Exploring Femininity in 'Whip It': A Film Analysis

Whip It is a teen movie that hits all the classic markers in a coming-of-age film. Teen angst, feeling like an outsider, falling in love, and of course the importance of friendship. Set in a small Texas town in a foggy timeline that could be the eighties up to the early aughts, Bliss Cavendar is the daughter of a beauty pageant mom and elder sister to a doll like girl. Bliss has been doing beauty pageants for an unknown amount of time, but long enough for her to know she hates it. When the movie opens up it shows pastel girls readying themselves in vanity mirrors while the mother’s make small talk outside. Then the scene shifts to Bliss and friend Pash Amini struggling to wash bright blue dye from her hair. The contrast of these two images sets up the rest of the movie. In a scene halfway through Bliss shouts at her mother, “You really need to stop shoving your [psychotic] idea of fifties womanhood down my throat”. More than just figuring out who you are this movie dives in deep to what femininity means and how it should be portrayed.

The setting of this film is extremely important. Bodeen, Texas is a

Though Brooke works a rather masculine job as a mail carrier, she still presents herself in a quiet demeanor. When Brooke first discovers Bliss’s secret life she is appalled and disgusted at the brutal nature of the sport. However, despite the physical contact of roller derby it could still be considered feminine. Fishnets, skirts, and cosmetics are part of their uniform. According to Maggie Mayhem, “You can never have enough eyeliner or Lash Blast.” What Brooke never considers is that a woman can be feminine while speeding by on skates with a bloody nose. The women on The Hurl Scouts have taken the classic feminine identity and rebuilt it for themselves. Trading out high heels for quad skates and panty hose for