The film opens with the title card, In the United States, during the last decade, the number of young girls committing violent crimes has more than doubled. Your email address will not be published. Everything is "for the children"; however, this is powerful evidence to the contrary. The girls have traumatic experiences that affect their relationship with others. "I'm happy now.". Interviews. Is it maternal nurturing that makes the difference? Shanae and Megan both experienced similar circumstances that yielded different outcomes. Shanae, on the other hand, received strong support and had to follow strict rules her 32-year-old diabetic mom insisted upon, so that when she was released to her home she had someone to lean on for support. Shanae was arrested for murder at the age of 12, after stabbing a friend to death. At one point, Megan states that she feels that she is an old woman trapped in a young womans body because she has so much to regret. Just last week Waxter made headline news in Maryland after having been labeled by one childrens rights advocate as a house of horrors. At Waxter, girls like Shanae who have been sentenced for crimes, girls who would make mincemeat of the fillies in Thirteen, are placed alongside those who, as one news story put it, have not been found guilty of anything yet. Except, perhaps, being born poor and grievously disadvantaged. [Write my essay for me? Get help here.]. Garbus followed Shanaes suggestion and was determined to include her in her film. We have already learned that starting at the age of 10, Shanae began drinking alcohol heavily, was running away from home and having unprotected sex. Open Document. Shanaes development has been disrupted. "I was really, really, really confused at the time," Megan says. But Vernessa quickly reverts to her old ways, and the scenes of Megan viciously berating her mother for her failures are painful to watch. The film is told from the girls subjective viewpoint and plays as a coming of age story. In the documentary "Girlhood, " the two main characters Shanae FILM REVIEW; A Documentary Illuminates Young Lives at the Crossroads of He also states that although many of the girls leave Waxter and go on to live lives free of crime, others lives deteriorate when they get back home because of the dangers and tempations of life in their often crime-filled neighbourhoods (remember most of the inmates at Waxler are coming from Baltimore!). 'Girlhood' compelling and frustrating, too - Baltimore Sun Issues such as child neglect, failure of the foster care system, alcoholism and drug abuse. In class we watched the video Girlhood. She is also silly and childish which is what you expect for a girl her age. Megan admits that when she leaves Waxter she will only be going back to another foster home. Required fields are marked *, College Essay Examples | October 19, 2018. How A Violent Teen Who Had Given Up On Life Turned It All Around The documentary Girlhood offers an insight on the emotional, psychological, and social reasoning behind the girl's actions. In the beginning, Shanae is not remorseful for committing murder (Garbus, 2003). The difference between one girl supposedly climbing out of her bad situation and the other continuing in her dead-end path, is seen as a matter of good parenting and a child willing to change her bad ways.