Are rebellious teenage girls like Jenny (Carey Mulligan) part of an on-screen trend? If so, what's behind that trend?

Between last October and now there have been several high-profile movies released that touch upon the subject of teenage girls trying to fight to avoid their planned futures – or to be more accurate, their futures which others have planned for them. Some examples of these movies are An Education, Whip It, and the recently released Alice in Wonderland.

Jenny (Carey Mulligan), the lead girl in An Education, sees herself as different from the other girls in her high school class, perhaps in terms of maturity, worldliness, intelligence, or simply personal goals. Unlike the other girls in her class she, like so many teenagers, begins to show contempt for the scholastic system within which she sits. Told to be ladylike and that her education is of the utmost importance, Jenny tires of hearing how the only way to success is through the strictly mapped pathway that the education system provides. As a result she rebels against structure and experiments with uncertainty. Likewise, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is trying to avoid a marriage that both her mother and society have set up for her, either ignorant or indifferent to the fact that she has no romantic feelings for her suitor. The sole rationale behind the union is that she is both young and attractive and her fiancé-to-be is financially comfortable. But worse, Alice is expected to bear the young man’s children so as to fulfill her social role as a woman. Naturally, when she finds herself falling down the rabbit hole and trapped again within the world of Wonderland, she’s not very eager to get home.

Both of these films touch on the same subject occurring at different time periods (Jenny the 1960s, Alice the Victorian era – both in England), which is the illumination of the social role of young women and their rebellion against that role. The question becomes: why do these movies – released within months of each other – ask for our interest in this matter? Is it that the issue is so inescapably attributed to our conception of the average teenager? Moreover, is the issue so inescapably attributed to our conception of the average teenage girl? Bliss (Ellen Page), the main protagonist in Drew Barrymore’s Whip It, is forced to deal with wanting a different future than what her mother has planned for her (roller derby vs. beauty pageants). It would appear that the society within which Bliss resides is not pressuring her to fulfill any kind of specific social role, but she nevertheless feels naturally compelled to resist being led on any path that she herself has not devised. If these representations of teenage girls, depicted across three different time periods, are indeed intended to be considered authentic and representative of the archetype they illustrate, then one must ask what the relevancy is in bringing these characters to our attention at this point in time.

To begin answering this question we must first make sure that the aforementioned rebellion against planned futures isn’t shared by the male teenagers we see represented on screen. Some recent films that depict this character type include Youth in Revolt and Zombieland, and if we were to go even further back we could include Superbad as well (for the purposes of this article we will ignore the teenage males who battle against mythical and/or magical evils, a la Harry Potter). In these three movies the teenage male leads don’t appear to be concerned much with their social roles (in the case of Zombieland this is obviously because there is no society within which to have a role). Instead, what these young men are concerned with is wooing the girls of their dreams. These are certainly valid representations of this demographic, as most people might be inclined to agree that most teenage boys spend much of their focus and attention on the fairer sex (I of course could relate). What one can argue that all this indicates, then, is that the rebellion against planned life paths seems to belong primarily to movies’ depictions of teenage girls. The next question to ask now is “why.”

Assuming that films are indeed reflective of our society’s fears, concerns, likes, dislikes, etc., why is it currently popular to represent teenage girls as social rebels? Our own Marisa Carpico offers her analysis.

“I think it’s an indication of the fact that our society is becoming more permissive. Women are allowed to try on different roles in a way that men have typically had more freedom to do and the simple decision to participate in a roller derby rather than a beauty pageant is an expression of that freedom to explore. This tendency to show teenage girls in acts of rebellion against traditional female roles is partly an extension and incorporation of women’s liberation. I think there’s a clear suggestion that the expectations for females from past generations have become outdated and young women, who are already in a state of emotional fragility and vulnerability given their age, cope with their fear of fitting into society by rejecting something that doesn’t fit with their image of themselves. They attempt to discover who they want to be by embracing something they believe allows them to express themselves more fully (I’m thinking more of Whip It here). These characters are simply rebelling as a way of rejecting society’s expectations regarding proper womanhood.”

So then, if this female rebellion against outdated social roles is tied to ongoing women’s liberation, could it be said that these portrayals of teenage girls are primarily American? This question of course stems from the fact that women’s liberation is rooted in the United States, however if this is true then what are we to make of the British portrayals we mentioned that are in An Education and Alice in Wonderland? The former is based on memoirs by Lynn Barber who grew up in Britain during the 1950s and ’60s, a period when the women’s movement was gaining steam across the pond. But in Alice, the lead character’s persona is completely fabricated for purposes connected to the context of the film (being that it’s a third story separate from the two Lewis Carroll books). So is there a connection? I would argue that there is, and that connection is the American audience. American audiences love to relate to characters they see on screen, and as Marisa explained the teenage girl demographic might relate to young female characters who consider traditional female social roles to be outdated and could consequently have a greater fear of fitting into that society which pressures them, sparking a rejection of norms and endorsement of personalized goals. So, if this is all correct, then the portrayal of the socially rebellious teenage girl is indeed deep-seated in America’s evolving definitions of the female identity.

The only question that we have left unanswered is why all of the characters and portrayals in question might be specific to today. But to be fair, we might not be able to answer that question until much later, once we have had ample time to reflect and take note of other examples of this character type that might show up in the future.

If any of you can think of a possible answer to this question, or would just like to give your opinion on the topic, don’t hesitate to post a comment or contact us via our Contact page. We look forward to hearing what you have to say, so be sure to speak up!