Read on Twitter
Today in 1983 Valley Girl opened in 443 cinemas across the USA. So, let's talk about why it's special...
Although aesthetically, plot and location-wise Valley Girl appears to be almost uniformly the same as any other teen romantic comedies of the 80s’, à la Hughes’ output for example, I believe that Coolidge’s handling of location, class and sex sets it apart.
Specifically, I believe that Valley Girl knowingly plays with established troupes of teen romcoms, and did so in a way that forever changed the canon of the genre. Valley Girl, for me, is a perfect feminist film.
Firstly, locations. Valley Girl pulls on Marc Auge's concept of 'non-places', as described by Michel de Certeau in relation to suburbs on films, relying on viewers repeated exposure to the genres high schools, American suburbian homes and malls, making them devoid of meaning
It's worth noting however that these devoid spaces, or 'non-places', are then filled with juxtapositions; the business-owning hippies, the school with no classrooms. The only space not devoid of meaning (bar 'The Central' club) is the bedrooms of teen girls.
Julie's bedroom, decorated in pink and cuddly toys, a bridge between childhood and her blossoming adulthood, transforms as the film's tensions develop. Beginning as a social hub and ending up as isolation chamber.
A fun motif to note is the use of landlines, another recognisable staple of teen romcoms, which are often the 'The Princess Phone' or a competitors copycat model which was directly advertised to teen girls and sustained its popularity as a top Xmas gift from the 60s' -80s'
The tension in Valley Girl is built on class, and is fundamentally about class bias but unlike other films in the genre, in particular Hughes', class becomes a notable binary, not simply flattened out.
Although Atlantic Rising required four 'skin scenes', the films overall handling of these, and of sex in general, is also important. Often the teen genre handles sex and love hand-in-hand, Hughes' oeuvre favouring sex as a symptom of love, with the inverse true in sex comedies.
I won't breakdown all 4 'skin scenes', which the distribution company wanted to appeal to young men, but I will touch on the first which focuses of Julie's ex, Tommy, and Julie's friend, Loryn. Whilst making-out a topless Loryn asks if this makes Tommy and her an item.
Tommy aggressively rejects her because of this, revealing intensely the world in which Julie lives. Loryn has no concern about sexually engaging with Tommy, she would happily date Tommy for social status regardless of her friend. But the film does not demonise Loryn for this.
Although Julie does not engage in sex, nor seem to express much desire to do so, her peers (and even her peers step-mom) have sex simply for pleasure and desire - outwith a context of romantic entanglements. Notably Randy and his ex-gf, an act that has no in film consequences.
I say 'no in film consequences' because I don't think the ending of Valley Girl is an end, especially not a happy one. Not because of Randy's actions, maybe not because of anything that happens in the film. Valley Girl is a romantic comedy that ends in neither love nor laughs.
And here's some fun Valley Girl things I have! A West Germany cinema lobby/sales brochure, 'Das Mädchen und der heiße Typ', and @SightSoundmag from Autumn 1983 with feature article.
