Girlhood through film representation : Reconstructing spaces and places for girls

Abstract: There is a scholar consensus that girls have been marginalized in childhood studies. Taking into account the gender effect in constructing different childhoods for boys and girls this thesis explores the frontiers of girlhood. Girlhood as being abandoned and not perceived in the here and now is constructed only in the future, namely in the frames of femininity and womanhood. This initiates pathology in the lives of girls. This thesis through film representation explored new constructions of girlhood. Two films Barbie as Rapunzel and Tangled based in the fairy tale of Rapunzel were explored through Foucauldian Discourse Analysis. The discursive constructions, the “preppy” girl and the “alternative” girl emerged accordingly as the versions of the “authentic” girl that is searching for her identity and leading to the “self-regulated” girl discourse as a way to reconstruct girlhood.These discursive constructions can be used in the reorientation of girlhood as they unravel the necessities that exist in girl studies.