The Aesthetic Pleasures of Girl Teen Film by Samantha Colling

Abstract

"When Cyndi Lauper tweaked the lyrics of Robert Hazard’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” she gave us more than a 1980s feminist anthem about sexual freedom; she centred pleasurable female experiences in the pop-cultural imagination and made girlish fun a birthright. Since its release, the song has functioned as narrative shorthand for feminine enjoyment, accompanying film and television sequences that expand its meaning beyond its erotic origins and spotlight female-identified protagonists indulging in fun activities. While not all on-screen moments of girlish fun rely on Lauper’s remake, they hold in common the spectacularised expression of a feminine sensibility presumably shared by all girls and women. When Cyndi Lauper tweaked the lyrics of Robert Hazard’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” she gave us more than a 1980s feminist anthem about sexual freedom; she centred pleasurable female experiences in the pop-cultural imagination and made girlish fun a birthright. Since its release, the song has functioned as narrative shorthand for feminine enjoyment, accompanying film and television sequences that expand its meaning beyond its erotic origins and spotlight female-identified protagonists indulging in fun activities. While not all on-screen moments of girlish fun rely on Lauper’s remake, they hold in common the spectacularised expression of a feminine sensibility presumably shared by all girls and women. When Cyndi Lauper tweaked the lyrics of Robert Hazard’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” she gave us more than a 1980s feminist anthem about sexual freedom; she centred pleasurable female experiences in the pop-cultural imagination and made girlish fun a birthright. Since its release, the song has functioned as narrative shorthand for feminine enjoyment, accompanying film and television sequences that expand its meaning beyond its erotic origins and spotlight female-identified protagonists indulging in fun activities. While not all on-screen moments of girlish fun rely on Lauper’s remake, they hold in common the spectacularised expression of a feminine sensibility presumably shared by all girls and women. When Cyndi Lauper tweaked the lyrics of Robert Hazard’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” she gave us more than a 1980s feminist anthem about sexual freedom; she centred pleasurable female experiences in the pop-cultural imagination and made girlish fun a birthright. Since its release, the song has functioned as narrative shorthand for feminine enjoyment, accompanying film and television sequences that expand its meaning beyond its erotic origins and spotlight female-identified protagonists indulging in fun activities. While not all on-screen moments of girlish fun rely on Lauper’s remake, they hold in common the spectacularised expression of a feminine sensibility presumably shared by all girls and women. When Cyndi Lauper tweaked the lyrics of Robert Hazard’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” she gave us more than a 1980s feminist anthem about sexual freedom; she centred pleasurable female experiences in the pop-cultural imagination and made girlish fun a birthright. Since its release, the song has functioned as narrative shorthand for feminine enjoyment, accompanying film and television sequences that expand its meaning beyond its erotic origins and spotlight female-identified protagonists indulging in fun activities. While not all on-screen moments of girlish fun rely on Lauper’s remake, they hold in common the spectacularised expression of a feminine sensibility presumably shared by all girls and women.

Keywords

• girlhood
• teen film
• pleasure
• film aesthetics
• fairytale