This is partly to do with the low budget and the need to film in some very tight spaces, such as the bathroom of a real house (as opposed to a set). The chicken coop just happened to be there, but they decided chickens would fit Mel’s character as she is super thrifty. This is indicative of how Mel feels about her daughter. In the story, Mel has given the best room to her daughter and kept the room with the crappy wooden panelling for herself. Holly Hunter was surprised that the water really runs, because she was more used to sets and props. Mel’s house is a real house which Hardwicke rented for the duration of shooting. Though this story could have been set in any small town in the Western world, by making these girls so proximal to all that glitters, the effect of the media on how they behave is crystal clear. The media influences the kids – there are glossed over eyes watching the kids, from the posters on the walls. Hollywood is the epicentre of image over substance. Hollywood is a great place to set a story like this. The many outdoor school scenes were shot at Portola Middle School in Tarzana, most of them on a single Saturday in searing heat. The Freeland home scenes were shot at a rented house in the San Fernando Valley. Most of the scenes were filmed on location, with some on Melrose Avenue, Hollywood Boulevard, Venice Beach. The story is set basically where it is shot - inevitably, since these are landmark places: The torment of keeping up this facade of rebel has passed. In the outtake scene we see Tracy on a roundabout (a regression to childhood), emitting a primal scream. While this portrait of her is not quite right either, it is in this scene that Tracy’s mother finally gets the full picture regarding what’s been going on with her daughter. After rejection from Tracy’s mother, Evie Zamora outs Tracy to everyone as a thief, self-harmer, drug abuser and all-round evil person. In this case it’s the coming off of the mask. Therefore the ‘big struggle sequence’ needs something extra. How does Hardwicke wrap up this story? It’s a story chock full of conflict - arguments with Tracy’s mother, father, brother, teacher and former best friends. For much of the movie, Tracy Freeland is acting as a pseudo-adult, ditching her mother who she still needs very much in favour of a girl who has not been so well protected from the world. But the structure involves the coming off of a mask,which makes the structure similar to transgression comedies and also noir thrillers. Thirteen is not a thriller - it is a straight drama. They possibly got as many ‘giggles’ as they would have had they produced an actual comedy. The actors say that in the theatre at the Sundance screening they heard uncomfortable giggles throughout the film, especially at times of high intensity. Stories can leap from one genre to another. So there’s an interesting insight into how much a story can change between conception and final draft. Hardwicke first intended to write comedy, but soon realised after talking with Nikki that she couldn’t make a single thing up more interesting than what was going on in teenage girls’ real lives, so the film turned into a harrowing drama. Sometimes I wonder if thirteen is considered unlucky because being thirteen-years-old is so hard.Ī thirteen-year-old girl’s relationship with her mother is put to the test as she discovers drugs, sex, and petty crime in the company of her cool but troubled best friend. An example of “Riot Grrrl feminism”, at its height when this film was made. Better they process it from the other side of a screen. This is why young women should see this film. Better she learn some basic lessons now, while her mother is there to protect her somewhat. As Rachel Simmons writes in her book Odd Girl Out (published around the time this film came out), a relationship dynamic like Tracy and Evie’s is preparingTracy for relationship abuse later, when she gets into a romantic relationship. Not all teenage girls get into one of these relationships, but many do. The intense relationship between Evie and Tracy, one built on dominance as much as it is built on love, is highly recognisable. This is realism for many adolescent girls. This is definitely a film that needs to be watched with parental commentary, but it should be watched anyhow. I taught girls who idolised the young heroes in this story, and one who had been burning herself with cigarettes hoping to ‘be just like’ Tracy. Film Inquiry Roundtable Videocast #3: Defending Panned Movies & TVĪt the time this film came out I was teaching at a girls’ high school and this film impressed me for its realism.
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