Imagine… you’re sitting in a nice and comfy cushioned chair, the smell of buttered popcorn is filling your lungs, the cool fizz of soda is gliding down your throat, you’re body and mind are at ease… This sensation may not be relatable for everyone, but for many going to the movie theatre is an escape. It’s an hour and a half escape from the endless amount of things you need to check off your to-do list, an instantaneous escape from the anxiety you constantly feel, and a brief escape into someone else’s story, during another time and in another place.
Due to this feeling people get from watching a movie, they are insanely popular among our society and a large part of our culture. The younger populations are greatly influenced by film and over the past few decades the rise in popularity of the teen film genre has boomed. Not only are adolescents desiring to see themselves represented in film, but older generations are constantly trying to gain an understanding to them as well. When diving deeper into each decade of teen film since the 80’s, we can see how the portrayal of teen girls has affected society’s outlook and treatment of young females. Additionally, we can see how far the prominence of feminism in movies has come, and gain an insight to the culture of the past, which will allow us to see how much society's viewpoints on the female youth have evolved. Unraveling the evolving portrayal of teen girls in film over the past few decades; ranging from the depiction of male dominance over young women, to the tenacious outlook on women and their valuable relationships with one another, to the most recent theme of the strong and empowering female lead.
The History Behind Teen Cinema
The history behind the adolescent film genre dates back to the 1950’s. Before the 50’s, teens were hardly represented in film and took on small roles, but the 50’s cinema sparked a new era of teen film. Hollywood began to mold their performers into troubled youth, the most popular being James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, which demonstrated the pure teen angst among American cinema. Author of Teen Films: The Cinematic Image of Youth, Timothy Sherry, stated that during the 50’s “films were made that avoided or toned-down the dilemmas of youth for the sake of celebrating its carefree aspects, or films were made to further capitalize on and inflame the dangers of teen delinquency and decadence.” During this time Hollywood was in the process of introducing the post-World War II teenager, and along with this came the exaggerated ephebiphobia, fear or loathing of teens, that was a large part of pop culture and politics at the time. Because of this movies revolving around teens depicted juvenile delinquency and the troubled adolescent storyline. Moving into the later 50’s teen movies, Hollywood was catering to both ends of the genre spectrum: dangers of teens versus celebration of teens.
The 60’s began the wave of joyful beach movies, including Beach Party. However, in the early 70’s teen film shifted back towards the more dark and rebellious aspects of the adolescent identity. Whereas, the late 70’s had a more lighthearted approach to adolescent life with Saturday Night Fever and Grease. The 80’s began the largest movement of teen films because Hollywood wanted to cater the young audiences who often visited the newly introduced shopping malls. Jessie Bernard stated that, “teens primarily participate in the economy as a consumer,” which is why Hollywood marked teens as their next target to get to the theatres. This time period marked the emergence of teen film sub genres ranging from horror, to dance musicals, to sex comedies. This created an avenue for a variety of character types to emerge. Sherry explains how “this gave teenage movie audiences at the end of the 20th century a greater sense of presence in popular media, a deeper potential to be influenced by the films they saw, and a wider range of options from which they could construct and compare their senses of themselves.” Therefore, by the early ‘80s, there were six major approaches to youth cinema offered by Hollywood: the horror film, the science fiction film, the sex comedy, the romantic melodrama, the juvenile delinquent drama, and the school picture. With a wide range of movies for the youth to watch, the teen films of the 80’s became very popular among society.
The 80’s: All About Boys
In many 80’s films, girls are portrayed as sexual objects to be obtained, or are a way for the male characters to be accepted into a social circle. Sherry, further explains this by saying how in “the early 80’s, the depiction of teens sexual pursuits had become primarily ribald and explicit.” Teen film in the 80’s revolved around romantic relationships, typically placing the males in a more dominating position over the females. Premiering in 1984, Sixteen Candles hits this theme right on the dot. A freshman Ted, who is portrayed as a geek, is obsessed with sophomore, and main character, Samantha Baker. Whilst, Samantha is in love with the popular senior jock, Jake Ryan. Ted decides to make a bet with his friends that he can get any girl he wanted, including Samantha. His friends tell him that he’s going to need to bring proof (aka her underwear). Ted ends up getting Samantha’s underwear and making other boys pay him money to see them, further objectifying young women and their sexuality. As the movie conspires, Ted ends up at Jake’s party and they end up having a conversation discussing girls. Jake tells Ted, “I can get a piece of ass anytime I want. Shit, I got Caroline in my bedroom right now, passed out cold. I could violate her ten different ways if I wanted to.” This statement clearly shows Jake’s belief of dominance over the other girls his age. Ted responds to Jake by asking, “What are you waiting for?” This question encourages female sexual harassment among the male youth in this time period, as talking about women in this way was a social norm. Jake then proposes a bargain to Ted, “I’ll make a deal with you. Let me keep these [Samantha’s underwear]. I’ll let you take Caroline home … She’s so blitzed she won’t know the difference.” This conversation not only objectifies young women, but also the celebrates female sexual harassment among teen boys. Caroline is Jake’s girlfriend at the time, and once Jake lets Ted take her home, they end up sleeping together. Caroline was clearly very drunk and no where near capable of giving consent. On top of all that, Ted brings, the intoxicated, Caroline to his friends house so that they can take photos of him and her for proof they were together. Sixteen Candles is just one of many teen movies in the 80’s that portray young females as sexual trophies and achievements for men.
Young women were often characterized as boy-obsessed and nothing else in 80’s teen cinema. In the popular 1982 teen film, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the main character Stacey Hamilton’s main concern is sex and dating. She fits what Bernard would call the “clean-cut, All-American girl… simple ponytail hairdo, basically a Seventeen model who dates the football legend.” Although she never dates the “football legend,” all she can talk about is boys and is constantly wondering what her “first time” will be like. Unfortunately, each of her sexual encounter leaves her underwhelmed. Stacey ends up getting pregnant, and them immediately has an abortion. Representing how when women have casual sex, unlike men, they get punished for it by getting pregnant. Additionally, Stacey gets abandoned at the abortion clinic by the guy who got her pregnant. This depiction of abortion directly correlates to the male dominance over women because they have to power to impregnate, then leave. Furthermore, in the 80’s films girls were rarely seen as anything more than sex objects because of how much nudity was used to depict their characters. Fast Times at Ridgemont High was Amy Heckerling’s directorial debut, who would go on to direct another popular film, Clueless. Heckerling began a new movement of how young females were depicted in movies.
The 90’s: A New Female Era
The 90’s began an era of female-centric movies where the female characters are more fleshed out and not seen through the lens of a male relationship. Suzanne Ferriss states, “As a phenomenon dating from the mid-1990’s, the chick-culture boom both reflected and promoted the new visibility of women in popular culture.” Which they describe resulted in “a growing recognition of women’s significance… and complex social positioning – with its continued restrictions and its new freedoms – and their [women’s] aspirations.” Coming off this female high was Heckerling’s cult 1995 teenage classic, Clueless, follows the story of a wealthy sixteen year old valley girl, Cher Horowitz, and her complications with life in Beverly Hills. Clueless is one of the first teen films to depict the tenacious outlook on women and their valuable relationships with one another. Cher’s group of friends embrace their independence, do not slut-shame each other, nor do they let boys come in between their friendship. They are constantly supporting and looking out for one another. At one point in the movie Cher responds to unwanted male attention by pushing him off her and yelling: “Ugh, as if!” Cher certainly doesn’t let anyone degrade her. Although Cher may seem conceited, as the movie unravels her character the viewers see how headstrong, appreciative, and compassionate she is. She accepts her friend’s sexuality, never judes her friends for their decisions, and stands strong in her choices when it comes to her body.
A different take on the young female involves the 1996 teen drama, The Craft. This film tackles racism, classism, and mental health issues at an urban school. The documentary about teen films, Beyond Clueless, summaries The Craft by describing how the main protagonist, Sarah, “identifies natural allies in Bonnie, Nancy, and Rochelle, a trio of gothics tormented by their fellow students and marked as outsider by factors they can’t control. Bonded together, they assert their power as one. As they forge a fresh path through the system, they liberate themselves from the past and seek revenge on those who’ve done them wrong.” This group of girls finds power in Sarah’s supernatural abilities and uses them to their advantage. Rachel Mosley analyzed women witches in movies and stated about The Craft that the “power of the young women's joined voices and gazes, and the concern to heal social inequities” is important in showing the post-feminist ideology. The Craft particularly challenges the genders norms by having this group of friends embrace their identities as misfits in a world that tells them to fit beauty ideals and “act like a girl.” This pushback against conformity sends an empowering message to embrace who they are at their core. This film may be seen as a little extreme, but it offered adolescent girls a story of feminine power.
The 2000’s: A Strong Female Lead
Teen Films such as The Hunger Games and Divergent have sparked a new movement of a strong and empowering female lead. These films express what would be a man’s violence as rebelling against the status quo. The female characters come together under the umbrella of everyone and anyone who doesn't feel accepted by society’s social norms. There is a determination of the protagonists in these films who are willing to fight, and even die, for whatever they believe in. In The Hunger Games series, the main protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, learns to recognize, value, and embrace, her feminine strengths which work to keep her alive in the Hunger Game arena. Although Katniss has the physical strength of any man, and a talent for shooting a bow, she finds more strength in her relationships with other girls. Without opening herself up to the power of sisterhood, Katniss wouldn’t have been able to survive the games. Debrah describes this discovery of the sisterhood as “a common bond of women’s experiences which contributes to many a feminist awakening,” much like what Katniss got to experience first hand. Debrah defines sisterhood by: “a community of women with a common aim.” Diving deeper into the strength of young women is the Divergent series, where the main protagonist, Tris Prior, evolves from being obedient and quiet to becoming divergent, someone with many qualities. Throughout her journey, Tris is placed on an even playing field to the guys and fights her way through deadly situation all from her own determination.
In a personal interview with Meghan Dougherty, the Program Director Film and Digital Media Program and Associate Professor Digital Communication, we discussed how the teen film genre is working towards empowering young females by providing stronger depictions of girls in film. Dougherty explained how young adult novels are doing way more in empowering young girls than the adolescent cinema of today, which is why she said that “some of the portrayals of strong, young women are movies that are based on books, like Katniss Everdeen.” Both the Hunger Games and Divergent film series are based off of young adult fiction books. Dougherty goes on explaining how “in those movies they’re calling out a stereotype and trying to combat against it, but perhaps in ways that accidentally reinforces the stereotype, or fight against the stereotype in too subtle a way.” She uses the example of Hermione in Harry Potter, and how her strong, courageous, and smart character can be turned around and used against females in a derogatory way, which she believes is strongly integrated into society. Dougherty’s point is made more clear from the research study, “Mean Girls? The Influence of Gender Portrayals in Teen Movies on Emerging Adults’ Gender-Based Attitudes and Beliefs,” conducted by Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz and Dana E. Mastro. This two-part exploratory study documented gender portrayals in teen movies and investigated the influence of exposure to these images on gender-based beliefs about friendships, social aggression, and roles of women in society. The study concluded that female characters are more likely to be portrayed as socially aggressive when compared to their male counterparts. Additionally, they found that viewing teen movies is associated with negative stereotypes about female friendships and gender roles. This data clearly shows why it is so important to portray girls right, so that the effects aren’t so negative.