Girls Rock!
Check out this hilarious and deeply moving new documentary about a Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls in Portland! The two male documentarians trace the path of 4 girls, ages 7 through 17 through the transformative experience of the week-long camp. The filmmakers say they got an in-depth look at what it means to be a girl these days, “The film that we ended up making…wasn’t just cute girls with guitars. It was about girlhood, about why it meant so much to these girls to go to a place where they could be loud, where they were not worried about what they were dressed as or what their weight was”.
When these girls first got to the camp, most were extremely quiet. Even if they had loud voices, they were, as the filmmakers found, sort of energetically “silenced”. The more the filmmakers interviewed these girls, they became aware of just how much the culture, media, and male/female dynamics have silenced them. Put a guitar in a boy’s hands and he’s screaming and rocking out, put one in a girls hands, and she stands there for a while, not sure if she should rock out. Shyness, lack of confidence, strong body-image concerns were abundant in the interviews – in fact, one of the girls says this: “I just accept that I hate myself and I don’t really think about it”. The filmmakers said it’s hard to talk to these girls about “being silenced” by the culture around them when they are, well, silenced.
But at rock camp most of these girls find their voices again, they taste what it’s like to break free from the subtle but dominant energies that bind them, and they realize that being “loud” is not about the volume of your voice, it’s about reclaiming and freely expressing your unique feminine power.
March 12th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I know what they mean when they say rock music frees up their inner wild, rebelious, confident selves. Its the same effect classic 80’s rock has on me. When I listen to that wonderful attitude filled music for a little while I become a whole other person, in a very good way. Here’s to the power of Rock, and especially my music du jour, anything from the decade of excess!!!
March 13th, 2008 at 6:57 am
Thank you so much for this link. I’ve shared it with all of my women friends, and with my husband, who teaches high school, so he can share it with his students.
March 15th, 2008 at 1:05 am
I wonder if they would do rock and roll camp for grown ups? I think I could use it!!