Girls' Hairstories
Sparkle and Resilience in Contemporary Screen Cultures
By: Fiona Handyside, Associate Professor in Film Studies Fiona Handyside
Examines how girls' hairstyles have become such a significant part of how girlhood is articulated in contemporary visual cultures.
AI Overview
Title: "Girls' Hairstories: Resilience and Sparkle in Contemporary Screen Cultures" by Fiona Handyside
Author: Fiona Handyside, Associate Professor in Film Studies
Publication Details:
- Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
- Copyright Date: 2025
- Edition: 1
- Format: Hardback and Ebook (PDF and app)
- Pages: 224
Key Themes
Significance of Hairstyles in Contemporary Visual Cultures: The book examines how dynamic and shifting hairstyles, such as Katniss Everdeen’s Power Plait and JoJo Siwa’s outsize bows, have become a significant part of how girlhood is articulated in contemporary visual cultures.
Resilience and Sparkle: It explores how these hairstyles reflect the qualities of resilience and sparkle needed for girls to survive and thrive in turbulent post-recessionary times.
Gendered, Class-Based, and Racialised Identities: The analysis delves into the significance of girls' hairstyles within the context of gendered, class-based, and racialised identities on screen and off.
Interdisciplinary Approach: The book draws together analysis from popular film franchises, Disney animation, groundbreaking TV shows, music videos, girl celebrity personas, and global art cinema.
Craft of Hairstyling: It documents the careful craft of hairdressers and software engineers working in the screen industries to style and animate hair, bringing their work to a new visibility.
Plot Summary
The book provides a detailed examination of how girls' hairstyles have become a complex dynamic site of interpretation and interaction across different cultural levels and aimed at different audiences. It explores the various ways in which hairstyles are used to articulate girlhood in contemporary visual cultures, highlighting their role in reflecting resilience and sparkle.
Critical Reception
- Academic Praise: The book is described as a "sparkling contribution to scholarship" that offers new insights for film/media studies, cultural studies, and gender studies.
- Fascinating Analysis: Critics highlight the fascinating analysis of the significance of girls' hairstyles, arguing for the importance of the apparently trivial in understanding gendered, class-based, and racialised identities.
Overall, "Girls' Hairstories" by Fiona Handyside is a comprehensive and insightful exploration of the cultural significance of girls' hairstyles in contemporary screen cultures, providing a nuanced understanding of how these styles reflect and shape identity.