"I'm gonna be a grown ass woman and
do my taxes for once. Without my mommy and daddy." In recent years,
we've seen the rise of the Woman-Child: the immature, messy,
totally un-put-together woman who just can’t seem to grow up. "And I’m sure your life is fun,
but it’s really just a series of wild shenanigans." We're well-acquainted with
the Man-Child, who’s been a comedic staple for decades. He’s the incorrigible slacker
who just wants to hang with his buddies -the permanent adolescent, "Dad, what are you doing? It’s Shark Week!" whose only goal is staving off
maturity for as long as possible. "I’m a stay-at-home son." But as with so many other things,
it’s different for women. Here are some common traits
of the Woman-Child onscreen: She has intense friendships that might
function as codependent partnerships. "I just wanna meet a guy that
I like as much as you, is that too much to ask for?" "Yes. Yes it is. I hate everyone but you." And if those friends outgrow her,
it can be devastating. "Sophie, I f[BLEEP]ing held your hand
when you cried. I bought special milk for you,
I know where you hide your pills, don’t treat me
like a three-hour brunch friend!" She has unstable romantic relationships
with guys who are noncommittal, "You slept over." "I did." "I thought we had a rule against that." unpredictable, "I like you so much;
I don’t know where you disappear to." and generally add more chaos
to her life rather than offering any solution to her woes. "It's Jess!" "That's why I need a new apartment" She’s probably coasting in her career,
working an unfulfilling job, failing to make headway
in her dream field, or plagued by indecisiveness
over how to improve her situation. "Ok, my cousin works at
a convalescent home in Yonkers, do you want me to see
if they need an extra hand?" "Yeah, no, I can't do that again,
I freak out old people, I remind them of 'Nam." Yet while she may not come off
as a go-getter, deep down she’s usually a dreamer, "Do you think that I think that
this is the best use of my literary voice and
my myriad talents?" harboring huge career ambitions,
that often find her just barely scraping by
in a big city she can’t really afford. There’s usually an undercurrent
of sadness to the woman-child. "I’m so embarrassed,
I’m not a real person yet." And while we comfortably laugh at
the man-child who's content to wallow in his behavior, many woman-children make audiences
feel uncomfortable to some degree. "It's really difficult
for me to be happy." So what is it about this character
that makes her more than just a gender-flipped play
on all those generations of man-boys? Here’s our take on the woman-child,
and how she's uniquely suited to capture some of the harsh, universal
truths about coming of age today. "What do you do?" "I...it's kind of hard to explain." "Because what you do is complicated?" "Uh, because I don't really do it." "You're watching
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Festival streaming anytime, anywhere. The seeds for the woman-child
were planted by women like "I Love Lucy’s" Lucy Ricardo,
who chafed against society’s expectations to be a
cookie-cutter wife and mother. "Lucy, are you going to fix
my breakfast or not? What do you want me to do,
starve to death?" "Would you please?" While she did have a husband and son,
the character floundered through a series of odd jobs,
chasing unrealistic dreams of stardom, ignoring her husband's orders, "Lucy!" and sharing everything
with her best friend, Ethel. In the ’60s and ’70s,
Lucy’s independence and gumption gave way to revolutionary single women
like "That Girl"’s Ann Marie and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"’s
Mary Richards. "You've got spunk!" These single ladies were defined
by ambition and professionalism more than their dating lives, "I've got an audition
for a Broadway show! this could really be
an important break for me" yet they were strong,
self-possessed women. "But the point is that
Rhoda’s my friend, and I can’t take all the credit
for the show!" And as the single woman became
a more common archetype, most took their cues
from the likes of Mary Richards: they were smart, capable,
professionals navigating love and career in their own ways. Looking back, though,
we can see some interesting precursors
to the Woman Child. "I was really going to be something
by the age of 23." Claudia Weill’s 1978 film "Girlfriends"
about two best friends living, working, and growing apart
in New York City offered an unusually candid look
at the lives of young, single women, without sentiment or compromise. "I had an abortion this morning. He doesn’t know,
I didn’t want to be talked out of it." This early exploration of
female young adulthood might now appear remarkably prescient
to fans of Broad City, Girls, or Frances Ha. "Just a couple of things I can't do
because I had an abortion yesterday." 90s movies gave us a
few memorable female lost souls who acknowledged the hard truths
of growing up— like Catherine Keener’s
Amelia in "Walking and Talking", "I wonder if I'll ever know
what it's like to not break up with someone." or Winona Ryder’s Lelaina
in "Reality Bites". "I'm not going to work at
The Gap for chrissake, okay?" On TV, exemplars for
the modern single lady like Ally McBeal and "Sex and the City"’s
Carrie Bradshaw were floundering in their love lives
and didn’t always make good decisions. "I spent $40,000 on shoes
and I have no place to live?" Yet while Ally and Carrie
might not have it all together, their glamorous lifestyles and
professional success were still aspirational. Early 2000s woman-child precursors,
like youthful mom Lorelai Gilmore, were a little more down-to-earth. "I’m a grown woman." "Says the woman with
a Hello Kitty waffle iron." "30 Rock"’s Liz Lemon took
the "Mary Tyler Moore" model of the spunky single career gal, [Music] "Who’s that? A-kickin’ it down the street?" but stripped away the glamour. "I ate a Three Musketeers bar
for breakfast this morning, and this bra is
held together with tape." Meanwhile, from the 90s into 2000s,
the man-child movie became the dominant comedy form,
thanks to actors like Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler,
and Seth Rogen, and directors like Todd Phillips
and Judd Apatow. "WHAT?!" "Did we just become best friends?!" "YUP!" "Do you want to go do karate
in the garage?" "YUP!" In these stories,
the men could be endlessly slovenly and childish while
still retaining audience sympathy, but the female characters around them
were expected to whip them into shape. "Owww, you’re tearing my ear off!" So this raised the question,
would audiences want to watch a woman who was just as much of a juvenile mess? Given the man-child’s
box office success, it was perhaps inevitable that
sooner or later this winning formula would be applied to women. In 2011, the Apatow-produced
"Bridesmaids" marked a cultural turning point
for stories about women whose development was
just as arrested as the boys'. "I’m telling you,
hitting bottom is a good thing because…" "There’s nowhere to go but up!" -"Yup"
-"Right" Before long, the "women behaving badly"
comedy became a thriving genre all on its own,
in the movies and on TV. "Your twenties are
for wild shenanigans." "But aren’t you 30?" These "woman child" stories
can differ a lot from their male counterparts, though. This female protagonist
isn’t always crude or cartoonish— the humor of her story
may be understated, and likely complemented by
darker, dramatic questions about why she’s failing to grow up. "If things were just a little bit
more hospitable down south in my broken body,
Buddy and I would be here right now with a teenager,
and probably even more kids!" And while the man-child tends
to be loved or tolerated by the people around him in his story, the woman-child is often viewed with
more suspicion, confusion, and discomfort in her world. "I love the way the two of you
aren’t embarrassed about where you are in life." "Thank you." The dominant theme of
the woman-child’s story is uncertainty, "I don’t know what
to do with my future." something a movie like Frances Ha
acknowledges can be both thrilling, and depressing. "I kinda thought that
we were gonna renew our lease." "Yeah, but
we never talked about it." Much as Lucy Ricardo first flouted
the ideal of the perfect housewife, today’s woman-child is a rejection of
those same expectations for women to "have it all". "Is this what
you always wanted to do?" "Uh...no, but I got this job
right after college and it fit my interest at the time..." But what makes her experience
so distinct from the man-child, and why are they
often received so differently? The man-child is in part defined by
his fun "bromances." But the woman-child’s emphasis
on friendships is almost always taken to an extreme where they’re central
to her identity and daily life. "We are like a lesbian couple
that doesn't have sex anymore." The lead characters of Frances Ha,
Bridesmaids, Life Partners, and more are devastated by the idea of
being left behind by their best friends. "I’m sorry. Too mature for this now
that you have a boyfriend?" while shows like Broad City and Girls
derive most of their comedy—and drama— from this at-times inspirational and
at-times unhealthy form of codependence. "Do you want me to facetime
from the bathroom?" "Yeah" The woman-child’s story often plays out
against the backdrop of a big city, and she’s uniquely characterized by an
intense relationship with her setting. "You are from New York, therefore you are just
naturally interesting."" Many of our most famous
man-child stories tend to take place in a generic suburban sprawl,
highlighting the characters’ comfortable rut. But the woman-child struggles
in places like Los Angeles or New York City. "I don’t have a doctor here!" "You don’t have a doctor?" "No one in the city does,
it’s a cesspool." Her setting is a metaphor for
her outsized ambitions. "We are gonna take over the world." "You'll be this awesomely bitchy
publishing mogul." "And you'll be this
famous modern dancer..." while single-minded drive was a virtue
in her old-school predecessors, the woman-child’s choice to pursue
her possibly unrealistic dreams is often seen as another facet
of her refusal to grow up. "We can't keep bankrolling
your groovy lifestyle." "My "groovy" lifestyle?" While the man-child is often transformed
by meeting the right woman, finding a guy is rarely the solution
to the woman-child’s problems. "EH!" This difference reflects
an implicit double standard: For the man-child,
falling in love is "settling down," ending his wild bachelor days
by finding a woman who can replace his mother and
take care of him. But as usual,
we expect more from female characters- before she can be ready
for a happy home life, first the woman-child has to learn
to take care of herself. "It was about you taking
responsibility for yourself. "I know." Audiences seem expect more
from woman-child stories, too, when it comes to depth and nuance in
the exploration of arrested development. "This life will end and
it's the secret world that exists right there in public, unnoticed,
that no one else knows about." As Bridemaids’ director Paul Feig
told The Huffington Post, one of their big concerns with Annie
was whether audiences can find messy, directionless female characters
sufficiently likable. He noted that traditionally it’s easier
for male characters to get away with not having redeeming characteristics
because our culture assumes that being out of control is
"just what they do." The likability concern is why
Bridesmaids spends so much time on Annie’s crushed dreams to open a bakery. "You know what you should be doing? Setting up a new bakery." "No, i’m kind of done with that." She’s a driven person
who’s lost her way, these scenes tell us,
not just an aimless slacker- which would be alright for
the man-child but might make the woman-child too unappealing. The alternative to working hard
to make the woman-child sympathetic is a story like Young Adult,
which peers bluntly into the dark side of failing to grow up. "She feels sorry for you. We all do, Mavis. It's obvious you're having
some mental sickness, some depression." Mavis Gary’s narcissistic worship
of her own superficial beauty, her obsession with her lost youth,
and her constant reality-TV show binging reflect a larger culture
with infantile values. "You knew me when I was in my best." You weren't at your best then, Mavis." The man-child movie has been criticized
for glorifying regression and justifying the idea of men
indefinitely delaying adulthood. While the millions of adults
aged 25 to 34 who currently still live with their parents can be blamed on
lots of factors like a lack of jobs and rising house prices,
these critics suggest that the man-child fantasy allows
male viewers to revel in immaturity. "Mother, Oreo smoothie, now!" But the woman-child does a better job
of putting that delay in its proper sociological context. Today, many women are less focused on
marriage, family, and other so-called “traditional” values, and they’re well aware
that these things don’t provide the guaranteed stability
they once promised. In many ways,
what can be seen as a refusal to grow up is really
their prioritizing desires that previous generations of women
were just expected to ignore. "It's like it's my rotation,
I make the rules. So when I call you,
bring over the sh[bleep]!" Chasing dream careers,
shunning committed relationships, living in cities
that are too expensive for them— these hallmarks of the "woman-child"
have long been romanticized as the norm for ambitious men. The woman-child may be judged
by her peers (or her viewers) for being impractical- "Y'know, you're really working at it
and I really admire that effort to do something that is not, maybe,
the most natural to you." for not wanting to "settle" or being slow to "settle down." "This is my husband,
you don’t have a husband." But in real life, it’s not easy
to tell the difference between being “realistic” and giving up,
between being starry-eyed and having a worthy goal. How high is too high to aim,
and is it so unusual to fail, struggle, or take your time? When woman-child eventually
does get around to her growing up, it most often involves self-acceptance
and letting go of internalized self-loathing. She learns to take steps,
toward some kind of contentment. "It's a huge accomplishment. It's a huge piece." "Thank you. Yeah, I-I know. It's a lot of people." She forges newer,
healthier relationships with her friends—even if that means
letting go a little. "Me and you, we’re still going
to be us, no matter what. Even if we’re in different cities,
that’s never going to change." Her maturation story is a more nuanced,
realistic take on growing up than the umpteenth story of
the slacker who finds a good woman, or gets a high-paying job. The woman-child can be
every bit as fun as the man-child. "I’m ready to partyyyyy!" and just as frustrating . "Look at your room,
it’s such a mess! "No it's not, it's not that bad." "It’s like a possum lives here!" but more than anything, she is REAL. This character does something important
by normalizing the idea that women, like all human beings,
don’t always have their lives together. "I’m a doctor. I do jujitsu, I have hobbies, and you...you just don’t really feel
like an adult yet." When it comes to being lazy,
irresponsible, having crazy pipe dreams, or wanting nothing more than
to have fun with your friends, why should men get to have all the fun? "I like things that look like mistakes." If you're new here,
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