New review: Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

A film which flirts with issues such as body image, but models a disappointingly passive approach to relationships for teenage girls and reinforces stereotypes, argues Carina Schneider

Why of all films in the world would I choose to see this one in the first place? To be honest, it wasn’t really a matter of choice, but a busload full of 14-year-old girls begging for it to be shown on a trip abroad. The film seemed suspect from the start, but my colleague assured me it was “actually quite cute”. I decided to give it a go just to see what ‘today’s youth’ was into, and ended by trying to tell my pupils that love-interest Robbie was a selfish coward (to no avail).

The film starts off promising – the lead character, Georgia, is attending a fancy dress party in a self-made stuffed olive costume, instead of the sexualised/infantilised staples normally worn at these occasions – only to find that her best friends have given in to the pressure and turned up as an angel, a devil and a fairy princess. She leaves, distraught and embarrassed, to throw a teenage temper-tantrum in front of her bewildered parents at home.

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