Footage of the two girls is then followed along with more title cards that give insight into the crimes they have committed. "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 Children's Center in Laurel, Maryland, to when they are out in the real world. Shanae was reintegrated well by her . Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. We also met Megan, who, unlike Shanae, was not at the . Shanae Owens and Megan Jensen in girlhood. Wake up to the day's most important news. Your email address will not be published. How is Megan Jensen from Girlhood doing I just saw the film and was really. The documentary follows the plight of Megan and Shanae (Garbus, 2003). MPAA rating: Unrated. Garbus, director of the acclaimed prison documentary, The Farm: Angola, USA, examines the disparate fates of these girls and their very different treatment at the hands of the juvenile justice system. 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 staff person made it clear that she wasnt there on official business. New York: Cengage Learning. For example, once the girls are out of Waxter, we see Shanae is doing well in school and even goes to her prom. It is also quite clear that the staff at Waxter have a special affection for her despite her antics. Shanae is a plump black girl who mentions she lost her virginity in the Baltimore projects when she was 10, was raped by 5 boys at 11, and did drugs in her adolescent years as she hung out with the wrong friends. 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. The documentary Girlhood follows the lives of two girls, Shanae and Megan, from 1999-2002, during and shortly after their release from Waxter Juvenile Facility in Maryland. "I don't want to do this no more.". ''Girlhood, which was shot in 16 millimeter, is a bare-bones affair, as spare as the juvenile institution in which much of it was filmed. The documentary Girlhood offers an insight on the emotional, psychological, and social reasoning behind the girl's actions. She demonstrates that you can support and love your child while not making excuses for them. Is the Megan inside Waxter the same Megan outside Waxter? Its no wonder. During this scene Megan whines that nobody loves her, she seems to be half joking but one has to wonder. She has a total of two children and she has graduated from college. Megan is 16 and is in Waxter for Assault with a deadly weapon. Oprah later told her she was the first person she had interviewed who had ever walked out on her. So the question is to what degree do we all have to support children whose families cant? In an interview with NPR, the films director, Liz Garbus, admits that Girlhood was originally a documentary about incarcerated boys, but the girls stories were more interesting to her. The early life trauma that these girls experienced impacted . Megan is 16 and is in Waxter for Assault with a deadly weapon. This is where politics comes in and things get ugly. My Essay Writerwas started by an award-winning journalist who saw the need from students to have someone take care of their annoying assignments for them. Garbus rigidity in framing the girls experiences does not allow for the expansiveness and complexity allowed by new theories of girlhood. Life on the streets in a community where drugs are readily available offers her plenty of opportunities to repeat the same mistakes. To think that one out of two might have straightened out her life, is not saying that the system works. She gets her place to live. This film is not rated. In Garbus film, Shanae and Megans girlhood set up a dichotomy: girlhood is good, everything else threatening, extraneous and intrusive, instead of part of the story of girlhood itself. Girlhood[Motion Picture]. Sometimes, it is members of our own families that expose our children to drugs and alcohol, something I have often seen growing up in my own neighbourhood. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/29/movies/film-review-documentary-illuminates-young-lives-crossroads-redemption.html Megan was shuffled through 11 different foster homes, running away from all except one. Megan, after a failed escape attempt from Waxter, goes into another foster home. 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. I have three lovely kids," she says. By end fil There are a number of reasons for why Shanae was able to turn her life around whereas Megan was not. Spirituality & Practice. 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. The lack of a proper support system is evident because she does not achieve as much as Shanae who does not falter when her mother dies. Press ESC to cancel. 5 Pages. Interviews. girlhood tells the story of Shanae Owensand Megan Jensen. She receives more family support than Megan is, but she does not seem to reciprocate it at the beginning of the film. After watching the documentary, it is easy to see that Megans environment has contributed greatly to her childhood and ultimately her adult life. Garbus remarks during her DVD commentarythat she was torn while making this film because her ultimate conclusion during her experience following these girls lives was that Family Matters. 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. But while researching junvenile detention centres she met Shanae who suggested that she make a film about girls. She was there as a member of the community and Shanae was a child of the community and therefore her child. The film pivots from the girls to their relationships with their moms, as Garbus follows their development from girls into young ladies. Girlhood Worksheet Please complete this worksheet based on the film Girlhood. Her cousin has to console her. Of the two only Shanae receives that nurturing, and it seems to make all the difference. 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. With the help of her mother, Shanae can graduate from high school. 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). Megan, the other young offender continues to practise delinquent . The DVD has an interesting commentary by Liz Barbus, whose filmogarphy is also provided. Gender Roles In The Film Girlhood - 623 Words | Bartleby One of the most educational parts of the film I felt was the example set by Antoinette. Garbus in her commentary points out that Shanae does not believe that the gang rape should be seen as some sort of excuse for her murdering her friend. 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). The field of Girlhood Studies continues to grow and perhaps offers guidance in understanding where Garbus erred. Megan had given up, and even ended up back in jail. From there she enrolls in high school, where she places fourth in her class, and plans to attend a community college. Megan Terry, Feminist Playwright and Rock Musical Innovator, Dies at 90 I was just doing anything to kill myself, honestly," she says. Today, the Baltimore native is living in North Carolina and acknowledges that she wasn't in a good place during her "Oprah Show" appearance. By what name was Girlhood (2003) officially released in Canada in English? Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.This Documentary/Film \"Girlhood\" is not for any personal financial profit or gain to TheeSymphony'sCulture Channel, but instead only for educational purposes and cultural research. Megan Jensen had a difficult childhood. But the reality is that Shanae, because of the support of her family, is able to overcome the trauma of her childhood and the impact of her crime and graduate from high school and go on to community college whereas Megan, without really any family support, is only able to struggle, her greatest achievement being that she doesnt return to crime or become a hardcore drug addict. 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. Garbus encountered the girls at the Waxter Juvenile Facility in Baltimore while making a television documentary about the boys incarcerated there. Feb 26th, 2022 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. She stays briefly at another foster home before running away to live with friends and eventually by herself in the treacherous East Baltimore neighborhood where she got into trouble. But its staff emerges as a caring if overstressed group of people who do what they can to steer the girls in their charge toward a productive life. FILM REVIEW; A Documentary Illuminates Young Lives at the Crossroads of Shanae was ten years old when she was gang-raped by five boys. Dennis Schwartz: Ozus World Movie Reviews, Copyright 2023 - Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews. Everything is "for the children"; however, this is powerful evidence to the contrary. At 14, she was hit by a stray bullet during a gunfight. Her future appears shaky. I didnt see any reason to be as guardedly optimistic as Ms. Garbus seemed to be about stemming this problem through good parenting and realizing that teens are smarter than we think, and sometimes they have no choice but to figure things out by themselves. 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). Shanae moves into a lower security halfway house because her mother does not feel ready to take her back home. These girls are the subjects of Liz Garbus' documentary, Girlhood. 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. She portrays this by her apprehensive response that she gives to her parent. We wont be able to verify your ticket today, but its great to know for the future. 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. Second, she is unable to regulate her emotions (Garbus, 2003). They both received open-ended sentences and their release depends on their current jail behavior. Liz Garbus has made other films about life in prison, such as the Academy Award Winning The Farm: Angola. If the movie suggests that a strong mother-daughter bond is the key to a successful rehabilitation, it is too intelligent to belabor that notion. Megan, the more unruly of the two is a little older than Shanae. GIRLHOOD - Dennis Schwartz Reviews Their stories are depicted in the 2003 documentary Girlhood. In the documentary, she is always trying to contact either the mother or the grandmother. Third, Shanae becomes emotionally expressive. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Copyright 2022 My Essay Writer. At 17, she was living in her own apartment in a druggie neighborhood. By what name was Girlhood (2003) officially released in Canada in English? She responded by drinking and drugging, and then at age 12, graduated to murder.
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