Abstract: Teenage Films and (Post)Feminism

My question:

To what extent are progressive female representations embodied in the teen films Mean Girls and Ten Things I Hate About You and how does the teen genre engage with discourses of female choice and identity formation?

My main intention with this paper is to explore the female teenage representations in the films Mean Girls and Ten Things I Hate About You in order to conceptualize the ways in which representations are complicated by the cult teen film and the postfeminist climate in which young girls are growing up in. Both film texts have received both critical acclaim and popular success and have a substantial positioning in the milieu of contemporary teenage films. They also both present ambiguous central female figures and thematic developments that are often perceived as progressive; Cady’s trajectory in Mean Girls leads her to discover her ‘authentic’, unassuming self through her troubled friendships with the ‘plastic’ clique, while Cat’s persona in 10 Things I Hate About You is perhaps one of the only characters explicitly coded as feminist to grace the screens of teenage films. Yet both of these representations harbor contradictory elements and aspects that actually work to undermine their progressive tenets. To this effect, I want to propose that through close analysis of the respective representations in these texts, they are figured as much more retrogressive and problematic than it may appear at a first glance. Moreover, through these figures I want to explore how the teen genre as a whole mobilizes discourses of female identity formation and choice (particularly as pertaining to gender and sexuality) that have become increasingly complex with the onset of postfeminism. Questions of when sexuality is deemed appropriate in a teenage context, choices and types of sexual behavior deemed appropriate, representations of feminism and postfeminism in the context of high school, and how teenage girls are expected to navigate these minefields of what is and isn’t deemed acceptable (which these film representations complicate) are all issues I look to discuss in the context of the close textual analysis within my paper.

I aim to structure my argument moving from the specific to the broad; in other words, my analysis of the two film texts will provide room for broader conclusions about how the teenage film genre engages with or disavows discourses of feminism and postfeminism in its female representations. Essentially, I want to uncover how the genre attempts to mask regressive and patriarchal representations within figures that appear innovative and inspiring to audiences, particularly teenage viewers susceptible to being exposed to these depictions. I want to explore the protagonist of the texts and the broader thematics that engage with gender and sexuality in each text before drawing on wider discourses of the teen genre and the onset of postfeminism (though theoretical underpinnings and scholarship will naturally be present throughout). My methodology thus will range from the consultation of relevant theories on the onset of postfeminism in media, female representations in teenage film (especially in terms of connections with feminism and postfeminism), and close textual analysis of the two films in question.

            In terms of larger scholarly discussions, my paper can be situated within the relevant but somewhat under-explored realm of feminist and postfeminist media representations within the teenage film genre. This is a genre that engages actively with sexuality, gender, and choice and pertains particularly to younger viewers actively consuming and repositioning these representations within their own lives as they shape and discover their own identities and sexual preferences.