Girl Reviews
Our Girl Reviews showscases blogs that discuss how girls are portrayed in and impacted by books, movies, television shows, live performances, museums and exhibits, games, and products.
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Panel Reflection–It’s a Doll’s World: American Girl Dolls, American History, and Raising a Generation
An image from @hellicity_merriman on instagram In the mid to early 2000s, a craze took over a generation of girlhood: American Girl Dolls. Expensive 16 inch dolls connected to an era of American history, each with her own book series. Each doll had an extensive cache...
Gender Expression in Art: Seeing Gender Exhibition
Seeing Gender exhibition at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Image source: Asian Art Museum San Francisco On a rainy Sunday afternoon in September, I finally got the chance to visit the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The "Seeing Gender" exhibition,...
Book Review: Pizza Girl, by Jean Kyoung Frazier
It was a hot summer's day, I was on the London tube sweating and running for my train with an inconvenient suitcase dragging at my heels. I was one stop away from Kings Cross station and this book caught my eye. It had been left on the tube (not an unusual thing in...
“Girlhood… It’s Complicated!” (Except for When It Isn’t)
Image from Jazz Jenning’s Facebook page. This image was included in a photo series of Jazz and her family visiting the ‘Girlhood… It’s Complicated!’ exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. In October 2020, Smithsonian’s...
OK to not always be OK
Well, here I am again, not knowing what to write for a Staff Rant. So many things swirling in my brain, but trying to grab just one of them is as fruitless as trying to grab a wisp of a cloud. They just flit away, mocking me intensely. If you’re thinking this...
Girl Pictures: the Unknowable Teenage Girl
"Boy Torture: the Two-Headed Monster" (1999) by Justine Kurland from the series Girl Pictures When imagining girlhood in a rather vague sense, what comes to mind is plastic. Plastic dolls, plastic pink crowns and shoes and jewelry. A stiff neon interpretation colored...
TV Review: The Strong Women of Jane the Virgin
The three Villanueva women sit together on a bench that is a staple setting for conversation. It is a rare thing to come across very potent storytelling for girls and women, although, less rare than it once was. My teen-girlhood was marked by a deep immersion into...
Media Review: Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century
Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century This weekend my roommate and I were scrolling through Disney+, when we stumbled upon a childhood favorite of both of ours: Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century. I distinctly remember watching the trilogy in the early 2000s, and I...
Why Alice? : A Retrospective Look at Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser
Poster for Alice in Wonderland (1951). Image taken by author. I had a vague recollection of watching the original Disney adaptation of Alice in Wonderland as a child, and was therefore intrigued by the new immersive exhibition exploring its history which...
Dumplin’ Film Review: Body Positivity and Inclusivity on the Big Screen
Jessica reviews the Netflix film Dumplin’ and its impact on girls’ body positivity.
Book Review: A Guide To Crushing Girlhood: Feminist AF
Where to start? I guess with saying that A Guide To Crushing Girlhood: Feminist AF, by Brittney Cooper, Chanel Craft Tanner, and Susana Morris, is a phenomenal book that I would recommend ALL girls to read. This book is a practical guide for feminists (and wannabe...
Movie Review: Center Stage (2000)
Center Stage is a film, released in 2000, that follows the lives of a group of dancers in their first year at the American Ballet Academy in New York City. As well as the fact it features one of the most iconic finale dance numbers ever (in my opinion), there are...
Movie Review: Ladies in Black
Magda (Julia Ormond) with the young Australian teen, Lisa (Angourie Rice). The power of strong female figures is undeniable in instilling courage in young girls to break our expected roles in society. Set in the late 1950s Sydney, Ladies in Black is an Australian...
Book Review: Mightier Than The Sword
Mightier Than The Sword: Rebels, Reformers and Revolutionaries Who Changed The World Through Writing is a quick and fun read that beautifully balances education and entertainment. This children’s/middle grade book is a compilation of biographies from 40 people...
TV Review: Friday Night Lights – Season 3, Episode 1
Adrianne Palicki starred as Tyra Collette on Friday Night Lights. I initially thought that Friday Night Lights was a show just about high school football in small town America, and while the sport is central to the series, the show is about so much more. In the very...
TV Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy. On March 10th 1997, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the cult fantasy drama created by Joss Whedon and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, debuted. Despite being over two decades old, the series is still as influential as ever. It ran for seven...
Movie Review: Sweet Thing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpQxMrGPSy4 Directed by Alexandre Rockwell and set in America, Sweet Thing follows siblings Billie and Nico in a poignant yet heart-warming tale of self-discovery. With an alcoholic father and a mostly absent mother, Billie and Nico are...
Book Review: I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith
I Capture the Castle is a coming-of-age story by Dodie Smith, published in 1948, which focuses on the lives of the Mortmain family. The household consists of Mortmain, the father and eccentric writer of the family who has been struggling from writer’s block ever...
Film Review: Hidden Figures
I have always been a fan of films based on the lives of inspirational women in history. Hidden Figures, released in 2016, is definitely one of my favourites. The film is set in the 1960s and tells the true story of three African American women who worked at the...
Movie Review: Frozen 2
Elsa and Anna in Frozen 2. I don’t actually remember what my favorite Disney princess was. But I remember loving watching all Disney princesses movies. Growing up, I was a big fan of The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. I...