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Start Date
23-6-2022 12:00 AM
End Date
23-6-2022 12:00 AM
Abstract
Drawing on and extending Annita Harris’ (2004) canonical work surrounding at-risk and can-do girlhood, this article examines a mediated girlhood, which does not conform to either side of the binary. Set against the backdrop of girlhood studies, Latina/o/x studies, and media studies, we analyze flashback scenes in Jane The Virgin (2014-2019), to understand the layered version of Latina girlhood present through the character of young Jane within all five seasons of the series. Guided by an intersectional Latina Girls’ Media Studies perspective, we focus on Jane’s transition from pre-tween to tween to teenager against the backdrop of the entire series. If, as girlhood studies scholars have previously argued, girls’ bodies stand in for larger cultural and social anxieties (Harris, 2004; Mazzarella, 2020; McRobbie, 1991; Projansky, 2014), the character of young Jane is representative of larger discourses during the time the series aired. Ultimately, it is the citizenship discourses, which allow young girl Jane to straddle the categories of at-risk and can-do girlhood. These discourses make Jane the center of JTV’s moral universe and Latina citizenship. We draw on Amaya (2013), Caron (2011), and Miyasawa (2017) to argue that various flashback scenes position young Jane navigating cultural anxieties tied to the regulation of girls’ bodies and sexual citizenship, her grandmother’s political citizenship deficit, and cultural production/practices of citizenship.
Young Jane as Citizen-In-Transition: Analyzing Girlhood and Citizenship in Jane The Virgin
Drawing on and extending Annita Harris’ (2004) canonical work surrounding at-risk and can-do girlhood, this article examines a mediated girlhood, which does not conform to either side of the binary. Set against the backdrop of girlhood studies, Latina/o/x studies, and media studies, we analyze flashback scenes in Jane The Virgin (2014-2019), to understand the layered version of Latina girlhood present through the character of young Jane within all five seasons of the series. Guided by an intersectional Latina Girls’ Media Studies perspective, we focus on Jane’s transition from pre-tween to tween to teenager against the backdrop of the entire series. If, as girlhood studies scholars have previously argued, girls’ bodies stand in for larger cultural and social anxieties (Harris, 2004; Mazzarella, 2020; McRobbie, 1991; Projansky, 2014), the character of young Jane is representative of larger discourses during the time the series aired. Ultimately, it is the citizenship discourses, which allow young girl Jane to straddle the categories of at-risk and can-do girlhood. These discourses make Jane the center of JTV’s moral universe and Latina citizenship. We draw on Amaya (2013), Caron (2011), and Miyasawa (2017) to argue that various flashback scenes position young Jane navigating cultural anxieties tied to the regulation of girls’ bodies and sexual citizenship, her grandmother’s political citizenship deficit, and cultural production/practices of citizenship.
Bio
Litzy Galarza
lgalarza1@una.edu
Dr. Litzy Galarza (PhD, Pennsylvania State University) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research and teaching interests are in critical and cultural studies of media, Latinx studies, and citizenship studies. Her work addresses Latinx representation and labor in the cultural industries.
Diana Leon-Boys
dleonboys@usf.edu
Dr. Diana Leon-Boys (PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of South Florida. Her research and teaching interests are in critical media and cultural studies, Latinx studies, and girlhood studies. Her work focuses on the representation of girls of color in a post-network digital era against the backdrop of contemporary post-feminism and neoliberal frameworks.