6533b873fe1ef96bd12d59f6

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Likable viragos : The rise of the sexually assertive women in contemporary North American high school films

subject

description

The paper suggests the advent of a new type of character in a popular genre of American high school films, namely a precocious and sexually assertive young woman. Such characters are usually highly intelligent and manipulative women who seduce unsuspecting male partners, often their teachers, for emotional or practical gain. Although their actions may appear morally wrong, they are of ten depicted in a positive light. The analysis is based on a selection of films considered to be symptomatic of the larger tendencies. The first film under scrutiny is Election (1999), treated as a trailblazer for the more recent pictures such as Breathe In (2013) and Blame (2017). The article suggests that the selected films should be read as celebrations of female agency as well as symbolic expressions of male angst in the face of the growing social importance of women. The authors also attempt to explore the contemporary school film as a reflection of the evolving understanding of education and the role of a teacher. The paper concludes with an observation that the figure of a manipulative and assertive young woman will continue re-emerging in various incarnations in the audio-visual productions about school in the coming years.