I've seen enough movies this year about teen angst. Let me clarify, I've seen enough movies this year and probably this lifetime about teenage boy angst. The most recent film that I saw with this subject matter was Thumbsucker. Don't misunderstand, I did enjoy the film. What initially drew me to the film was being a Tilda Swinton fan. Once into the film however, the strength of the story and the characters kept me engaged to the end. I did notice that I was really interested in what happened to Rachel (I think that was the character's name). I suppose that's one of the nice things about Thumbsucker is that not all the blanks are filled in for you. It doesn't really matter what happened to Rachel, and there's enough there to see how she's transformed and to wonder why. What resulted from this is a renewal of my interest in the teenage girl story. Perhaps this is why I was drawn to the horror film in my early years of studying cinema. Actually, I had always enjoyed watching horror movies and being scared. Film studies just gave me an opportunity to look at the horror film in a new way. Even in their, at times, poorly written stories these films are often about teen girls or stories about women. True women are often monstrous and even the female hero is often undermined by her Otherness or by a man stepping in. I could write a thesis about it. Ha, ha.
Anywho...
Teen life can be a traumatic time for most, but I don't think enough girl stories are seen on screen. Yes, they do exist but they are far less common than the boy stories. It reveals who is writing the stories and who is making the stories.
In part of my story writing life, I've never been able to really capture what I want to say about being a teen girl. I suppose I'll take another stab at it and maybe the screenplay is just the format I've been waiting for.
What I want to ask of anyone reading this is if you could offer your own tragic or joyful moments of being a teenage girl. If you don't want to comment with a name then go for the anonymous option or you can email me if you'd rather. It's a bit of research for me.
Hopefully, you'll respond.
2 comments:
There are so many tragedies...where to begin? One of my favorites: grade 8, Ellenvale Jr. High, Dartmouth, N.S.- lunch break. I'm in the washroom, re-applying makeup, I think, or maybe not, I can't remember. I might have been using Maybeline blush, that corally~orange color, and Celeste and Stephanie came in to recurl their hair with curling irons and get all dolled up again. Now, my hair has been and will always be board straight, and I didn't buy into the slutty-trampy whore look of my era (early 80's) at 12/13- I was always a year or 2 younger b/c I skipped grades...so, they made a crack about my lack of fashion and makeup sense and I said, Well at least I don't have to spend hours on my hair! I just shake it and it's dry! To which they replied, Yeah, shake it like a dog!
Uh huh. I never fit in. I was the worst cross breed imaginable: happy, outgoing, unusual, smart and a jock as well as a cheerleader. AND I got along with adults. I was accepted then ostracized by every different group, come cejep, I was a total "theatre fag" which was cool. We even had shirts made up. But I was and still am always at odds with the girls and women who sell themselves as sexual beings first and foremost. I always felt -and was told- I couldn't play that card in a traditional way.I learned my way around it and to it on a different level, not without lots of resentment, though. It's still a puzzle for me, how when I get all dressed up with hair and makeup, it's like a party trick, and men who wouldn't look twice at me in my jeand and t shirt, treat me like a sexpot, which i don't like either. Sad, really.trying to find -no. I know where I like to exist and I live there now, but I've always felt very, very different from the norm. I see it in my work, too. Hope that helps..there's lots more!
It does help. Thanks!
Where can you get that corally orange colour now?
I do like the idea of things that happen in girls bathrooms. It's so private and public all at once. Of course, i don't love what happened to you, I'm thinking from a story point of view.
That must have been an awkward space for you to be in, having all those qualities and being treated badly because you didn't play into the femininity game.
I also know what you mean about getting all dressed up. It is like a party trick.
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