Potential: Ariel Schrag Contests (Hetero-)Normative Girlhood

Abstract

Using the medium of graphic memoir, 17-year-old Ariel Schrag brings to life an alternative to heteronormative mainstream representations of girlhood, and in self-publishing at such a young age, she also takes charge of her own representation and the circulation of that representation as a teenage girl. With an emphasis on the enabling formal characteristics of comics medium, I consider how the young author addresses the representation of her girlhood sexuality in light of theories of girlhood and girls' media-making practices. Specifically, I position Potential as “risk-taking self-representation” that creates space for marginal girlhoods to be articulated and explored via the “inventive textual practice” of comics (Chute 26) by articulating a lesbian identity in the symbolic and protected spaces of adolescent rites of passage. Drawing on Judith Halberstam's The Queer Art of Failure, I explore how representations of failure in Schrag's depictions of prom work to open up alternative possibilities for adolescent femininity and sexuality.

Keywords:

• comics
• graphic novel
• Ariel Schrag
• autobiography
• failure
• girlhood

Notes

1. Schrag self published her first autobiographical comic book Awkward at the age of 15. In 1997, the book was published by independent comics publisher Slave Labor Graphics, who also published her subsequent high school comic memoirs. In 2008 and 2009, the books were reprinted by Touchstone/Simon & Schuster. Under Touchstone, the two first books Awkward and Definition, which are much shorter than the final two works, were published as one book. So although Schrag's Comic Chronicles is a four-part series, the most recent form appears as three books.

2. It is ironic to note that the indie music scene became so popular that during the 1990s it became a part of mainstream pop music in the UK, and more commonly known as “alternative” music in the USA (Hesmondhalgh 1).

3. A US remake of Skins in 2011 followed the success of the original series, indicating a recognition of the demand for complex and controversial – often referred to as “gritty” and “real” – representations of youth for which Skins is celebrated (see Stelter 2010).

4. Not only are lesbian subjectivities made invisible in prom narratives, lesbian girls are also denied a place at prom by schools that police the dominance of heterosexuality via the school dance. A case in point as recently as 2010 is the Mississippi school that cancelled their senior prom rather than allowing student Constance McMillen to attend in a tuxedo with her girlfriend as her date. McMillen successfully sued the school with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union and her story was reported in mainstream news media. McMillen also appeared on The Ellen Show where Ellen DeGeneres encouraged public support of the teenager (see Adams 2012).

5. Prom is often described expectantly by teenagers as the “best night of my life,” or “the most important night” (See Best 2004). This disproportionate importance is also reflected in Schrag's text when she describes prom as “the embodiment” of teenage mythology (180).