Megan flounders around for a while and is eventually sent to another foster home, which doesn't work out. Last night I watched a documentary called, GIRLHOOD based on two young girls in the Baltimore juvenile detention center, Waxter. In Garbus version of their lives, these experiences do not bring them down. They emerge triumphant; their girlhood, we end up hoping, will be salvaged. LA Times reviewer Manohla Dargis notes, Garbus obsession with levity ultimately triumphs, leaving us with an unfinished picture: [T]o turn complex and contradictory lives into palatable narratives, is one of the least-examined pitfalls in nonfiction filmmaking. How A Violent Teen Who Had Given Up On Life Turned It All Around No matter how optimistic I am, when I am reaching out to young women, I need to understand different backgrounds. Megan grew up without the love and support of her mother who was in prison for drugs and prostitution. 'Girlhood' Subjects to Get Narrative Feature Remake (Exclusive) Megan on the other hand, has a more difficult time staying out of trouble and maintaining good grades. Press ESC to cancel. This paradoxical relationship with her parent is evident (Brody & Dwyer, 2016). ~ (Source: Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide). Volatile, articulate and desperately needy, Megan seethes with bitterness at having been abandoned by her mother, Vernessa, a heroin addict and prostitute, who has spent many years in prison. The structure of Waxter allowed Megan to be a child, the streets provide no structure and force her to be more of an adult than most adults ever have to be. The project, titled "Hood Girls," will be written and directed by Miriam Kruishoop ("Greencard Warriors") and produced by Atlantic Screen Productions. As the film progresses we see Shanae go from feeling very little remorse or even understanding of the consequences of her violent actions, to feeling real remorse and a sense of responsiblity. At Waxter, Megans need for attention and affection, her vulnerablity, are on display for everyone to see. We are introduced to them while they are incarcerated in Waxter Juvenile Detention Center, just outside of Baltimore, Maryland. Profile of Liz Garbus by the Center for Social Media, Movie Fire Craker Website (Liz Garbus Film Website), Your email address will not be published. "I'm happy now.". As she grows up, she realizes that she cannot rely on anyone and starts to take better care or herself. The protagonists are Shanae Owens and Megan Jensen. Documentary chronicling America's justice system. The domain that best explains Megans attachment issues is the ambivalent/resistant attachment. 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. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.This Documentary/Film \"Girlhood\" is not for any personal financial profit or gain to TheeSymphony'sCulture Channel, but instead only for educational purposes and cultural research. One may wonder how Antoinette could be a good parent considering all the trouble Shanae got into at such a young age. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Sometimes, it is members of our own families that expose our children to drugs and alcohol, something I have often seen growing up in my own neighbourhood. We were introduced to Shanae, a young girl, convicted of murder. The documentary "Girlhood" follows the lives of two girls, Shanae and Megan, from 1999-2002, during and shortly after their release from Waxter Juvenile Facility in Maryland. Brody, R., & Dwyer, D. (2016). But while researching junvenile detention centres she met Shanae who suggested that she make a film about girls. Obviously, the director, Liz Garbus, wants to achieve in a documentary the power and. Megan's mother was a drug-addled prostitute, and after being placed in, and escaping from, nearly a dozen foster homes, Megan committed a violent crime. 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. The extent of Garbus access to the girls while in detention is remarkable (she states that she eventually had keys to the inside of the Waxter facility because the staff got tired of her and her crews constant requests to get into different rooms). Filled with a new sense of hope and ambition, Megan got her life together, pursuing an education and focusing on her family. The popular phrase "Out of sight, out of mind" expresses the indifference of most Americans toward young offenders serving time in juvenile facilities. Shanae Owens and Megan Jensen in girlhood. During this scene Megan whines that nobody loves her, she seems to be half joking but one has to wonder. Megan, we are told, has been in 11 foster houses by the age of 16. http://sites.google.com/view/ehdwjwbxfu/linkedlist-member-modification-c, Your email address will not be published. The film opens with the title card, In the United States, during the last decade, the number of young girls committing violent crimes has more than doubled. 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. Shanae and Megan both experienced similar circumstances that yielded different outcomes. Documentary chronicling America's justice system. 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. The film is told from the girls subjective viewpoint and plays as a coming of age story. Even though her mother has a problem with drugs and prostitution, she is distressed when she does not receive visits or calls from her. The system essentially gives up on trying to control her and turns her loose to fend for herself. Ecological Framework However, after the collective effort from her mother and rehabilitation officers, she becomes emotionally expressive. Garbus in her commentary points out that Shanae does not believe that the gang rape should be seen as some sort of excuse for her murdering her friend. This problem has been solved! There was nothing in this film that led me to believe that society has a handle on the current youth crime situation, and that made me sadder than the plight of these two confused girls who were trying to grow up too fast and came up short. Because the film does not incorporate the juvenile system that fails Megan and others like her, the focus of the film becomes on the distinction between mothers who neglect their children and mothers who do not. The films protagonists, Megan Jensen and Shanae Watkins. Girlhood worksheet 1 .docx - Girlhood Worksheet Please - Course Hero Shaffer, D. R., & Kipp, K. (2010). When Megans mom got released from jail, she even lived there for awhile. Over the years, Megan has run away from most of her foster homes in a desperate attempt to reunite with her mother. Your email address will not be published. Then, everything changed when Megan got pregnant. At 17, she was living in her own apartment in a druggie neighborhood. Garbus interest in and empathy for her subjects and, more importantly, the way in which she relays their girlhood, makes for an entertaining and emotional documentary, but perhaps an incomplete one. Once Shanae begins to face the reality of what she did, she is transferred to a group home and begins to flourish. "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. By what name was Girlhood (2003) officially released in Canada in English? Find help here.]. It is also quite clear that the staff at Waxter have a special affection for her despite her antics. What is more important is that both boys and girls develop a sense of agency in relation to their aggressive behaviour, and take responsiblity for the consequences of their violent actions. But one is left wondering how this silly girl took it upon herself to attack another young woman with a box cutter (the main reason why she is locked up). The third is her reluctance to become close with others. We follow them over a period of about three years. [Write my essay for me? Get help here.]. The film pivots from the girls to their relationships with their moms, as Garbus follows their development from girls into young ladies. Early in the film it is apparent that Shanae doesnt really feel remorseful for the murder of her friend. Dennis Schwartz: Ozus World Movie Reviews, Copyright 2023 - Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews. 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. She tries to reach out to her mother multiple times despite being disappointed numerous times. Both Megan and Shanae share similar viewpoints for example, they mention that their role model is . Shanae started drinking with her cousin. "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.". It is during Shanaes interview to get into the lower security facility that we learn that she was also gang raped by five men. However, her mother is a struggling drug addict who is unable to offer the care and support that she required. Shanae had to go to a lower security facility before her mother was convinced that she was rehabilitated. Shanae shows certain resilience characteristics that help her reform her life. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. At the beginning of the documentary, Shanae and Megan are 14 and 16, serving time for murder and assault, respectively. Megan admits to having a special relationship with a fellow inmate which seems to be of a romantic nature. The girls tragic relationships with their mothers, their struggles with sexuality, their experiences with rape and sexual assault, drug use and poverty have shaped their lives in and out of jail. To come to those safe conclusions is something that no one in their right mind would argue, but it really doesnt get to the heart of what has gone wrong in this affluent country that has so many children in trouble with the Man. At first, Shanae shows no remorse over killing another human being, but gradually she takes a hard look at what she did and is sorry. Of the two only Shanae receives that nurturing, and it seems to make all the difference. Director Liz Garbus See production, box office & company info Search on Amazon search for Blu-ray and DVD Add to Watchlist Added by 1.8K users 8 User reviews GIRLHOOD - Dennis Schwartz Reviews ESSAY WRITING SERVICE SAMPLE: LANGUAGE ACQUISITION, ESSAY WRITING SAMPLE: CORNING INC. COMPANY PROFILE CASE STUDY, RESEARCH PAPER ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY: THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE CONFLICT, How realism, a theory of International Relations, can apply to Foreign Policy, SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: GIRLHOOD MOVIE REVIEW. Girlhood | Film Review | Spirituality & Practice Furthermore, at the end of the documentary, she enrolls in a community college nearby. The majority of her life, her mother was either on the streets giving into her drug addiction or incarcerated for prostitution charges. FILM REVIEW; A Documentary Illuminates Young Lives at the Crossroads of Redemption and Devastation, https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/29/movies/film-review-documentary-illuminates-young-lives-crossroads-redemption.html. 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 is 16 and is in Waxter for Assault with a deadly weapon. What both girls crave is the stabilizing force of a caring and responsible mother. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. She was farmed out to live with a foster parent. I have three lovely kids," she says. Decent Essays. She stays briefly at another foster home before running away to live with friends and eventually by herself in the treacherous East Baltimore neighborhood where she got into trouble. From there she enrolls in high school, where she places fourth in her class, and plans to attend a community college. In the documentary, she is always trying to contact either the mother or the grandmother. Girlhood: The Theories Of Aggression And Violence | Studymode But not everyone has families like this. Girlhood focuses on the life of two young juveniles, Shanae Owens and Megan Jensen both incarcerated for violent crimes. "I was really, really, really confused at the time," Megan says. The film is also said to be informative regarding the significance of the relationship between mothers and daughters. Megan, 16, was also involved in a fight and was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. Girlhood (2003) - Plot - IMDb Girlhood | Film Review | Spirituality & Practice T he 'Girlhood' documentary highlights the plight of girls in juvenile centers with some psychological disorders. 4 Pages. Her divorced mom moved to the suburbs to get her out of harms way but Shanae, though never arrested, still managed to find again the wrong friends and display bad conduct at home. Spirituality & Practice. Megan, after a failed escape attempt from Waxter, goes into another foster home. The relationship between staff and the young girls is also essential to how the girls grow and move forward with their lives. The staff never followed up Megans progress as they should have and she was unsupervised when she suddenly left the foster home and lived with friends, thereby returning to drugs and her former East Baltimore street life. "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" Shanae, on the other hand, received strong support and had to follow strict rules her 32-year-old diabetic mom insisted upon, so that when she was released to her home she had someone to lean on for support. Girlhood (Dir: Liz Garbus, 2003) | Feminist Films in the Swarthmore Girlhood Movie Analysis. She has a total of two children and she has graduated from college. Why is Shanae in the juvenile facility? Directed by Liz Garbus; director of photography, Tony Hardmon; edited by Mary Manhardt; music by Theodore Shapiro; produced by Ms. Garbus and Rory Kennedy; released by Wellspring. Because of the serious nature of her crime Shanae has been locked up for over two years and is anxious to go home when the film begins, but showing no remorse for her crime and acting like an obnoxious brat. Open Document. Shot on digital video and Super 8 film over the course of three years, "Girlhood" provides a partial account of what happened to Shanae and Megan under the state's alternately guarded and. We now have the best team of essay writers in the world. This leads to her eventual rehabilitation from delinquency. Revise AS Level Psychology. Feb 26th, 2022 Published. Megan was shuffled through 11 different foster homes, running away from all except one. So the question is to what degree do we all have to support children whose families cant? But the reality is that Shanae, because of the support of her family, is able to overcome the trauma of her childhood and the impact of her crime and graduate from high school and go on to community college whereas Megan, without really any family support, is only able to struggle, her greatest achievement being that she doesnt return to crime or become a hardcore drug addict. Required fields are marked *. Megan, the more unruly of the two is a little older than Shanae. a. Shanae is in the juvenile facility for stabbing a friend to death in a fight. "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" As much of my work is with teenage girls in high school, this issue is both personally and professionally relevant to me, however, I often wonder if girls are really becoming more violent or if our society is just admitting something that has always gone on but we didnt know how to label because of our stereotypical image of girls and women as somehow less aggressive than men. Miriam Kruishoop ( Greencard Warriors) has signed on to write and direct Hood Girls, a narrative feature based on the life stories of the two subjects of Liz Garbus ' 2003 documentary Girlhood . 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. ''Girlhood'' is the newest entry in Ms. Garbus's long list of socially concerned documentaries made for theaters and television. Anyone can read what you share. MPAA rating: Unrated. Megan admits that when she leaves Waxter she will only be going back to another foster home. This time around, she focuses her attention on two young women in Waxter Juvenile Facility near Baltimore, Maryland. To think that one out of two might have straightened out her life, is not saying that the system works. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, t. This confused young girl ran away from ten foster homes and wound up attacking another girl with a box-cutter. Part of HuffPost News. And now I'm doing this film about a little girl, and in many ways she's a precursor to Megan. Megan had given up, and even ended up back in jail. By what name was Girlhood (2003) officially released in Canada in English? I think this is key to Shanaes eventual success. "I don't want to do this no more.". Girlhood (2003) - Plot Summary - IMDb As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The film, however, makes Shanae and Megans girlhoods into victory stories when, instead, they are something much more complex. She was there as a member of the community and Shanae was a child of the community and therefore her child. EDPY 303.005 Dr. Armstrong 08 May 2018 Girlhood (2003) Documentary Introduction: The topics presented in this paper include the effects of trauma on two young girls and their incarceration after committing violent assaults. At one point she tells her parents that the girl she murdered actually has it easy because shes just dead whereas Shanae is suffering because she is in detention. She is also silly and childish which is what you expect for a girl her age. recently followed up with Megan to see what had happened after the show. AQA Psychology: AS and A-level Year 1. 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. Shanae 1. Girlhood (2003) Documentary - YouTube As Oprah questioned Megan about her current situation and plans for the future, the teen grew visibly agitated. However, the film ignores their concerns regarding the young girls and regarding the system. Garbus followed Shanaes suggestion and was determined to include her in her film. Megan Terry, an Obie Award winner, a founding member of the Open Theater group and a prolific feminist playwright who wrote and directed a rock musical on the New York stage that . Having been abandoned by her mother, with whom she has a very complicated relationship, Megan is desperate for attention and affection. ''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. The girls as well as their moms were open and seemed to not hold back their emotions for the camera, with Megan a virtual basket case of excitability and the childish Shanae changing for the better as she matures. The girls have traumatic experiences that affect their relationship with others. Unlike Megan, who ends up bitter, Shanae has a positive outlook that things will become better. We wont be able to verify your ticket today, but its great to know for the future. New York: Psychology Press. Garbus follows Shanae and Megan over a three-year period as they move through the juvenile system, struggle with mixed feelings toward their mothers, comment on the efforts of the staff to set them on the straight and narrow, and try to cope with the changes in their lives. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Girlhood (2003) - IMDb Make sure to answer each of the questions as thoroughly as possible. Abandoned by her mother, a heroin addict turned prostitute, Megan ran away from then different foster homes before being arrested on assault charges. Interviews. Lock 'em up and keep them off the streets is the familiar cry. Garbus, L. (Director). In class we watched the video Girlhood. 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. 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. The documentary Girlhood juvenile delinquents Shanae Megan Waxter FILM; A Filmmaker Who Chooses to Live Behind Bars Film Review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat Megan Terry, Feminist Playwright and Rock Musical Innovator, Dies at 90 Challenging Attachment Even though she has been through the trauma of murdering another girl, it seems like the rape ordeal was the first trauma that led to the myriad of deviant behavior (Garbus, 2003). The length of her stay at Waxter will depend on whether she can acknowledge what she did and show appropriate remorse. Too often, I have seen parents make excuses for their children and this I feelhas actually stunted their childrens moral growth and led to them continuing to commit violent acts. This led to a pregnancy at the age of 11 which her mother arranged for her to have terminated because it was feared that because of Shanaes heavy-drinking the baby would have fetal alcohol syndrome. Garbus explains that she encountered the contradictions of Shanae and Megans girlhoods early on; she mentions that she was struck by [Shanaes] little girl-ness, her innocence, but this was complicated by what she learned about the violence of her crime. That is to say, Garbus sees crime and girlhood as opposite experiences. 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. 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. In contrast to Shanaes successes, when out of Waxter, Megan soon runs away from her foster home with no consequences (despite the fact that staying in foster care is a requirement of her patrol), couch surfs for a while and eventually gets her own place with her cousin. As you watch it, you wish the film would fill in more of each girl's background. 1103 Words. Additionally, the film has been criticized for having the drama move the film along. Follows two female inmates - victims of horrific violence and tragedy - who are serving time in a Maryland juvenile detention center. Both of the girls have been in the system for years, Megan has been in and out of juvenile detention centers and foster homes for years and is . The documentary follows the plight of Megan and Shanae (Garbus, 2003). You'll get a detailed solution from a subject matter expert that helps you learn core concepts. [ClickEssay Writerto order your essay]. So the films have been very organically connected. April 24, 2023. 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. When she originally returned to Baltimore, Megan's life went downhill. 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. Girlhood[Motion Picture]. This paper provides a social psychological review of Megan and Shanae from an ecological point of view as well as an attachment perspective. Follows two female inmates - victims of horrific violence and tragedy - who are serving time in a Maryland juvenile detention center.
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