To The Coolest Girl(s) in the World: an ode to growing up from Haylie Kohn on Vimeo.
"Using a fraction of the representations of young (teen) girls onscreen over the last ten years occupying either the lead protagonist or supporting roles, this video essay offers the experiences of girlhood and growing up as both a universal and personal account. Through a total of 20 movies, this audiovisual piece explores the complexity of defining girlhood. This essay pieces together and coherently moves through reoccurring elements that relate to teenage angst, boredom, independence, dependence, self-perception, sexuality, selfishness, isolation, and rage. Initially, I wanted to communicate that narratives surrounding teenage girls have changed in recent years through visualizing the hallmarks of growing up; however, this project developed into an exploration of how personal spectatorship manifests, informing a sense of self. Video essay format has allowed an illuminating illustration of what girlhood means to me, capturing the feeling related to nostalgia often difficult to articulate with the written word alone. For me that feeling is grounded in sentiments. Much like the time capsule shoe box from Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade, growing up is an extremely individual experience, attached to specific films, physical scraps of paper, romanticized memories of driving around, screaming at parents, and dancing as “if no-one was watching” often sound tracked by particular lyrics. While editing this project, collecting the reoccurring audiovisual elements in these films became blatantly obvious. I found these small moments in these films to be so effective as a spectator. Through this process of organizing, I discovered unexpected elements about the texts that transported me back in time. I remember the not-so-distant past pains and pleasures of being a teen.
Link to full project essay: https://hayliekohn.wordpress.com/portfolio/128/"