We seek out the stories that validate us, that move us, that make us feel just a little bit better about our place in the world. When we see ourselves being punished onscreen, we take this as a lesson. We get used to seeing our suffering, and we internalize what we need to do to avoid it. Even though I threw away that rule book on how to be girl, I couldn’t escape the rules. Pop culture is the stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves. It’s our folklore. The manner in which cinema and television are made and received by audiences is a cultural thermometer, a reflection of a time and a
...more
