JS-53.4
It's a Girl Thing: Tween Queens and the Commodification of Girlhood

Thursday, July 17, 2014: 9:15 AM
Room: 501
Oral Presentation
Donna KING , University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC
Shannon SILVA , University of North Carollina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC
Andre SILVA , Film Studies, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC
It's a Girl Thing: Tween Queens and the Commodification of Girlhood

This submission is a 58 minute documentary film to be shown either in a roundtable session followed by a Q&A or as part of a social event.

Description:

Since the birth of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in 1986, the girls' tween market has evolved from almost non-existent into a multi-billion-dollar money-making machine.

Framed by the structure of a faux interactive website for tween girls, It’s a Girl Thing speaks with consumer critics, tween brand marketers, girls, moms, and educators to explore the seemingly benign cultural universe of candy-coated, pastel-colored, hyper-commercialized girl culture (and the tween queen phenomenon) to reveal the complex and contradictory messages directed at today’s young girls.

Historical research, playful reenactments and found footage allow the film to look closely and critically at the global tween market's evolution and the role of Disney and Nickelodeons’ tween queens (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Britney Spears, Hilary Duff, Miley Cryus, Miranda Cosgrove, Kiki Palmer, Selena Gomez, and more) in the market's explosion.

VIMEO LINK FOR TRAILER FOR THE FILM:

http://vimeo.com/43684204