And (my) Oscar goes to ... GOING ON 13

I (Sharon) just screened this film with my Psychology of Girls and Women class. WOW. It is a wonderful film. I was slightly involved at the beginning of their (Kristy Guevara-Flanagan & Dawn Valadez) project, previewing their short version, but had no idea it would turn out so well. The directors followed 4 girls, Ariana, Isha, Rosie, and Esme for 4 years, until their 13th birthday. There's Esmeralda, Mexican American; Ariana, African American; Rosie, mixed race Latina; and Isha, an immigrant from India. The film uses a mix of intimate interviews, cinema vérité, and stop-motion animation. What I love so much about the film is that every topic I am concerned about, every topic I teach about, appears in the film and in a subtle and nuanced way. This isn't your typical documentary where people's lives get so overdramatized and then statistics keep appearing to remind you of a dark present and a darker future. Instead the girls lives and the girls just beautifully speak for themselves. Isha -- a very good girl who just for a moment or two in the film delights in what it might mean to be bad -- was thoroughly watched and protected by her family in positive and not so positive ways. I saw a hint of rebellion to come. Rosie's story of depression and recovery was fantastic -- I kept wanting to put her in a hippie alternative school where she'd be appreciated. She really begins to withdraw and become sullen in a major and pathological way -- her intelligence is so unmet in the world around her except perhaps by her mother who is struggling with her own demons. Esmerelda? The transformation from self-hate to self-love for her was and is important for all of us to see. We picture girls victims of self-esteem problems and body-image issues, but we rarely see their rising above that, even if momentarily. The first to have a boyfriend, her wholesale buy into heterosexual romance bodes disaster at every turn, and yet no disaster arrives. Ariana,stays so teriffic throughout the film, with no lapse of energy or self-possession. Early in the film she protests the teacher showing Bring It On, a PG-13 movie about cheerleading (to 10 and 11-year-olds, mind you), after she has brought in an alternative, Love and Basketball. The teacher mistakenly gives the kids a vote over the films and the cheerleader movie wins. Ariana is broken-hearted -- and she rightly mumbles something like, they just want to see those panties. There's also a scene in a sex ed class that is hysterical, although the well-meaning teacher (is he a gym teacher? a bio teacher?) was totally serious when he answered his students' questions. One girl asks "when do you know if you're ready to have sex?" Tough question? Nope. Has to do with ovaries, eggs, menstruation! I'm sure every parent in the audience will cringe at that one! The diversity represented by these 4 subjects is not what the movie is about. It's simply about girlhood; their diversity is their context, their particularity. We see them in their uniqueness and appreciate how their different families shape them, but in the end, all that they say and experience is thorougly and recognizably everygirl. I was so afraid that some if not all of these girls were doomed. And yet none of them were or are. So what was it that left me with the feeling that these girls are going to be ok? I saw resistance, rebellion, self-love, and girls interested in reading, studying, confronting injustice. I saw a lot of wisdom. In short, this film is subtle, moving, nuanced, powerful, and right on. I'll use it as a teacher, and encourage my school library to buy it. Going on 13 Web Site Going On 13 MySpace

Comments

[Amy Jussel]

Totally agree with you on this pick...I wanted to include it in our Shaping Youth film fest but I can't afford more screening rights right now as a tiny nonprofit! (so I think I'll do a 'home use' screening and go the house party route!)

I wish there were a way these orgs could red-flag nonprofits that are fledgling vs. massive, as they don't realize how many people we reach with a click and a blurb. sigh.

Scalability should not be dollar driven for access, there must be a better model for educators like S.Y. that are running lean but making huge impact far beyond the bloated bureaucratic nonprofits, ya know? sigh.

[Britta]

This sounds like an amazing movie! Thanks for blogging about it. I hope to see it somehow!

[Jennifer]

Um...according to Common Sense Media, Love and Basketball has more...um...stuff than Bring it On. Even it if does have better messages (again, according to the site.)