacy-in-our-lives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/understanding-literacy-in-our-lives\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=168"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/understanding-literacy-in-our-lives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=168"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/understanding-literacy-in-our-lives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}