You play the girl : on Playboy bunnies, Stepford wives, train wrecks, and other mixed messages

In this zippy, intelligent call to arms, a film and TV critic merges memoir and cultural commentary to break down how women have been watching, making, and playing in the all-media funhouse. Who is "The Girl"? Look to Hollywood and find the usual answer, one projected on millions of screens every day: she holds The Hero's hand as he runs through the Pyramids, chasing robots; she nags him, or foils him, or plays the uptight straight man to his charming loser. But this "Girl" isn't really a person. She's often barely a part. And given such a dehumanized ideal, how are women shaped in its presence? How does it form their sense of who they are and what they can become? From Bugs Bunny to Playboy Bunnies, from Frozen to Flashdance, from the progressive '70s through the backlash '80s, the triumphalist '90s, and the pornified, "bro culture" aughts—and at stops in between—Chocano blends formative personal stories with insightful and... Who Is The Girl? Look To Movies, Tv Shows, Magazines, And Ads And The Message Is Both Clear And Not: She Is A Sexed-up Sidekick, A Princess Waiting To Be Saved, A Morally Infallible Angel With No Opinions Of Her Own. She's Whatever The Hero Needs Her To Be In Order To Become Himself. She's An Abstraction, An Ideal, A Standard, A Mercurial Phantom. In You Play The Girl, Chocano Blends Formative Personal Stories With Insightful And Emotionally Powerful Analysis. Moving From Bugs Bunny To Playboy Bunnies, Flashdance To Frozen, The Progressive '70s Through The Backlash '80s, The Glib '90s, And The Pornified Aughts--and At Stops In Between--she Explains How Growing Up In The Shadow Of The Girl Taught Her To Think About Herself And The World And What It Means To Raise A Daughter In The Face Of These Contorted Reflections. In The Tradition Of Roxane Gay, Rebecca Solnit, And Susan Sontag, Chocano Brilliantly Shows That Our Identities Are More Fluid Than We Think, And Certainly More Complex Than Anything We See On Any Kind Of Screen.--page 4 Of Cover. Part 1. Down The Rabbit Hole: Bunnies ; Can This Marriage Be Saved? ; The Bronze Statue Of The Virgin Slut Ice Queen Bitch Goddess ; What A Feeling ; The Eternal Allure Of The Basket Case -- Part 2. The Pool Of Tears: The Ingenue Chooses Marriage Or Death ; Thoroughly Modern Lily ; Bad Girlfriend ; The Kick-ass -- Part 3. You Wouldn't Have Come Here: Surreal Housewives ; Real Girls ; Celebrity Gothic ; Big Mouth Strikes Again ; The Redemptive Journey ; A Modest Proposal For More Backstabbing In Preschool -- Part 4. A Mad Tea Party: Let It Go ; All The Bad Guys Are Girls ; Girls Love Math ; Train Wreck ; Look At Yourself ; Phantombusters, Or, I Want A Feminist Dance Number. Carina Chocano. Essays. A Mariner Original. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 264-275). WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR CRITICISM A FINALIST FOR THE PEN/DIAMONSTEIN-SPIELVOGEL AWARD FOR THE ART OF THE ESSAY "If Hollywood's treatment of women leaves you wanting, you'll find good, heady company in You Play the Girl."--ELLE As a kid in the 1970s and 80s, Carina Chocano was confused by the mixed messages all around her; messages that told her who she could be--and who she couldn't. Dutifully absorbing all the conflicting information the culture has to offer on how to be a woman, Chocano grappled with sexed up sidekicks, princesses waiting to be saved, and morally infallible angels who seemed to have no opinions of their own. She learned that "the girl" is not a person, but a man's idea of what a woman should be--she's whatever the hero needs her to be in order to become himself. It wasn't until she spent five years as a movie critic, and was laid off just after her daughter was born, however, that she really came to understand how the stories the culture tells us about what it means to be a girl limit our lives and shape our destinies. She resolved to rewrite her own story. In You Play the Girl, Chocano blends formative personal stories with insightful and emotionally powerful analysis. Moving from Bugs Bunny to Playboy Bunnies, from Flashdance to Frozen, from the progressive '70s through the backlash '80s, the glib '90s, and the pornified aughts--and at stops in between--she explains how growing up in the shadow of "the girl" taught her to think about herself and the world and what it means to raise a daughter in the face of these contorted reflections. In the tradition of Roxane Gay, Rebecca Solnit, and Susan Sontag, Chocano brilliantly shows that our identities are more fluid than we think, and certainly more complex than anything we see on any kind of screen A Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism Longlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay In this smart, funny, impassioned call to arms, a pop culture critic merges memoir and commentary to explore how our culture shapes ideas about who women are, what they are meant to be, and where they belong. Who is "the girl"? Look to movies, TV shows, magazines, and ads and the message is both clear and not: she is a sexed up sidekick, a princess waiting to be saved, a morally infallible angel with no opinions of her own. She's whatever the hero needs her to be in order to become himself. She's an abstraction, an ideal, a standard, a mercurial phantom. From the moment we're born, we're told stories about what girls are and they aren't, what girls want and what they don't, what girls can be and what they can't. "The girl" looms over us like a toxic cloud, permeating everything and confusing our sense of reality. In You Play the Girl , Carina Chocano shows how we metabolize the subtle, fragmented messages embedded in our everyday experience and how our identity is shaped by them. From Bugs Bunny to Playboy Bunnies, from Flashdance to Frozen, from the progressive '70s through the backlash '80s, the glib '90s, and the pornified aughts?and at stops in between?Chocano blends formative personal stories with insightful and emotionally powerful analysis. She explains how growing up in the shadow of "the girl" taught her to think about herself and the world and what it means to raise a daughter in the face of these contorted reflections. In the tradition of Roxane Gay, Rebecca Solnit, and Susan Sontag, Chocano brilliantly shows that our identities are more fluid than we think, and certainly more complex than anything we see on any kind of screen N ational B ook C ritics C ircle A ward Winner . “With dazzling clarity, [Chocano’s] commentary exposes the subliminal sexism on our pages and screens.”— O, The Oprah Magazine As a kid in the 1970s and 80s, Carina Chocano was confused by the mixed messages all around her that told her who she could be—and who she couldn’t. She grappled with sexed up sidekicks, princesses waiting to be saved, and morally infallible angels who seemed to have no opinions of their own. It wasn’t until she spent five years as a movie critic, and was laid off just after her daughter was born, however, that she really came to understand how the stories the culture tells us about what it means to be a girl limit our lives and shape our destinies. In You Play the Girl , Chocano blends formative personal stories with insightful and emotionally powerful analysis. Moving from Bugs Bunny to Playboy Bunnies, from Flashdance to Frozen, from the progressive ’70s through the backlash ’80s, the glib ’90s, and the pornified aughts—and at stops in between—she explains how growing up in the shadow of “the girl” taught her to think about herself and the world and what it means to raise a daughter in the face of these contorted reflections. In the tradition of Roxane Gay, Rebecca Solnit, and Susan Sontag, Chocano brilliantly shows that our identities are more fluid than we think, and certainly more complex than anything we see on any kind of screen. “If Hollywood’s treatment of women leaves you wanting, you’ll find good, heady company in You Play the Girl .”— Elle