Documentary chronicling America's justice system. Megan, the more unruly of the two is a little older than Shanae. 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). Our managing editor an award-winning journalist has spent the past 7 years refining our roster. At 17, she was living in her own apartment in a druggie neighborhood. In this field, deadlines are super important. Then, she got up and walked off set. The protagonists are Shanae Owens and Megan Jensen. Garbus followed Shanaes suggestion and was determined to include her in her film. Girlhood (Dir: Liz Garbus, 2003) | Feminist Films in the Swarthmore 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. 005BroylesDocumentary.docx - EDPY 303.005 Dr. Armstrong 08 In the documentary Girlhood, Liz Garbus follows two young women who have encountered numerous misfortunes in the past that led them to implement their violent offences. Over the years, Megan has run away from most of her foster homes in a desperate attempt to reunite with her mother. Even though her parent is giving her support, she was still scared of Shanae. But while researching junvenile detention centres she met Shanae who suggested that she make a film about girls. Antoinette does her best in extremely difficult circumstances. Developmental Psychology: Childhood & Adolescence: Childhood and Adolescence. Her emotional responses are not well adjusted. Revise AS Level Psychology. Open Document. 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. Garbus rigidity in framing the girls experiences does not allow for the expansiveness and complexity allowed by new theories of girlhood. Girlhood (2003) - Plot - IMDb 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. With the help of her mother, Shanae can graduate from high school. In the second segment, she runs away from foster homes to try to live with her mother. As a child, her mother was absent. Girlhood | Film Review | Spirituality & Practice The film left me with mixed feelings about the girls who crave love but seem so self-absorbed that they show so little concern for anyone else not in their radar, as I questioned what kind of punishment should there be for girls who commit violent crimes. The girls have traumatic experiences that affect their relationship with others. We wont be able to verify your ticket today, but its great to know for the future. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/girlhood-subjects-get-narrative-feature-829762 Feb 26th, 2022 Published. Spirituality & Practice. Girlhood Worksheet Please complete this worksheet based on the film Girlhood. However, after the collective effort from her mother and rehabilitation officers, she becomes emotionally expressive. However, the film ignores their concerns regarding the young girls and regarding the 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. http://articles.latimes.com/2003/nov/14/entertainment/et-girlhood14, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1514431. In the beginning, Shanae is not remorseful for committing murder (Garbus, 2003). That is not to say that traumatic experience, crime or drug abuse are good, but that in these stories they exist and persist, even when the girls triumph and go to prom or spend time with family. This presumption is damaging because ultimately Garbus makes uncomplicated subjects of the girls. Like Us On Facebook | Follow Us On Twitter. As she grows up, she realizes that she cannot rely on anyone and starts to take better care or herself. Find help here.]. But Garbus way of humanizing, in some instances, obfuscates the complexity of struggle, survival and the bad from the girls girlhood. As a left-wing filmmaker, she worried that this appeared to be some sort of right-wing Family Values advocate conclusion. 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 . She is also silly and childish which is what you expect for a girl her age. She had lived in an environment that was full of disruption. 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. Shanae Owens and Megan Jensen in girlhood. A lot of this seems due in part to her mother Antoinettes support. Unfortunately, this meant that she wasnt around to supervise Shanae. 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. 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. The documentary follows the plight of Megan and Shanae (Garbus, 2003). In the documentary, we learn that she runs away from foster care eleven times, ten before Waxter and once more after leaving Waxter. The length of her stay at Waxter will depend on whether she can acknowledge what she did and show appropriate remorse. Documentary looks at girlhood violence - Deseret News She gets her place to live. The documentary Girlhood offers an insight on the emotional, psychological, and social reasoning behind the girl's actions. Megan grew up without the love and support of her mother who was in prison for drugs and prostitution. 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. This confused young girl ran away from ten foster homes and wound up attacking another girl with a box-cutter. "I don't want to do this no more.". A Conversation with Megan Milks and Marisa Crawford - BLARB Second, Shanae develops a positive outlook. From there she enrolls in high school, where she places fourth in her class, and plans to attend a community college. That was 11 years ago. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. "I just lost all respect for myself," she says. She's Got Moxie: Liz Garbus on "Girlhood" and Lives - IndieWire Abandoned by her mother, a heroin addict turned prostitute, Megan ran away from then different foster homes before being arrested on assault charges. Required fields are marked *, College Essay Examples | October 19, 2018. One may wonder how Antoinette could be a good parent considering all the trouble Shanae got into at such a young age. How is Megan Jensen from Girlhood doing I just saw the film and was really. a. Shanae is in the juvenile facility for stabbing a friend to death in a fight. 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). Footage of the two girls is then followed along with more title cards that give insight into the crimes they have committed. Other aspects reveal themselves when she grows older. 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 . 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. Early in the film it is apparent that Shanae doesn't really feel remorseful for the murder of her friend. Then, everything changed when Megan got pregnant. Megan is 16 and is in Waxter for Assault with a deadly weapon. Its no wonder. FILM REVIEW; A Documentary Illuminates Young Lives at the Crossroads of Strength-Based Approaches You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Throughout the film, we are sympathetic to the challenges of Shanae and Megans girlhoods, but cannot substantively grasp, through the documentary, the unresolved nature of their status, as girls in a system that seeks to destroy not just girlhood, but life beyond girlhood too. Follows two female inmates - victims of horrific violence and tragedy - who are serving time in a Maryland juvenile detention center. They both received open-ended sentences and their release depends on their current jail behavior. ''Girlhood'' is the newest entry in Ms. Garbus's long list of socially concerned documentaries made for theaters and television. The Girlhood documentary highlights the plight of girls in juvenile centers with some psychological disorders. The film leaves us with a final mystery about human development. 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. Running time: 88 minutes. From there she enrolls in high school, where she places fourth in her class, and plans to attend a community college. Her father's locked up. 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. I think this is key to Shanaes eventual success. Shanae also does well in school finishing fourth in her class. 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. (2003). Thankfully, her parents point out that being dead is definitely WORSE than being in detention! She is briefly reunited with her mother but cannot forgive her for not being there when she needed her most. Girl Hood was released in 2003 and since then has won many awards. FILM; A Filmmaker Who Chooses to Live Behind Bars She has a total of two children and she has graduated from college. AMCTheatres.com or AMC App New. 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. At the beginning of the documentary, Shanae and Megan are 14 and 16, serving time for murder and assault, respectively. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Follows two female inmates - victims of horrific violence and tragedy - who are serving time in a Maryland juvenile detention center. This paradoxical relationship with her parent is evident (Brody & Dwyer, 2016). We are introduced to them while they are incarcerated in Waxter Juvenile Detention Center, just outside of Baltimore, Maryland. 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. Ecological Framework Shanae Owens and Megan Jensen in girlhood. Megan, 16, was also involved in a fight and was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon. Shanae's reentry into society was easy, and she does not seem to be struggling in any way. Shanae was arrested for murder at the age of 12, after stabbing a friend to death. 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. 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. Shanaes development has been disrupted. Megan is 16 and is in Waxter for Assault with a deadly weapon. Her cousin has to console her. Eysenck, M. (2015). This leads to her eventual rehabilitation from delinquency. She was farmed out to live with a foster parent. Her future appears shaky. 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. The early life trauma that these girls experienced impacted . Documentary chronicling America's justice system. The girls the film follows for three years are Shanae and Megan, as the film begins in 1999. 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. Megan Jensen had a difficult childhood. Required fields are marked *. How A Violent Teen Who Had Given Up On Life Turned It All Around On Not Rejecting Girlhood: A Conversation with Megan Milks and Marisa Crawford. 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. Gender Roles In The Film Girlhood. 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. Girlhood (2003) - Plot Summary - IMDb Everything is "for the children"; however, this is powerful evidence to the contrary. I have three lovely kids," she says. The film pivots from the girls to their relationships with their moms, as Garbus follows their development from girls into young ladies. By end fil There are a number of reasons for why Shanae was able to turn her life around whereas Megan was not. She receives more family support than Megan is, but she does not seem to reciprocate it at the beginning of the film. The relationship between staff and the young women at Waxter is for the most part warm and friendly. "I am halfway through my Associates in Arts degree. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: 'GIRLHOOD' MOVIE REVIEW - Blog My Essay Writer At 14, she was hit by a stray bullet during a gunfight. 'Girlhood' compelling and frustrating, too - Baltimore Sun 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. murdering another girl after the two got into an argument. Megan is not malicious, and her mischief is probably a cry for attention. Megan Terry, Feminist Playwright and Rock Musical Innovator, Dies at 90 This problem has been solved! Shanae was reintegrated well by her . Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. Shanae, after much perseverance, overcoming her appalling behaviours and graduate from high school. The difference between one girl supposedly climbing out of her bad situation and the other continuing in her dead-end path, is seen as a matter of good parenting and a child willing to change her bad ways. 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. When Megans mom got released from jail, she even lived there for awhile. She specializes in academic writing, copywriting, business plans and resumes. By age 10, she had been committed to two psychiatric hospitals and diagnosed as manic-depressive. When she grows older, it is clear that she is still affected by the feeling of neglect and she believes nobody is looking out for her interest (Garbus, 2003). Even though she does not get the chance to further her education, she avoids returning to a life of crime (Garbus, 2003). 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. Issues such as child neglect, failure of the foster care system, alcoholism and drug abuse. 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. she has come a long way from this documentry i love and am so proud of my sistrr. While Shanae sublimates her anger and hurt and moves on with life, for Megan everything is right on the surface. Shanae moves into a lower security halfway house because her mother does not feel ready to take her back home. Your email address will not be published. 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. Last night I watched a documentary called, GIRLHOOD based on two young girls in the Baltimore juvenile detention center, Waxter. 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. Girlhood worksheet 1 .docx - Girlhood Worksheet Please - Course Hero Additionally, she still struggles after growing up, but she ensures that she never becomes an addict (Garbus, 2003). Girlhood Essay | Bartleby