SEXUAL DELINQUENCY, STARDOM, AND ADOLESCENT GIRLHOOD IN MIDCENTURY AMERICAN FILM

Author (s) : B.Balasubashini, T.Ranjulapushpa, R.Revathy, M.Suhashini

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Abstract :
Adolescent girls were frequently depicted in midcentury films from the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s as sexually delinquent. I contend that studios and teen girl stars battled for decades with publicity, censorship, and social expectations around the sexual license of teenage girls by drawing on the history of adolescence and the context of female juvenile delinquency in the midcentury period. Up until the late 1950s, teen sex and pregnancy were exploited in exploitation and B movies, while mainstream Hollywood chose to ignore these issues. Instead, it struggled to promote teen girl stars by closely policing their private lives while depriving fan magazines of the rumors and scandals that typically fueled the star-making process. In the late 1950s, major melodramas started to reflect the growth of the sexually independent young girl and her image. young actresses like Sandra Dee and Natalie Wood helped to establish new, "post-delinquent" star ideals where "good girls" could nevertheless have sexual experiences. This new perception marked a significant shift from the widely held view that sexually active adolescent girls pose a fundamentally disruptive threat to the nuclear family. It also provided a liberal counterpoint to more traditional teen girl archetypes like Hayley Mills, which remained popular in culture.

Keywords : Censorship, Exploitation, Counterpoint.

Conference Date : 17/09/2021

Pages : 151

Paper ID : IESMDT149