Documentary Crime Documentary chronicling America's justice system. "I started using cocaine, I was strung out on drugs -- bad. Growing up, Megan had shuffled through 11 different foster homes, running away from all but one of them. This fact, combined with the lack of familial support that Megan got, certainly contributed to her continuing to run away from foster homes. 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. Shanae is a plump black girl who mentions she lost her virginity in the Baltimore projects when she was 10, was raped by 5 boys at 11, and did drugs in her . 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. Footage of the two girls is then followed along with more title cards that give insight into the crimes they have committed. That's when you really knew how much time and love were put in for the girls in this particular place. Garbus encountered the girls at the Waxter Juvenile Facility in Baltimore while making a television documentary about the boys incarcerated there. She's the sweetheart of the Waxter facility, even if. Her cousin has to console her. Director Liz Garbus. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/29/movies/film-review-documentary-illuminates-young-lives-crossroads-redemption.html Identification It indicates that she is wary of strangers (Garbus, 2003). Megan grew up without the love and support of her mother who was in prison for drugs and prostitution. She gets her place to live. MPAA rating: Unrated. Liz Garbus's hard-headed documentary film ''Girlhood'' is prefaced with an unsettling statistic: in the last decade the number of violent assaults by under-age girls in this country has doubled. "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" Megan, however, was virtually abandoned by her mother and received little support from the rest of the family. Second, she is unable to regulate her emotions (Garbus, 2003). 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. Shanae fatally stabbed the girl in the neck with a kitchen knife. The field of Girlhood Studies continues to grow and perhaps offers guidance in understanding where Garbus erred. After Megan and her mother have falling out and are no longer speaking, the film again shifts focus to Shanae, who has now just lost her mother to heart failure. ''Girlhood, which was shot in 16 millimeter, is a bare-bones affair, as spare as the juvenile institution in which much of it was filmed. In an interview with NPR, the films director, Liz Garbus, admits that Girlhood was originally a documentary about incarcerated boys, but the girls stories were more interesting to her. While Shanae told her own story -- murdering another girl after the two got into an argument -- and shared remorse for her violent actions, Megan seemed much more guarded. In 1997 on a Baltimore street, Shanae got into a fight with 13-year-old Chineye Mills, allegedly over a boy. Documentary chronicling America's justice system. Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. By age 10, she had been committed to two psychiatric hospitals and diagnosed as manic-depressive. By what name was Girlhood (2003) officially released in Canada in English? The disrupted attachment led to a paradoxical relationship with the caregivers in Waxter (Shaffer & Kipp, 2010). But Garbus sidesteps this queasy unpleasantness either because it pains her or because it doesnt fit with the triumphant survivor story shes trying to tell. 1103 Words. The relationship between staff and the young women at Waxter is for the most part warm and friendly. . "I don't want to do this no more.". I was just doing anything to kill myself, honestly," she says. AQA Psychology: AS and A-level Year 1. 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. Then, she brutally stabbed another girl with a box cutter and ended up in juvenile home for some of the most violent young offenders in the country. Its no wonder. The length of her stay at Waxter will depend on whether she can acknowledge what she did and show appropriate remorse. Innumerable advancements and innovations have profoundly contributed to the betterment of the lives of the human race in the twenty first century. 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. A narrative feature based on the two subjects of Liz Garbus 2003 documentary Girlhood, young female inmates Shanae Watkins and Megan Stahl, is in the works. Impact of Trauma 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. Parents need to know that the French movie Girlhood is a bleak but affecting look at life in the housing projects outside Paris, where young people have few options and little chance to improve their lives. Not surprisingly, by the end of the documentary she is living alone in Baltimore while Shanae was living with her family and doing well in high school while preparing to attend a junior college. Join our weekly newsletter to stay up-to-date on women centric, directed, and written films and news. Humanizing those who have committed crimes especially children is a good thing to do, and certainly expands the viewers capacity to embrace complicated narratives and emotions. AMCTheatres.com or AMC App New. NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates talks with documentary filmmaker Liz Garbus about her new film Girlhood, a chronicle of the lives of two troubled adolescent girls involved in the juvenile justice system . Her emotional responses are not well adjusted. It seemed like there was more of an effort to know where Shanae was and more help was provided for her then for Megan. In the film Girlhood by Liz Garbus we are introduced to two young girl's named Megan and Shanae, who committed a crime and are getting help through a facility that helps young girls reflect on their actions. My Essay Writerwas started by an award-winning journalist who saw the need from students to have someone take care of their annoying assignments for them. She had many problems communicating with her foster parents, and she ran away ten times before she had even been arrested for aggravated assault. Running time: 88 minutes. Wake up to the day's most important news. 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. Girl Hood was released in 2003 and since then has won many awards. After her release, 19-year-old Megan appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" alongside another troubled teen, Shanae. The first example is how wary she is of strangers (Eysenck, 2015). The new documentary Girlhood isnt a horror movie, but there isnt another movie this year that chills the blood as quickly as the brief exchange caught on camera between a 15-year-old girl and her parents. Its no wonder. 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. Oprah later told her she was the first person she had interviewed who had ever walked out on her. Abruptly, she halted the conversation. Theres no suggestion that the teenager feels any true remorse, only that shes learned how to deploy the same hollow psychological platitudes as her jailers. She had lived in an environment that was full of disruption. This presumption is damaging because ultimately Garbus makes uncomplicated subjects of the girls. However, after the collective effort from her mother and rehabilitation officers, she becomes emotionally expressive. Press ESC to cancel. However, the film ignores their concerns regarding the young girls and regarding the system. Follows two female inmates - victims of horrific violence and tragedy - who are serving time in a Maryland juvenile detention center.Documentary chronicling America's justice system. Theres no denying the seduction and importance of a lot of this work, but sometimes it isnt enough to turn a camera on other peoples catastrophes. http://articles.latimes.com/2003/nov/14/entertainment/et-girlhood14, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1514431. Through abbreviated, seamlessly edited scenes, the girls are observed lurching through the juvenile penal system by awkward fits and starts. New York: Psychology Press. The majority of her life, her mother was either on the streets giving into her drug addiction or incarcerated for prostitution charges. We were introduced to Shanae, a young girl, convicted of murder. 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. Girlhood juvenile delinquents, Shanae Megan, Waxter Juvenile Facility Maryland. http://sites.google.com/view/ehdwjwbxfu/linkedlist-member-modification-c, Your email address will not be published. At the Quad Cinema, 34 West 13th Street, Greenwich Village. However, her mother is a struggling drug addict who is unable to offer the care and support that she required. [Write my essay for me? Get help here.]. (Watkins stabbed a girl to death in a street fight.) 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. Shanae was arrested for murder at the age of 12, after stabbing a friend to death. Open Document. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Vidiots returns: L.A. institution reveals opening date for new movie theater, video store, Everything Everywhere All at Once explained: Hot dog hands, empathy challenges and meaning in the absurd, Captain America: The Winter Soldier reviews salute action, intrigue, Morgan Freeman criticizes Black History Month and the term African American, Armie Hammer sexual-assault allegations being reviewed by L.A. prosecutors, Waynes World is not the film Penelope Spheeris wants to be remembered for, Super Mario Bros. surpasses $600 million to top the 2023 box office, The actor, the hairstylist and the eye surgeon: Drugs and death in a Malibu beach house, Have guests in town? The effects of detention have been researched and discovered to be detrimental to the safety and mental health of the juvenile, as well as increase the chance of recidivism. All Rights Reserved. Just check our reviews! Miriam has proven to have an incredibly strong voice when it comes to tackling tough, timely and complex stories that often take place in urban settings but resonate far and wide, Fawcett said. Its easy to see what attracted Garbus to Shanae and Megan and why, after spending three on-and-off years with them, she would want to hang a proverbial silver lining on their stories. 2 Working within the filmic fairy tale adaptation cycle that emerged between 2005 and 2015, this thesis investigates how girlhood is cinematically constructed through the lens of But in [Garbus] attempt to give their lives a shape that the girls themselves seem to resist, this talented filmmaker has done both herself and them a disservice.. Girlhood focuses on the life of two young juveniles, Shanae Owens and Megan Jensen both incarcerated for violent crimes. She gave birth to a daughter and moved to North Carolina in an effort to start anew. Producers Liz Garbus, Rory Kennedy. Mary Celeste Kearney writes that in approaching girlhood, sociological research, interestingly, often focused on female juvenile delinquency. In recent years, however, Girlhood Studies has grown to include and account for multiple narratives of girlhood, and actively attempts not to make girlhood inferior to womanhood, or take it less seriously. Both girls are likable, smart young women struggling to overcome traumatic backgrounds. At 14, she was hit by a stray bullet during a gunfight. Her future appears shaky. "I didn't know how to love anybody or to depend on people because I never had anyone stable enough in my life to actually show me that kind of love and compassion.". When she originally returned to Baltimore, Megan's life went downhill. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Even though there is an intense argument, after she tells her mother never to talk to her again, she has a nervous breakdown (Garbus, 2003). . His first civics lesson? One of the biggest criticisms that Garbus, It is typically more difficult for adults to change their patterns of behavior than it is for younger people. She Alba Sotorra is an independent filmmaker and producer based in Barcelona. New and Upcoming Science Fiction and Fantasy. All the same, Marieme (Karidja Tour) goes through nearly as many shifts in appearance and identity as Boyhood's Mason. The third is her reluctance to become close with others. Running time: 1 hour, 28 minutes. The film leaves us with a final mystery about human development. As to be expected, the revelations are often heartbreaking, at times infuriating, but because the film runs a total of 88 minutes theyre also manifestly unenlightening. Is it maternal nurturing that makes the difference? As you watch it, you wish the film would fill in more of each girl's background. Girls like Shanae and the films other principal subject, Megan, a disarmingly appealing teenager who, bounced from one foster home to another (11 total), landed in Waxter after slicing open another girl with a box cutter. 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. With these questions in mind, I use feminist textual analysis to examine three filmsNausica of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), and Princess Mononoke (1997)by acclaimed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki in which girl characters and girlhood play prominently into the film's construction as a whole. In the end, it seems the title Girlhood is both revealing and a misnomer: this film is about the liminal space of girlhoods colored by destabilizing events in their lives (and the larger systems and circumstances dictated by a society that easily discards the humanity of girls, people of color, queer people, differently abled people and poor people). The pair form a strong friendship and, under the guidance and treatment of a dedicated psychotherapist, endeavor to change their lives and strive for a brighter future. ABSTRACT The teen horror film The Craft (1996) has remained a cult classic with girl audiences for two decades. She responded by drinking and drugging, and then at age 12, graduated to murder. One characteristic of resilience that Megan portrays is her perseverance. Cannily positioned in the U.S. as the distaff answer to Richard Linklater's Boyhood, Cline Sciamma's third feature (following Water Lilies and Tomboy) Girlhood doesn't follow its protagonist over the course of 12 years, or even over more than a year or so. In the lower security facility interview, Shanae reveals that five men gang-raped her when she was young. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The relationship between staff and the young girls is also essential to how the girls grow and move forward with their lives. As the documentary end, it is clear that Megan is afraid to trust others. She receives more family support than Megan is, but she does not seem to reciprocate it at the beginning of the film. Is also essential to how the girls was Girlhood ( 2003 ) released. Troubled teen, Shanae reveals that five men gang-raped her when she originally returned to Baltimore, Megan 's went... 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