A Cinematic Girlhood

All things playful, whimsical, and dreamy, intertwined with feminine innocence and female friendships, make up a picture perfect model of girlhood. The state and temporal essence of being a girl is so intangible and confusing that it is no surprise we turn to popular culture to simplify and idealize our youth. This picture is prevalent in the recent trendiness of girlhood seen on social media that mirrors an aestheticization of girlhood in films and literature. Yet, the complex confrontation of growing up does not easily fit into a romantic fantasy. Nor are the diversity of female situations, experiences, and challenges represented in the same way concepts of boyhood or white girlhood are. For instance, the array of cultural, socioeconomic, ethnic, and non-stereotypical childhoods is often underrepresented or exhibits monolithic tendencies in popular culture narratives. Young girls unconsciously employ movies to conceptualize their upcoming place as a woman, which allows the politics of a cinematic girlhood to shift and shape our very notion, and thus our experience, of purely being a girl.

At the roots of the film industry are stories about men, around men, and by men. In the 80’s and 90’s, films about boisterous, adventurous boyhood permeated American society and culture. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Outsiders, The Karate Kid, and Dead Poets Society became instant classics. They showed boys coming into adulthood by forging strong friendships, growing through audacious experiences, and exploring boundless freedom and limitless potential. To be clear, I have little to no criticism about these films as staples of American cinema; they remain vital works of art, culture, and entertainment. However, when looking at the portrayal of women in these films, they play the role of an object. The extent of a female character in American cinematic boyhood is that of the girlfriend or the romantic interest; without the same individualistic potentiality as the featured men. These female characters are wholly one-dimensional. In more contemporary films about boyhood, such as The Perks of Being A Wallflower and Boyhood, we observe a broader spectrum of female characters, and within that spectrum are characters with greater depth. Notably, Boyhood allows the viewer to witness the growth of the main character’s sister. However, even the women in these films tend to fall into two distinct archetypes: one is delicate and feminine, positioning them as potential romantic interests, and the other is moody, rebellious, and assertive, prompting sole respect coupled with judgment.

I introduce these concrete concepts of cinematic boyhood to highlight that, at least in the movies, the male coming-of-age does little to capture and contextualize the female counterpart. So, we turn to woman-centric films. In the 90’s Girl, Interrupted, Little Women, The Virgin Suicides, and more provided a new lens for girlhood. They displayed emotions from delight to depression without the usual black-and-white dichotomy of female ditz or moodiness. The complexity of female friendships as essential and beloved, while still often strenuous through the uncertainty of growing, goes beyond the catty stereotype. One of my favorite films, 20th Century Women, displays boyhood within the experiences of three women, and grants each of the women space to be intricately challenging yet acknowledging acute differentiation to the central male character.I have a deep appreciation and emotional connection to the three aforementioned films. I believe they make great strides past depicting women from a masculine, objectification-centered manner, to allow women to be messy, free, mistaken, and even immature in the difficulty of navigating adulthood. However, I see a lingering proclivity of aesthetically and representationally glamourising these characters. There remains a dainty, dream-like quality to each of these works; a romanticization that relies on each female character being white and conventionally beautiful. The women are allowed to explore the depths of their emotions and their relationships because they pass a surface level idea of an acceptable attractiveness and background.

In films like Lady Bird, Booksmart, Girl Picture, and The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants, there is a definite nuance to the affirmation of girlhood. Between the female characters there is a wider range of expression, style, sexuality, and circumstance. Thus, I connected with each of these films as a reflection of pieces of my own girlhood, but there was still a part that felt aesthetically unreachable. The onslaught of white-led media represents a femininity that felt unachievable to me as a woman of color. At least for me, there is an intense teenage angst that comes with the forcible acknowledgment of what cannot be changed, and what feels like loss.

Moreover, mourning girlhood is a multifaceted emotional response that is simultaneously universally and individually experienced. Societal expectations and pressures are stacked with a loss of innocence and childhood wonder. There is an almost painfully affectionate nostalgia for the past, because it is the first time we are able to have and acknowledge the concept of a past. As I grow up, I also have a mourning for a girlhood I did not have - the one I saw in early films: aesthetic stories built off exquisite whimsy and tied with a neat little bow. For women of color, societal expectations and situational difficulties are exponentially higher, heightened by a perception of being less feminine and cultural pressures. That intersectionality is not often explored in popular media; stories of women of color tend to focus on trauma without extending the same sanctity or romantic relatability of girlhood.

Bend It Like Beckham, Polite Society, The Breadwinner, Real Women Have Curves, Love & Basketball, and numerous others take requisite steps towards addressing a diverse array of coming-of-age narratives. It’s essential to recognize the profound influence film has on shaping the notion of being a girl, and, by extension, the direct effects on our lived experiences. Narratives not only are mirrors of but opportunities for identities and aspirations. The simplification and idealization of being a girl is undoubtedly a beautiful watch, and with notes of authenticity I believe it always has a place in the entertainment space. Yet, in the complex and rich tapestry of girlhood, each girl deserves to see the poignant substance of their aching and angst reflected on screen.