With discussions of girls in Virginia Woolf, Simone de Beauvoir, Alice Walker, and Sapphire, I show how these influential feminist authors demonstrate an intense yet anxious preoccupation specifically with girlhood subjectivity as its own identity category, and with girlhood sexuality as a site for devising textuality. The documentary follows the plight of Megan and Shanae (Garbus, 2003). Hanna has won numerous writing awards. Revise AS Level Psychology. This is the latest feature-length non-fiction film from documentarian Liz Garbus, who has spotlighted imprisonment in 2002's "The Execution of Wanda June" and the 1998 Oscar-nominee "The Farm: Angola USA." As with those two films, "Girlhood" looks at the incarceration of violent-crime offenders. Photography Tony Hardmon. Waxter Childrens Center in Laurel, Md., some 20 miles from Baltimore. Baltimore teens Shanae, left, and Megan are the subjects of Liz Garbus's documentary "Girlhood," now at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring."Girlhood," a documentary by Liz Garbus, right . Through abbreviated, seamlessly edited scenes, the girls are observed lurching through the juvenile penal system by awkward fits and starts. All the same, Marieme (Karidja Tour) goes through nearly as many shifts in appearance and identity as Boyhood's Mason. girlhood documentary "Girl Hood" is a documentary film directed and produced by Liz Garbus that follows two teenage girls, Shanae and Megan, over the span of three years, from the time they are in the all-girls juvenile detention center at Thomas J.S Waxter Children's Center in Laurel, Maryland, to when they are out in the real world. Megan gets out earlier, but never stays in one place very long. Treating the girls girlhoods as linear stories of overcoming erases the fullness, pain and challenge of all that comprises their girlhoods. Eighty percent of cases do not, Juvenile Detention Standards Garbus, L. (Director). SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: GIRLHOOD MOVIE REVIEW. Shanae has been at Waxter longer than any other inmate and after two years shes itching to get out. She's the sweetheart of the Waxter facility, even if. Times guidelines: Adult language, some drug use, strong emotional content. ET on OWN. See production, box office & company info. But its staff emerges as a caring if overstressed group of people who do what they can to steer the girls in their charge toward a productive life. This fact, combined with the lack of familial support that Megan got, certainly contributed to her continuing to run away from foster homes. http://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-nov-14-et-girlhood14-story.html Then, she got up and walked off set. She gets her place to live. At 14, she was hit by a stray bullet during a gunfight. Girlhoodshows day-to-day scenes in the girls' lives at Waxter, allowing you to really familiarize yourself with them. Often it's not enough. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/girlhood-subjects-get-narrative-feature-829762 "I started using cocaine, I was strung out on drugs -- bad. Follows two female inmates - victims of horrific violence and tragedy - who are serving time in a Maryland juvenile detention center. Girlhood. If the movie suggests that a strong mother-daughter bond is the key to a successful rehabilitation, it is too intelligent to belabor that notion. At the beginning of the documentary, Shanae and Megan are 14 and 16, serving time for murder and assault, respectively. The primary objective of the film is an exploration into the social implications for the increase of crime committed by young women such as Shanae and Megan. Third, Shanae becomes emotionally expressive. Innumerable advancements and innovations have profoundly contributed to the betterment of the lives of the human race in the twenty first century. You could hear the emotions and felt the anger, the sadness. Just last week Waxter made headline news in Maryland after having been labeled by one childrens rights advocate as a house of horrors. At Waxter, girls like Shanae who have been sentenced for crimes, girls who would make mincemeat of the fillies in Thirteen, are placed alongside those who, as one news story put it, have not been found guilty of anything yet. Except, perhaps, being born poor and grievously disadvantaged. Part of HuffPost News. In the documentary Girlhood, Liz Garbus follows two young women who have encountered numerous misfortunes in the past that led them to implement their violent offences. There are a couple of different things I would attempt to implement if I were the director of the Waxter Juvenile Facility to make the program more efficacious for juveniles sent there for reform. Today, the Baltimore native is living in North Carolina and acknowledges that she wasn't in a good place during her "Oprah Show" appearance. An alternate perspective of Girl Hood is that it is a film that tries too hard to achieve an ending on a positive note. Once Shanae begins to face the reality of what she did, she is transferred to a group home and begins to flourish. Both girls ended up in the Waxter Juvenile Facility, home to Maryland's most violent offenders.Academy Award nominated director Liz Garbus follows Shanae and Megan for the next three years, as they try to make a life for themselves both inside and outside of Baltimore's juvenile justice system. Girlhood Directed by Liz Garbus Documentary, Crime Not Rated 1h 22m By Stephen Holden Oct. 29, 2003 Liz Garbus's hard-headed documentary film ''Girlhood'' is prefaced with an unsettling. Additionally, she still struggles after growing up, but she ensures that she never becomes an addict (Garbus, 2003). References Documentary chronicling America's justice system. The film then changes focus on Megan and her deteriorating relationship with her mother. Although large chunks of time seem to pass by unrecorded, the pairs personalities emerge through numbingly familiar stories of sexual assault, abandonment and substance abuse. AQA Psychology: AS and A-level Year 1. Educates, Advocates, and Agitates for Gender Diversity and Inclusion in Hollywood and the Global Film Industry, In Her Voice: Women Directors Talk Directing, List of Databases for Women in the Film Industry, Celebrating 15 Years of Women and Hollywood, A Message to the Women and Hollywood Community, AFI DOCS and Provincetown Fests Will Open and Close with Women-Directed Pics, Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Laura Bari Primas, Hot Docs 2018 Women Directors: Meet Alba Sotorra Commander Arian. The girls crimes obviously color their experiences of girlhood, but they are humanized by Garbus editorial choices through camera angles, the stories we hear, the presentation of various sympathetic or irresponsible adults that accessorize and control the girls lives. All Rights Reserved. One of the biggest criticisms that Garbus. Megan was shuffled through 11 different foster homes, running away from all except one. Running time: 88 minutes. Both Megan and Shanae share similar viewpoints for example, they mention that their role model is . The third is her reluctance to become close with others. It depends on several factors, including the age of the offender, the level of crime, and whether it is a first or repeat offense. That is not to say that traumatic experience, crime or drug abuse are good, but that in these stories they exist and persist, even when the girls triumph and go to prom or spend time with family. A wild, tough-talking girl of mixed race who has run away from 10 foster homes, she was incarcerated for attacking another foster child with a box cutter. Even though her parent is giving her support, she was still scared of Shanae. Copyright 2023 . Megan was shuffled through 11 different foster homes, running away from all except one. Against all odds, they have become responsible citizens who give back to their communities.. Even more disturbing is Megan's real acknowledgement of this abandonment. Movies about murdered prostitutes and serial killers who prey on women are so ubiquitous as to be banal, and perhaps not even shockingly these stories tend to be about the cops or lawyers investigating the crimes to which they have fallen victim, and not about the women themselves. The films protagonists, Megan Jensen and Shanae Watkins. Issues such as child neglect, failure of the foster care system, alcoholism and drug abuse. Once Shanae begins to face the reality of what she did, she is transferred to a group home and begins to flourish. Brody, R., & Dwyer, D. (2016). Shanae, however, simply had to acknowledge her culpability in the murder of a friend before being able to effect a significant change in the direction of her life. Megan, a pretty girl with a devilish gleam in her eye, tries to get by on charm, but she doesn't have Shanae's focus. Girl Hood is a documentary film directed and produced by Liz Garbus that follows two teenage girls, Shanae and Megan, over the span of three years, from the time they are in the all-girls juvenile detention center at Thomas J.S Waxter Childrens Center in Laurel, Maryland, to when they are out in the real world. She had lived in an environment that was full of disruption. Shanae, an African-American who has been at Waxter for two years when the film begins, was sent there after stabbing a girl to death in a knife fight. Megan had given up, and even ended up back in jail. By what name was Girlhood (2003) officially released in Canada in English? Girlhood made its U.S. premiere at SXSW 2003, where it won the Audience Award for Documentary Feature. On the other hand, Girl Hood creates an uncomfortable comparison between Shanae and Megan and their relationship with their mothers. Gender Roles In The Film Girlhood. One characteristic of resilience that Megan portrays is her perseverance. . Shanaes development has been disrupted. Megan, the more unruly of the two is a little older than Shanae. Both girls are likable, smart young women struggling to overcome traumatic backgrounds. Follows two female inmates - victims of horrific violence and tragedy - who are serving time in a Maryland juvenile detention center. Girlhood misses some of the nuance of the girlhoods that it seeks to document in a few ways. But Vernessa quickly reverts to her old ways, and the scenes of Megan viciously berating her mother for her failures are painful to watch. The documentary follows the plight of Megan and Shanae (Garbus, 2003). ''GIRLHOOD,'' a new documentary, is a poignant and often distressing look at the lives of two teenage girls, inmates at the Thomas J. S. Waxter Children's Center for juvenile detention near Baltimore. Girlhood[Motion Picture]. Shanae and Megans story has reached a large audience and even caught the attention of talk show host Oprah Winfrey, however, many are critical of its overambitious attempts and lack of direction. While taking the country, Following an investigations there were findings that certain violations were evident and specifically those relating to failure to protect confined juveniles from harm; failure to address incidences of youth violence due to inadequate supervision; failure to protect juveniles confined from participation in sexual activity; and excessive use of physical force, among other serious violations all clearly in violation of professional standards and conduct. This confused young girl ran away from ten foster homes and wound up attacking another . For instance, Antoinette is a single mother who worked in two jobs so that she could support Shanae. At the Quad Cinema, 34 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village. recently followed up with Megan to see what had happened after the show. I have three lovely kids," she says. This leads to her eventual rehabilitation from delinquency. The majority of her life, her mother was either on the streets giving into her drug addiction or incarcerated for prostitution charges. Now hes confronting it head-on, The Super Mario Bros. is now highest-grossing video game adaptation with $500 million, Angela Bassett understood Austin Butlers Oscars moment. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. teaching psychology courses. Girlhood Movie Analysis. Cannes, this is how its done: projects from female filmmakers are set to kick off and conclude both AFI DOCS and Provincetown International Film Festival. For example, the filmmaker emphasizes Shanaes growth since leaving Waxter. Both Megan and Shenae's interactions with their 2 There are a number of reasons for why Shanae was able to turn her life around whereas Megan was not. Director Liz Garbus. That was 11 years ago. It first examines the main purpose, and location of the facility, and then turns to how the facility would deal with resident problems with socialization, education, and correctional components. data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAKAAAAB4CAYAAAB1ovlvAAAAAXNSR0IArs4c6QAAAw5JREFUeF7t181pWwEUhNFnF+MK1IjXrsJtWVu7HbsNa6VAICGb/EwYPCCOtrrci8774KG76 . Girlhood isnt about an abstraction like the wrongs of the state penal system -- indeed there is very little about how Waxter works (or doesnt) day to day -- its about two very real and complicated kids, each of whom could fill up hours of screen time. Group home and begins to face the reality of what she did she! Give back to their communities follows the plight of Megan and their relationship with her was! 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