WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
I feel like when people hear the words ‘coming of age’, they will instinctively think of directors like John Hughes and horror would rarely cross their minds. However, horror films with this same subtext shine a slightly different light on the same topics and maybe, to some extent, act as cautionary tales…
Look Away
On the surface, this is a story of a girl discovering that she actually had a twin in utero but deep down, this is a film about a teenage girl discovering herself – her desires, her confidence – manifested into her mirror-self. I’ll be honest, I’m not surprised Maria lacks confidence with her plastic surgeon father treating her the way he does. Even down to the kiss for Maria and Emily to switch places, it’s like she’s learning self-love. OK, yes there’s a little self-love portrayed in the scene where she first meets Emily which I actually find to be a little bit strange at first. This film actually reminds me of Orphan quite a bit with the simplicity of the deaths
Carrie
I know I say it a lot but I probably could have written this paragraph without having to watch the film again but then where would the fun in that? Truthfully, reading the book, let alone watching the film adaption as a young girl, you do start to hope that getting your period will give you some sort of power like it does for Carrie. This isn’t the only focus of this film however, even though it probably is the central part of the story. It also deals with period poverty and bullying. OK, Carrie doesn’t exactly deal with the bullying in the best way and there’s A LOT of collateral damage.
Ginger Snaps
Like the above, the film deals with one key part of puberty for a woman…. menstruation! On top of that – being a werewolf film – it kind of deals with the hair growth as part of puberty. Like Carrie, I had always remembered it being Ginger’s period being the cause of her becoming a werewolf and that she was the Beast of Bailey Downs all along. However it seems that it’s her period that attracts the werewolf to attack her. It also seems to play on the idea that the werewolf transformation gives Ginger a sexual awakening and her first kill being the same time she loses her virginity
Teeth
Another key part of growing up – sex! It’s how we all got here, right? Along with that comes contraception and what better contraceptive is there than having teeth in your vagina? Yes, you heard that right. I love the fact the first time we see the teeth, you automatically think it’s in her head, almost her way of stopping herself from masturbating or even thinking about sex. Warning to any guys that may watch this, you’ll probably be crossing your legs early but I’m sure even some of you will agree with me that the first guy deserves what happens! It definitely seems that this is, like the folklores around vagina dentate (Latin for toothed vagina), a warning against unwanted sex.
Perpetrator
I’m not sure if this film is another like Carrie where the power Jonny is supposed to be awakening is connected to menstruation but in comparison it’s a little on the nose. Especially with the amount of blood featured throughout the film and even more so with the bathroom scene when it seems she is getting her period for the first time. I also wonder if the moments when Jonny’s nose bleeds at the same as the councillor’s or when her great aunt is screaming at the same time as her is supposed to be representation of when the menstrual cycles of the women who are close to each other align.
Jennifer’s Body
I had a weird feeling that I had used this film before (especially as it was showing as watched and, I wouldn’t have watched it out of choice). Now, the reason I thought I would have discussed this is because I feel it easily could have fallen into my Death by Sex article, so maybe a way to look at this is that it is trying to make a point about the dangers of sex…maybe not have sex and you will die as they say in Mean Girls but something a little more realistic. Another way to look at it could be that it is a coming of age film for Needy, that she is growing out of her sand-box love and best friend Jennifer. I’m sure we all know that there are friends we have that won’t always be friends for life.
