Girls Rock!

I went down to Seattle Center last weekend and saw the SIFF showing of the documentary Girls Rock! If you aren't familiar with it, the doc follows a handful of girls who attend a week-long rock camp. They form band with girls they haven't met before. Play instruments they haven't played before and write a song with the band, to perform at the end of the week.

It was a good documentary. It was funny and heartwarming and at times a bit disturbing. Some of those little girls were pretty intense (see image above), and you're left to kinda wonder what they are going to think of this footage in 10 or 20 years (much like that teen boy who vows to never fall in love in that one episode of Showtime's This American Life. Seriously, dude, that's just sad.).

But then there were the teens, Misty and especially Laura. Misty's been bopping around group homes and foster situations and had just been released from a 10-month lock down. Laura was adopted from Korea and is obsessed with death metal and bunnies. She's sweet and you just want to hug her when she talks about how much she hates herself and her body. Both of them - Misty having never touched a bass guitar before camp - learn things about themselves that they never knew they had in them. All of this possible because they found people who shared similar interests, and weren't judged for being themselves.

I think it points out a lot of serious issues about the ways girls perceive themselves, and how by creating an environment, in this case rock camp, where they can feel safe to be themselves gives them a sense of empowerment that leads to greater overall self-acceptance. But I also think that, as much as I love the girl-power aspect of the movie, it isn't any different for guys (but what do I know, covered in pink as I am...;).

I think it's all about finding your own individual place to fit in; be that through music, sports, games, or maybe, hopefully, through books (though, I must say, we've got that other stuff at the library too...).