JAWBREAKER might be the meanest teen movie of the nineties.
When the popular girl clique the "Flawless Four" accidentally (and brutally) murder one of their own, they decide to cover up their crime and silence anyone that may have witnessed their actions. Starring Rose McGowan as their ringleader, Courtney Shayne, who has been lovingly characterised as "Satan in heels" and is one of the most acerbic and deliciously ruthless Mean Girls to ever pollute our screens.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion about the Mean Girl trope, as explored in Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate.
Get your copy of the book HERE!
When an exclusive clique of teenage socialites accidentally murders their best friend, Liz (Charlotte Ayanna), on the morning of her birthday, the three girls responsible -- Courtney (Rose McGowan), Julie (Rebecca Gayheart) and Marcie (Julie Benz) -- conspire to hide the truth. As the trio make over nerdy reject Fern Mayo (Judy Greer) and groom her to take Liz's place, crack police Detective Vera Cruz (Pam Grier) launches an investigation that will turn Reagan High School upside down.
Unlikeable Female Characters by Anna Bogutskaya
“Fascinating, insightful and kick-ass” - Emma Jane Unsworth, internationally best-selling author of Animals
An incisive exploration into the evolution of unlikeable female characters:what makes them unlikeable, how audiences have reacted to them, and whether pop culture-and society-is finally ready to embrace complicated women.
How bitches, trainwrecks, shrews, and crazy women have taken over pop culture and liberated women from having to be nice.
Female characters throughout history have been burdened by the moral trap that is likeability. Any woman who dares to reveal her messy side has been treated as a cautionary tale. Today, unlikeable female characters are everywhere in film, TV, and wider pop culture. For the first time ever, they are being accepted by audiences and even showered with industry awards. We are finally accepting that women are-gasp-fully fledged human beings. How did we get to this point?
Unlikeable Female Characters traces the evolution of highly memorable female characters, from Samantha Jones as "The Slut" in Sex and the City to the iconic Mean Girl, Regina George, examining what exactly makes them popular, how audiences have reacted to them, and the ways in which pop culture is finally allowing us to celebrate the complexities of being a woman. Anna Bogutskaya, film programmer, broadcaster, and co-founder of the horror film collective and podcast The Final Girls, takes us on a journey through popular film, TV, and music, looking at the nuances of womanhood on and off-screen to reveal whether pop culture and society is finally ready to embrace complicated women.
About the author: ANNA BOGUTSKAYA is a film programmer, writer and broadcaster based in London. In the past, she was the Film and Events programmer at the BFI, where she curated many seasons and created the Woman with a Movie Camera Summit. She programs for the BFI, the Edinburgh International Film Festival, and Fantastic Fest. As a writer, she has contributed to BBC Culture, Sight & Sound, Little White Lies, BFI, Tortoise, TimeOut, The Guardian, NME, Mubi, Vulture and i-D, among other outlets. She is the co-founder of horror film collective The Final Girls and hosts a podcast of the same name.
Twitter: @annabemented
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