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. So what will be the fate of Shanae and Megan when they leave Waxter? 5 Pages. Liz Garbus, who was nominated for an Academy Award in 1999 for The Farm: Angola, USA, shoots in her latest an unflinching cinema verite documentary about two teenager girls who committed violent crimes and are now incarcerated at Marylands Waxter Juvenile Facility. Question: In the documentary "Girlhood, " the two main characters Shanae and Megan had two very different reintegration experiences after being placed in a detention center. Part of HuffPost News. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. While Shanae, the victim of a horrendous violent crime herself as a child, has difficulty coming to grips with the murder she's committed, she's clearly an intelligent, charismatic, and, most importantly, motivated girl. While Shanae sublimates her anger and hurt and moves on with life, for Megan everything is right on the surface. As you watch it, you wish the film would fill in more of each girl's background. http://articles.latimes.com/2003/nov/14/entertainment/et-girlhood14, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1514431. Girlhood (2003) - Plot - IMDb I believe that you cant examine this increasing youth crime problem among girls without studying how the capitalist system effects social conditions. Girlhood gives us a glimpse into the lives of two troubled young women who desperately try to forge a new life for themselves against formidable odds. This is where politics comes in and things get ugly. She responded by drinking and drugging, and then at age 12, graduated to murder. 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Liz Garbus by the Center for Social Media, Movie Fire Craker Website (Liz Garbus Film Website), Your email address will not be published. In class we watched the video Girlhood. Girlhood was shown at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival and at the South by Southwest Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. At 17, she was living in her own apartment in a druggie neighborhood. Finally, she becomes distraught when her relationship with her mother ends. Liz Garbus, who was nominated for an Academy Award in 1999 for The Farm: Angola, USA, shoots in her latest an unflinching cinema verite documentary about two teenager girls who committed violent crimes and are now incarcerated at Maryland's Waxter Juvenile Facility. Girlhood (2003) Documentary - YouTube The film then narrows its focus to concentrate on the lives of two teenagers, Shanae Owens and Megan Jensen, both incarcerated for assault at the Waxter Juvenile Facility in Baltimore. She perseveres through challenges in life. Is it maternal nurturing that makes the difference? The film, however, makes Shanae and Megans girlhoods into victory stories when, instead, they are something much more complex. Revise AS Level Psychology. By what name was Girlhood (2003) officially released in Canada in English? Follows two female inmates - victims of horrific violence and tragedy - who are serving time in a Maryland juvenile detention center. The film then changes focus on Megan and her deteriorating relationship with her mother. Girlhood (2003) - Plot Summary - IMDb She specializes in academic writing, copywriting, business plans and resumes. You watch Megan go from being a silly little girl at Waxter to being a bitter, angry and hard woman so quickly that you cant help but be reminded of Mr. Godseys point about these girls needing structure. How is Megan Jensen from Girlhood doing I just saw the film and was really. Our company is proud to host more than 80 of North Americas best essay writers. REVIEW: GIRLHOOD Documentary On Netflix - WordPress.com Megan flounders around for a while and is eventually sent to another foster home, which doesn't work out. 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. Shanae was raped by five teenagers when she was eleven and then was arrested and convicted for stabbing a friend to death with a knife when she was twelve. 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. Megan grew up without the love and support of her mother who was in prison for drugs and prostitution. We were introduced to Shanae, a young girl, convicted of murder. But Garbus way of humanizing, in some instances, obfuscates the complexity of struggle, survival and the bad from the girls girlhood. Her father's locked up. However, her mother is a struggling drug addict who is unable to offer the care and support that she required. This problem has been solved! It is during Shanaes interview to get into the lower security facility that we learn that she was also gang raped by five men. Once Shanae begins to face the reality of what she did, she is transferred to a group home and begins to flourish. Girlhood Movie Analysis - 1103 Words | Bartleby In contrast to Shanae, who has a great deal of family love and support, Megan only receives letters from her mother sporadically, and in one scene in the film desperately wants to call her grandmother to see if she is going to visit her. The film is told from the girls subjective viewpoint and plays as a coming of age story. The relationship between staff and the young girls is also essential to how the girls grow and move forward with their lives. Shanae and Megans girlhoods contain all that which other parts of life contain, and to think of Garbus idea of girlhood as winning at the end of the film is short-sighted and perhaps fails to move forward with Girlhood Studies attention to complexity and fullness (including pain) of this part of life for her subjects. Megan, the other young offender continues to practise delinquent . Early in the film it is apparent that Shanae doesn't really feel remorseful for the murder of her friend. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. 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. 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. Shanae Owens and Megan Jensen in girlhood. The staff person made it clear that she wasnt there on official business. 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). But not everyone has families like this. 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 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. With the help of her mother, Shanae can graduate from high school. Megan on the other hand, has a more difficult time staying out of trouble and maintaining good grades. Shanae had to go to a lower security facility before her mother was convinced that she was rehabilitated. A riveting documentary about two young offenders serving time in a Baltimore juvenile facility and their struggles over a three-year period to forge a new life for themselves against formidable odds. The family situation takes over as more important than the help they received through the criminal justice system. He also states that although many of the girls leave Waxter and go on to live lives free of crime, others lives deteriorate when they get back home because of the dangers and tempations of life in their often crime-filled neighbourhoods (remember most of the inmates at Waxler are coming from Baltimore!). The documentary Girlhood offers an insight on the emotional, psychological, and social reasoning behind the girl's actions. Life on the streets in a community where drugs are readily available offers her plenty of opportunities to repeat the same mistakes. Furthermore, at the end of the documentary, she enrolls in a community college nearby. 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. 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. A child of the 1990s, I was a voracious reader of The Baby-Sitters Club book series by Ann M. Martin, which detailed the friendships of a group of young babysitters in Connecticut. By end fil There are a number of reasons for why Shanae was able to turn her life around whereas Megan was not. Additionally, she still struggles after growing up, but she ensures that she never becomes an addict (Garbus, 2003). Shanae, after much perseverance, overcoming her appalling behaviours and graduate from high school. 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 . Shanaes ability to feel remorse for her actions is seen as a key benchmark that needs to be achieved before she can leave Waxter. Both girls ended up in the Waxter Juvenile Facility, home to Maryland's most violent offenders.Academy Award nominated director Liz Garbus follows Shanae and Megan for the next three years, as they try to make a life for themselves both inside and outside of Baltimore's juvenile justice system. We also met Megan, who, unlike Shanae, was not at the . We have already learned that starting at the age of 10, Shanae began drinking alcohol heavily, was running away from home and having unprotected sex. Girlhood Directed by Liz Garbus A riveting documentary about two young offenders serving time in a Baltimore juvenile facility and their struggles over a three-year period to forge a new life for themselves against formidable odds. But while researching junvenile detention centres she met Shanae who suggested that she make a film about girls. Solved In the documentary "Girlhood, " the two | Chegg.com From there she enrolls in high school, where she places fourth in her class, and plans to attend a community college. http://sites.google.com/view/ehdwjwbxfu/linkedlist-member-modification-c, Your email address will not be published. Shanae was arrested for murder at the age of 12, after stabbing a friend to death. Megan also leaves Waxter. Girlhood Movie Analysis. 'Girlhood' compelling and frustrating, too - Baltimore Sun Megan, the more unruly of the two is a little older than Shanae. Copyright 2022 My Essay Writer. Everything is "for the children"; however, this is powerful evidence to the contrary. I dont think girls are really less aggressive than boys, nor do I think we should somehow pathologize aggressive and violent behaviour by girls but see it as a given among boys. On Not Rejecting Girlhood: A Conversation with Megan Milks and Marisa Crawford. With the girls going nowhere at Waxter, they were given a new lease on life by changing facilities. The 16-year-old Shanae was placed in the Florence Crittenton Group home and the slightly older Megan was rewarded for trying to run away by gaining her official freedom. 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. Impact of Trauma Dennis Schwartz: Ozus World Movie Reviews, Copyright 2023 - Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews. At Waxter, Megans need for attention and affection, her vulnerablity, are on display for everyone to see. Shanaes development has been disrupted. Shanae was raped by five teenagers when she was eleven and then was arrested and convicted for stabbing a friend to death with a knife when she was twelve. 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. 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. One of the most educational parts of the film I felt was the example set by Antoinette. The number of girls incarcerated for violent crimes is on the rise. Copyright 2006 - 2023 by CIStems, Inc., d.b.a. she has come a long way from this documentry i love and am so proud of my sistrr. Just last week Waxter made headline news in Maryland after having been labeled by one childrens rights advocate as a house of horrors. At Waxter, girls like Shanae who have been sentenced for crimes, girls who would make mincemeat of the fillies in Thirteen, are placed alongside those who, as one news story put it, have not been found guilty of anything yet. Except, perhaps, being born poor and grievously disadvantaged. An Ijaw Story: JOURNEY TO THE PRESENCE OF WOYINGI, Africas 100 Best Books of the 20th Century, African Regional Links: Central/Middle Africa, Literature from the Black African Diaspora, Documentary Review: girlhood by Liz Garbus, Countries: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Black Canadians of Afro-Caribbean Descent. 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 Childrens Center in Laurel, Maryland, to when they are out in the real world. The first example is how wary she is of strangers (Eysenck, 2015). We follow them over a period of about three years. 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). Thankfully, her parents point out that being dead is definitely WORSE than being in detention! So the question is to what degree do we all have to support children whose families cant? Then, she got up and walked off set. The DVD has an interesting commentary by Liz Barbus, whose filmogarphy is also provided. Megan was shuffled through 11 different foster homes, running away from all except one. When we meet Megan at Waxter it is clear that she is something of a troublemaker but probably more out of boredom than any malice (Garbus in her DVD commentary says that Megan is actually a very respectful young woman and that one of her main criticism of the Waxter Facility is that there is not really much structured activities for the inmates.). "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" An alternate perspective of Girl Hood is that it is a film that tries too hard to achieve an ending on a positive note. New York: Cengage Learning. Girlhood Film Analysis - 794 Words | Studymode