"Something's Wrong, Like More Than You Being Female": Transgressive Sexuality and Discourses of Reproduction in Ginger Snaps

Abstract

Ginger Snaps (John Fawcett, 2000) challenges genre conventions by reinventing canonical "body" horror texts such as Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942), The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973), The Fly (David Cronenberg, 1986) and Rosemary's Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968). By centering its story on the complex relationship between two sisters, Ginger Snaps represents the contradictory experiences of adolescent sexuality. Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald (Katharine Isabel and Emily Perkins) are considered outsiders at their suburban high school, however when Ginger, the eldest of the sisters, begins menstruating for the first time she attracts the attention of her male classmates. This disgusts Brigitte and represents Ginger's entry into a sexualized world the two had previously vowed to never become part of. Although popular culture often depicts young girls as "fragile" and "dependant" during introductory sexual encounters, Ginger behaves increasingly aggressively. Once she is bitten by a werewolf and begins menstruating, Ginger starts to actively and violently seek sexual gratification. In this manner, Ginger Snaps reinvents filmic depictions of female sexuality and could therefore be read as a transgressive moment in cinemas of "girlhood". However, like the eponymous protagonist in Carrie (Brian de Palma, 1976), Ginger is also a "monster" spreading "infection" and audiences are increasingly invited to identify with Brigitte's disapproval of Ginger's behavior. Furthermore, Brigitte comes to feel that Ginger is abandoning her by placing heterosexual relationships before the sisterly bond that they had taken pleasure in sharing as children. By simultaneously privileging female friendships and suggesting that a young woman invites retribution by refusing to act within culturally prescribed gender roles, Ginger Snaps perpetuates conflicting representations of adolescent "femininity."