On the surface, the documentary is about the impact of bullying, but the true meat of the doc is nestled in hypocrisy. These young girls are critiqued for their "dime store feminism," false rebellion against rich parents, and lack of action. However, the dirty girls pose the question of, "well, what are you doing about it?" The irony of performative discussions breeds a really interesting secondary layer that tackles more than just social exclusion.
Through a mixture of interviews, cinema verite, and pure high school cruelty, Dirty Girls truly is a time capsule of the youth punk subculture in the late 90s. I just fell in love with how much of a gentle hand the filmmaker has. This could easily fall into exploitation territory, especially considering the gender and age differences between the filmmaker and participants. However, Lucid's editing style reaches out and gives his formerly bullied audience members a warm hug--bringing light to who we all once were, middle schoolers trying to find identity.
^^^^ My homework write-up for this doc so excuse the formality.
I just really loved this. A swan song for bullied girls.
On the surface, the documentary is about the impact of bullying, but the true meat of the doc is nestled in hypocrisy. These young girls are critiqued for their "dime store feminism," false rebellion against rich parents, and lack of action. However, the dirty girls pose the question of, "well, what are you doing about it?" The irony of performative discussions breeds a really interesting secondary layer that tackles more than just social exclusion.
Through a mixture of interviews, cinema verite, and pure high school cruelty, Dirty Girls truly is a time capsule of the youth punk subculture in the late 90s. I just fell in love with how much of a gentle hand the filmmaker has. This could easily fall into exploitation territory, especially considering the gender and age differences between the filmmaker and participants. However, Lucid's editing style reaches out and gives his formerly bullied audience members a warm hug--bringing light to who we all once were, middle schoolers trying to find identity.
^^^^ My homework write-up for this doc so excuse the formality.
I just really loved this. A swan song for bullied girls.
