Not Just a Phase

Queer Girlhood and Coming of Age on Screen

in Girlhood Studies
Author:
Whitney Monaghan Monash University whitney.monaghan@monash.edu

Search for other papers by Whitney Monaghan in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1348-2857
Restricted access

Abstract

In this article, I seek to interrogate the visibility of queer girls in contemporary cinema. I demonstrate how queerness has long been associated with a passing phase of adolescent development in the teen media sphere. I reflect on the nuanced relationships between queerness and girlhood in four contemporary US independent queer films, arguing that Pariah (2011), Mosquita y Mari (2012), First Girl I Loved (2016), and Princess Cyd (2017) are representative of a new wave of queer girlhood on screen. Rejecting the pervasive tropes of coming out as coming of age and just a phase, these films use queer girlhood to challenge linear models of girlhood.

Contributor Notes

Whitney Monaghan is an Assistant Lecturer in Film and Screen Studies at Monash University, Australia. Her background is in screen, media, and cultural studies. Her research examines the representation of LGBTIQ youth on screen, and her research interests include queer screen culture, queer theory, feminist screen studies, and new forms of televisuality such as web series. She is the author of Queer Girls, Temporality and Screen Media: Not ‘Just a Phase’ (2016). ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1348-2857. Email: whitney.monaghan@monash.edu

  • Collapse
  • Expand

Girlhood Studies

An Interdisciplinary Journal

  • Ahmed, Sara. 2010. The Promise of Happiness. Durham: Duke University Press.

  • Beirne, Rebecca. 2012. “Teen Lesbian Desires and Identities in International Cinema: 1931-2007.” Journal of Lesbian Studies 16 (3): 258272. doi:10.1080/10894160.2012.673925

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Davis, Glyn. 2004. “Saying It out Loud: Revealing Television's Queer Teens.” In Teen TV: Genre, Consumption, Identity, ed. Glyn Davis and Kay Dickinson, 127140. London: British Film Institute.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • de Lauretis, Teresa. 1994. The Practice of Love: Lesbian Sexuality and Perverse Desire. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

  • Dinshaw, Carolyn, Lee Edelman, Roderick A. Ferguson, Carla Freccero, Elizabeth Freeman, Judith Halberstam, Annamarie Jagose, Christopher Nealon, and Nguyen Tan Hoang. 2007. “Theorising Queer Temporalities.” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 13 (2–3): 177196.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Driver, Susan. 2007. Queer Girls and Popular Culture: Reading, Resisting, and Creating Media. New York: Peter Lang.

  • Edelman, Lee. 2004. No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive. Durham: Duke University Press.

  • Gonick, Marnina. 2006. “Sugar and Spice and Something More Than Nice? Queer Girls and the Transformation of Social Exclusion.” In Girlhood: Redefining the Limits, ed. Yasmin Jiwani, Claudia Mitchell and Candis Steenbergen, 122137. Montreal: Black Rose Books.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Guerrero, Aurora. 2011. “Press Kit: Mosquita y Mari.” Indie PR. http://www.thefilmcollaborative.org/films/img/epk/Press_Kit_Mosquita_y_Mari_011212.pdf (accessed 10 July 2018).

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Halberstam, Judith. 2005. In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. New York: New York University Press.

  • Martin, Fran. 2010. Backward Glances, Contemporary Chinese Cultures and the Female Homoerotic Imaginary. Durham: Duke University Press.

  • Monaghan, Whitney. 2010. “‘ It's All in a Day's Work for a 15-Year-Old Gay Virgin’: Coming Out and Coming of Age in Teen Television.” Colloquy: Text, Theory, Critique 19: 5669.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Monaghan, Whitney. 2016a. “Mashup and the Queer Archive.” Senses of Cinema, no. 80. http://sensesofcinema.com/2016/new-directions/mashup-videos-queer-archive/

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Monaghan, Whitney. 2016b. Queer Girls, Temporality and Screen Media: Not “Just a Phase.” London: Palgrave Macmillan.

  • Muñoz, José Esteban. 2009. Crusing Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity. New York: New York University Press.

  • Stacey, Jackie. 1987. “Desperately Seeking Difference.” Screen. 28(1): 4861 DOI:10.1093/screen/28.1.48

  • Akhavan, Desiree, dir. 2018. The Miseducation of Cameron Post. USA

  • Berliner, Alain, dir. 1997. Ma vie en rose [My life in pink]. Belgium/France/UK

  • Bonnell, Jérôme, dir. 2015. À Trois on y va [All about them]. France/Belgium

  • Cone, Stephen, dir. 2017. Princess Cyd. USA

  • Corsini, Catherine, dir. 2015. La Belle Saison [Summertime]. France/Belgium

  • Ghazvinizadeh, Anahita, dir. 2017. They. USA/Qatar

  • Ghuman, J.B Jr. 2010, dir. Spork. USA

  • Guerrero, Aurora. 2012, dir. Mosquita y Mari. USA

  • Hardwicke, Catherine, dir. 2003. Thirteen. USA/UK

  • Husson, Eva. 2015, dir. Bang Gang (une histoire d'amour moderne) [Bang gang (A modern love story)]. France

  • Jung, July. 2014, dir. Dohee-ya [A girl at my door]. South Korea

  • Kaurismäki, Mika, dir. 2015. The Girl King.

  • Finland/Germany/Canada/Sweden/France

  • Kumble, Roger, dir. 1999. Cruel Intentions. USA

  • Mankeiwicz, Joseph L, dir. 1950. All About Eve. USA

  • Pawlikowski, Pawel, dir. 2004. My Summer of Love. UK

  • Rees, Dee. 2011, dir. Pariah. USA

  • Sanga, Kerem. 2016, dir. First Girl I Loved. USA

  • Sciamma, Celine, dir. 2011. Tomboy. France

  • Seidelman, Susan, dir. 1985. Desperately Seeking Susan. USA

  • Sigismondi, Floria, dir. 2010. The Runaways. USA

  • Trier, Joachim, dir. 2017. Thelma. Norway/France/Denmark/Sweden

  • Vinik, Michal, dir. 2015. Barash [Blush]. Israel

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 5099 2213 154
Full Text Views 839 74 3
PDF Downloads 1154 145 6