girlhood documentary megan diagnosis

The girls have traumatic experiences that affect their relationship with others. One characteristic of resilience that Megan portrays is her perseverance. "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" It is during Shanaes interview to get into the lower security facility that we learn that she was also gang raped by five men. Why is Shanae in the juvenile facility? Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. Shanae is 14 and has served two years at Waxter for the murder of her friend, a crime she committed when she as only 12 years old. Dennis Schwartz: Ozus World Movie Reviews, Copyright 2023 - Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews. Today, the Baltimore native is living in North Carolina and acknowledges that she wasn't in a good place during her "Oprah Show" appearance. She has a total of two children and she has graduated from college. Girlhood misses some of the nuance of the girlhoods that it seeks to document in a few ways. By end fil There are a number of reasons for why Shanae was able to turn her life around whereas Megan was not. She is briefly reunited with her mother but cannot forgive her for not being there when she needed her most. An Ijaw Story: JOURNEY TO THE PRESENCE OF WOYINGI, Africas 100 Best Books of the 20th Century, African Regional Links: Central/Middle Africa, Literature from the Black African Diaspora, Documentary Review: girlhood by Liz Garbus, Countries: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Black Canadians of Afro-Caribbean Descent. Garbus encountered the girls at the Waxter Juvenile Facility in Baltimore while making a television documentary about the boys incarcerated there. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. Is the Megan inside Waxter the same Megan outside Waxter? If the movie suggests that a strong mother-daughter bond is the key to a successful rehabilitation, it is too intelligent to belabor that notion. We are introduced to them while they are incarcerated in Waxter Juvenile Detention Center, just outside of Baltimore, Maryland. ~ (Source: Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide). The film left me with mixed feelings about the girls who crave love but seem so self-absorbed that they show so little concern for anyone else not in their radar, as I questioned what kind of punishment should there be for girls who commit violent crimes. This paradoxical relationship with her parent is evident (Brody & Dwyer, 2016). Volatile, articulate and desperately needy, Megan seethes with bitterness at having been abandoned by her mother, Vernessa, a heroin addict and prostitute, who has spent many years in prison. murdering another girl after the two got into an argument. Megan grew up without the love and support of her mother who was in prison for drugs and prostitution. Girlhood Movie Analysis. So the films have been very organically connected. A wild, tough-talking girl of mixed race who has run away from 10 foster homes, she was incarcerated for attacking another foster child with a box cutter. This may be a psychological scar due to her relationship with her mother. One perspective on the film Girl Hood is that it is a highly informative documentary film in which the director does a spectacular job revealing to the world the issues young women such as Megan and Shanae face on a daily basis. To think that one out of two might have straightened out her life, is not saying that the system works. Confronted with her crime, Shanae is strangely detached and has little memory of the incident. She does become bitter in her adult life, but she is self-efficient. Humanizing those who have committed crimes especially children is a good thing to do, and certainly expands the viewers capacity to embrace complicated narratives and emotions. She perseveres through challenges in life. The documentary, indeed, treats girlhood as its subject a phase of life distinct from womanhood, childhood or any other experience. But Megan seemed like a lost cause as her pleas for love go unanswered and her unchanged bad behavior goes unchecked, as she gets into a verbal spat with mom and splits. Running time: 88 minutes. The lack of a proper support system is evident because she does not achieve as much as Shanae who does not falter when her mother dies. Footage of the two girls is then followed along with more title cards that give insight into the crimes they have committed. 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. Documentary chronicling America's justice system. As you watch it, you wish the film would fill in more of each girl's background. Her emotional responses are not well adjusted. T he 'Girlhood' documentary highlights the plight of girls in juvenile centers with some psychological disorders. Megan is 16 and is in Waxter for Assault with a deadly weapon. The early life trauma that these girls experienced impacted . And now I'm doing this film about a little girl, and in many ways she's a precursor to Megan. As the film progresses we see Shanae go from feeling very little remorse or even understanding of the consequences of her violent actions, to feeling real remorse and a sense of responsiblity. Shanaes ability to feel remorse for her actions is seen as a key benchmark that needs to be achieved before she can leave Waxter. By what name was Girlhood (2003) officially released in Canada in English? Challenging Attachment http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/girlhood-subjects-get-narrative-feature-829762 Miriam has proven to have an incredibly strong voice when it comes to tackling tough, timely and complex stories that often take place in urban settings but resonate far and wide, Fawcett said. Follows two female inmates - victims of horrific violence and tragedy - who are serving time in a Maryland juvenile detention center. At first, Shanae shows no remorse over killing another human being, but gradually she takes a hard look at what she did and is sorry. Megan Terry, an Obie Award winner, a founding member of the Open Theater group and a prolific feminist playwright who wrote and directed a rock musical on the New York stage that . In class we watched the video Girlhood. Everything is "for the children"; however, this is powerful evidence to the contrary. Her anger keeps her going. The system essentially gives up on trying to control her and turns her loose to fend for herself. See production, box office & company info. "I am halfway through my Associates in Arts degree. Shanae was arrested for murder at the age of 12, after stabbing a friend to death. Inside, she is desperately frightened of becoming just like her. Impact of Trauma Megan admits to having a special relationship with a fellow inmate which seems to be of a romantic nature. Megan, after a failed escape attempt from Waxter, goes into another foster home. The documentary follows the plight of Megan and Shanae (Garbus, 2003). The Girlhood documentary highlights the plight of girls in juvenile centers with some psychological disorders. Megan's mother was a drug-addled prostitute, and after being placed in, and escaping from, nearly a dozen foster homes, Megan committed a violent crime. The disrupted attachment led to a paradoxical relationship with the caregivers in Waxter (Shaffer & Kipp, 2010). Additionally, the film has also been criticized for ignoring the workers at Waxter. Liz Garbus has made other films about life in prison, such as the Academy Award Winning The Farm: Angola. The staff never followed up Megans progress as they should have and she was unsupervised when she suddenly left the foster home and lived with friends, thereby returning to drugs and her former East Baltimore street life. I remember being struck at the end of the film that one of the staff at Waxter came to Shanaes home to congratulate her on graduating and see her off to the prom. Thankfully, her parents point out that being dead is definitely WORSE than being in detention! Garbus remarks during her DVD commentarythat she was torn while making this film because her ultimate conclusion during her experience following these girls lives was that Family Matters. She specializes in academic writing, copywriting, business plans and resumes. Shanae, after much perseverance, overcoming her appalling behaviours and graduate from high school. Shanae and Megans girlhoods contain all that which other parts of life contain, and to think of Garbus idea of girlhood as winning at the end of the film is short-sighted and perhaps fails to move forward with Girlhood Studies attention to complexity and fullness (including pain) of this part of life for her subjects. Wake up to the day's most important news. EDPY 303.005 Dr. Armstrong 08 May 2018 Girlhood (2003) Documentary Introduction: The topics presented in this paper include the effects of trauma on two young girls and their incarceration after committing violent assaults. Her mother is a heroin addict and is herself often in and out of jail on prostitution charges. That roster includes ''The Farm: Angola, U.S.A,'' an acclaimed film about the largest maximum-security prison in the United States, and ''The Execution of Wanda Jean,'' a sympathetic portrait of the first black woman executed in America in the last 50 years. The juvenile justice system serves her well, because she's deeply involved in forging her own path. She portrays this by her apprehensive response that she gives to her parent. The other protagonist is Megan, a troublesome mixed race teen who has a tattoo going up her right arm and is always giggly thinking everything is not serious. Question: In the documentary "Girlhood, " the two main characters Shanae and Megan had two very different reintegration experiences after being placed in a detention center. Abandoned by her mother, a heroin addict turned prostitute, Megan ran away from then different foster homes before being arrested on assault charges. Megan, the more unruly of the two is a little older than Shanae. ''Girlhood,'' which follows Shanae and Megan over three years beginning in 1999, doesn't pretend that a place like Waxter can hope to do the job by itself. That was 11 years ago. Additionally, the film has been criticized for having the drama move the film along. Megan flounders around for a while and is eventually sent to another foster home, which doesn't work out. The project, titled "Hood Girls," will be written and directed by Miriam Kruishoop ("Greencard Warriors") and produced by Atlantic Screen Productions. She angrily lashes out at the girl, but shows no remorse when she finds out that she died. Before starting the film girlhood, she actually meant to do a film about young men in juvenile detention centres because from her work on the film Angola, she was intrigued and disturbed by how many of the inmates there said they had learned the tricks of their trade from their experiences in juvenile detention. We follow them over a period of about three years. Shanae and Megans story has reached a large audience and even caught the attention of talk show host Oprah Winfrey, however, many are critical of its overambitious attempts and lack of direction. This paper provides a social psychological review of Megan and Shanae from an ecological point of view as well as an attachment perspective. The third is her reluctance to become close with others. This is the latest feature-length non-fiction film from documentarian Liz Garbus, who has spotlighted imprisonment in 2002's "The Execution of Wanda June" and the 1998 Oscar-nominee "The Farm: Angola USA." As with those two films, "Girlhood" looks at the incarceration of violent-crime offenders. From there she enrolls in high school, where she places fourth in her class, and plans to attend a community college. Part of HuffPost News. Girlhood Directed by Liz Garbus Documentary, Crime Not Rated 1h 22m By Stephen Holden Oct. 29, 2003 Liz Garbus's hard-headed documentary film ''Girlhood'' is prefaced with an unsettling. Press ESC to cancel. Garbus follows Shanae and Megan over a three-year period as they move through the juvenile system, struggle with mixed feelings toward their mothers, comment on the efforts of the staff to set them on the straight and narrow, and try to cope with the changes in their lives. After watching the documentary, it is easy to see that Megans environment has contributed greatly to her childhood and ultimately her adult life. She tries to reach out to her mother multiple times despite being disappointed numerous times. Garbus rigidity in framing the girls experiences does not allow for the expansiveness and complexity allowed by new theories of girlhood. she has come a long way from this documentry i love and am so proud of my sistrr. She receives more family support than Megan is, but she does not seem to reciprocate it at the beginning of the film. This documentary really touched me and made me so much more grateful for my environment and support. Liz Garbus, who was nominated for an Academy Award in 1999 for The Farm: Angola, USA, shoots in her latest an unflinching cinema verite documentary about two teenager girls who committed violent crimes and are now incarcerated at Marylands Waxter Juvenile Facility. I was just doing anything to kill myself, honestly," she says. The film, however, makes Shanae and Megans girlhoods into victory stories when, instead, they are something much more complex. At the beginning of the documentary, Shanae and Megan are 14 and 16, serving time for murder and assault, respectively. Follows two female inmates - victims of horrific violence and tragedy - who are serving time in a Maryland juvenile detention center. As the documentary end, it is clear that Megan is afraid to trust others. Revise AS Level Psychology. What factors do you think played a part in . Miriam Kruishoop ( Greencard Warriors) has signed on to write and direct Hood Girls, a narrative feature based on the life stories of the two subjects of Liz Garbus ' 2003 documentary Girlhood . The relationship between staff and the young girls is also essential to how the girls grow and move forward with their lives. Liz Garbus, who was nominated for an Academy Award in 1999 for The Farm: Angola, USA, shoots in her latest an unflinching cinema verite documentary about two teenager girls who committed violent crimes and are now incarcerated at Maryland's Waxter Juvenile Facility. Garbus explains that she encountered the contradictions of Shanae and Megans girlhoods early on; she mentions that she was struck by [Shanaes] little girl-ness, her innocence, but this was complicated by what she learned about the violence of her crime. That is to say, Garbus sees crime and girlhood as opposite experiences. After her release, 19-year-old Megan appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" alongside another troubled teen, Shanae. Megan admits that when she leaves Waxter she will only be going back to another foster home. Shanae was ten years old when she was gang-raped by five boys. Documentary chronicling America's justice system. Megan was shuffled through 11 different foster homes, running away from all except one. Issues such as child neglect, failure of the foster care system, alcoholism and drug abuse. Garbus, L. (Director). [Write my essay for me? Get help here.]. This led to a pregnancy at the age of 11 which her mother arranged for her to have terminated because it was feared that because of Shanaes heavy-drinking the baby would have fetal alcohol syndrome. Having been abandoned by her mother, with whom she has a very complicated relationship, Megan is desperate for attention and affection. The girls have traumatic experiences that affect their relationship with others. Megan on the other hand, has a more difficult time staying out of trouble and maintaining good grades. "I just lost all respect for myself," she says. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. MPAA rating: Unrated. Required fields are marked *, College Essay Examples | October 19, 2018. Their stories are depicted in the 2003 documentary Girlhood. Throughout the film, we are sympathetic to the challenges of Shanae and Megans girlhoods, but cannot substantively grasp, through the documentary, the unresolved nature of their status, as girls in a system that seeks to destroy not just girlhood, but life beyond girlhood too. That Ms. Garbus was able to get so close to her likable subjects and allow us to see that they are not quite the monsters we might perceive from reading the newspapers about such bad girls, is what makes this film so special. The film will center on two prisoners serving. Garbus interest in and empathy for her subjects and, more importantly, the way in which she relays their girlhood, makes for an entertaining and emotional documentary, but perhaps an incomplete one. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. 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 and Megan both experienced similar circumstances that yielded different outcomes. Then, she got up and walked off set. A riveting documentary about two young offenders serving time in a Baltimore juvenile facility and their struggles over a three-year period to forge a new life for themselves against formidable odds. Director Liz Garbus See production, box office & company info Search on Amazon search for Blu-ray and DVD Add to Watchlist Added by 1.8K users 8 User reviews But its staff emerges as a caring if overstressed group of people who do what they can to steer the girls in their charge toward a productive life. Shanae started drinking with her cousin. How is Megan Jensen from Girlhood doing I just saw the film and was really. To come to those safe conclusions is something that no one in their right mind would argue, but it really doesnt get to the heart of what has gone wrong in this affluent country that has so many children in trouble with the Man. The documentary Girlhood follows the lives of two girls, Shanae and Megan, from 1999-2002, during and shortly after their release from Waxter Juvenile Facility in Maryland. Garbus, director of the acclaimed prison documentary, The Farm: Angola, USA, examines the disparate fates of these girls and their very different treatment at the hands of the juvenile justice system. The film is also said to be informative regarding the significance of the relationship between mothers and daughters. In contrast to Shanaes successes, when out of Waxter, Megan soon runs away from her foster home with no consequences (despite the fact that staying in foster care is a requirement of her patrol), couch surfs for a while and eventually gets her own place with her cousin. Shanae is a plump black girl who mentions she lost her virginity in the Baltimore projects when she was 10, was raped by 5 boys at 11, and did drugs in her adolescent years as she hung out with the wrong friends. Additionally, she still struggles after growing up, but she ensures that she never becomes an addict (Garbus, 2003). The title Girlhood splits in two on the opening credits, with "girl" and "hood" on separate lines. Be sure to answer all parts to each question. But the reality is that Shanae, because of the support of her family, is able to overcome the trauma of her childhood and the impact of her crime and graduate from high school and go on to community college whereas Megan, without really any family support, is only able to struggle, her greatest achievement being that she doesnt return to crime or become a hardcore drug addict.

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