Never in my life have I had any ambition to travel somewhere where which I would have to fend for myself through natural resources and kicking leopard ass. So, why is that so many film writers out there think Girl World is some mystical land of jungle and jamba juice that kills those who are too weak?
Well, that’s not that far off from the truth.
Karlyn sums it up best. Girl World is dangerous. Girl World is fun. Girl World is experimentation. Girl World is for girls. In Girl World, grrl power is real, it is weaponized, and it can hurt. Girls can unrepentally be who they want to be - in this space, the “F” in ‘feminine’ is synonym with 'fight’.
Yet, Girl World isn’t a utopic society. Girls clash, with each other and (what is probably the most fatal enemy of all) domesticity. Yet, it’s almost always (if not,always), that this battle is lost. Girls evolve into mothers, lovers, and wives. It’s endgame. No way of escaping of it.
To me, Girl World is frustrating. On one hand, it’s a highly stylized, idealistic, exaggerated view of what it means to be a girl (in America, as Girl World doesn’t appear to be culturally salient). On the other…well, anyone who ever has been a teenage girl would be the first to tell you it’s not walk in the park. Cliques are a thing, and whether you’re the Regina George or Cher of your crew is a title you fight for. Hierarchies exist, social stratification happens, and there are those who lost their battle in the war to finding themselves. In the real world, Girl World is brutal.
So, what does Girl World tell me? It tells me that it’s cool to have an interest in fashion, in girly-ness. It tells me that grrl power is a viable tool to be weaponized. What it doesn’t tell me, at least not upfront, is what I’m fighting for. A place on the food chain? Maybe. The post-feminist scholar (an already delusional one, at best) would tell me I fight for a title, like boss or CEO. In my eyes, the only title girls in Girl World fight for is that of mother or wife.
And that’s my problem.
Girl World is real, but what does it accomplish? Creating a space of unabashed girlyness and success, yes…but if all that’s be to taken away so that girls can once again become the trophy in their own world, then what’s the point? So as it seems, girls can’t even win their own agency within their own space. SAD.