How To Build A Girl Book Review

Caitlin Moran's book How To Build A Girl is a fantastic story. It is set in the early 1990s and starts out with our main character, the wildly ambitious Johanna Morrigan, living in a cramped council flat with her family. 

Johanna is extremely frustrated and dissatisfied with her life and also herself, so much so that she decides to reinvent herself as her confident alter-ego Dolly Wilde. This is where the title of the novel comes into play. In the process of dismantling Johanna Morrigan and building Dolly Wilde in her place, she is quite literally building herself as the kind of girl she aspires to be, and whom it may just be possible to become. Her reinvented self is crazy and cool and charismatic. We watch as Johanna Morrigan's Dolly Wilde's appetite for excitement and adventure gradually grows more and more until eventually she leaves her family, becomes a music journalist and travels down to London. 

It is in London where Dolly is met with a barrage of new experiences. She is suddenly thrust into the male-orientated world of music journalism where she is the only female who works at the magazine that she writes for, and also the youngest person there by far. Due to this, she is incredibly vulnerable and also thrown into the deep end of a life that she has no idea how to live. Inevitably, this sends our protagonist headfirst into some excruciatingly embarrassing (yet equally hilarious) moments. However, despite the humiliation-inducing experiences that she faces, Johanna still remains a very strong character in terms of her (unwavering) confidence. 

It's an indelible fact that some of the people she works with do take advantage of Johanna. Perhaps she is a target because she is female in an invariably male-dominated industry, perhaps it's because of her young age or perhaps it's due to her general naivety towards adult life. Likely, these are all factors that contribute towards how she is manipulated by some of her work colleagues. There's also the possibility that her working class roots led others around her to wrongfully see her as an easy target. 

Talking of working class roots, there is a massive clash between her old life in Wolverhampton and her new life in London. Her work colleagues don't necessarily realise the divide between these two chapters in her life, especially as a lot of them come from privileged backgrounds. Back home her family is on benefits. There is a section at the start of the novel in particular where she goes to the library and can't afford to borrow a CD for 20p. It contrasts so vividly with her life in London where no one really knows what her normal is, or how she is used to living. 

Johanna decides that the best way to fit in with her new surroundings and peers is to maintain the 'Dolly Wilde' façade... so she continues adding things to the story and persona of Dolly Wilde, moulding what is essentially a made-up character to fit what everyone else thinks she should be, and running further and further away from her true self. 

It's not that she's ashamed of her background, more just that she was so frustrated by that life that she wants to shed all of it and be this wondrous, awe-inspiring woman that everyone likes and whose name is Dolly. In order to achieve this, she has to test the waters to see what people like and what people don't like. So she says things, and depending on people's reactions, she decides if that's the type of thing Dolly should keep on saying or not. She has to do all this research to decide how she should build this new, improved, more exciting version of herself. It's not until the end of the book that she realises that she doesn't need to reinvent herself. She doesn't need to change how she is to fit in. She can just be Johanna Morrigan- an important reminder to be yourself, even when the temptation is to do the opposite. 

This book captures the feeling of teenage frustration- feeling trapped somewhere and wanting to escape but not quite knowing how to- so well. There is a lot of 90's music and pop culture references that I didn't always understand, but overall this didn't hold the story back, because the emotional themes within the book (which explore what it is to discover who you are as a person and who you want to be) were so engaging, that it balanced out the sections that the barrier of age prevented me from understanding. 

By Frances Hudson

How John Green Subverts The 'Manic Pixie Dream Girl' Trope In 'Looking For Alaska'

I recently read the book 'Looking For Alaska' by John Green and i'm currently working my way through the TV series. 

For those who don't know, John Green has a reputation for writing a certain kind of book, or at least writing characters in a certain type of way. According to popular belief, the majority of his novels seem to follow a certain trajectory which goes something along the lines of this: hapless, nerdy, teenage boy experiencing issues at school or with his love life- or just having major philosophical and existential troubles in general- saved by adorable, quirky girl who is not even much of a character, just more of a plot point to further the story of the aforementioned boy character's growth. What people often don't mention is that although Green does conform to this trope of the notorious 'manic pixie dream girl', he also subverts the trope in such a way that demonstrates how harmful it is to view people as nothing more than two-dimensional characters only there for the benefit and growth of other characters. 

Green's debut novel, 'Looking For Alaska' is no exception to the stereotypical formula of the 'manic pixie dream girl' and the 'teenage boy in the throes of an existential crisis' that has come to be associated with his work. The book follows the story of Miles Halter (otherwise known as 'Pudge') who leaves his regular life to go to boarding school. It is there where he meets a whole range of new people including- most pertinently, as the novel's title would suggest- Alaska Young, who is a 'manic pixie dream girl'. The difference between this manic pixie dream girl compared to others is that Green does seem to be aware that he is portraying Alaska as a manic pixie dream girl and seeing as the novel is written from the perspective of Miles who is arguably quite selfish, it does make sense to portray her with the idea that she is just a girl to fall in love with, rather than a fully-fleshed out person with her own hopes and dreams, as that is how Miles would see her. Besides, perhaps it's a bit too harsh of me to suggest that Alaska is not a full-fleshed out character. She is, and actually there are some interesting aspects of her backstory that we learn about her, such as her Mother's death when she was a child and how she blames herself for it, which have clearly shaped her as a person. It's just that there is less of a focus on her character as an individual and more as an idea, or even as a fantasy that Miles has created. And I think that this is the point. She is obviously meant to be mysterious- that in itself is suggested by the title: 'Looking For Alaska'... She is an enigma which can't be found. This all adds to her allure and feeds into her 'manic pixie dream girl' status. 

In terms of the novel structure, the book is split into two sections: 'Before' and 'After'. Of course, when you're reading the story it's unclear as to what the 'Before' and 'After' is referring to but you are aware that you are counting down towards something as each chapter is titled with however may days before and after the 'event' it is. I think this is a really clever idea because the 'Before' section builds suspense and tension as to what the 'event' is, and the 'After' section shows you how Mile's mindset changes the further away from the event he gets and the more closure he receives. As for the event itself, I found it totally shocking. Whilst you presume that the event has something to do with Alaska, seeing as that is the title, her death still came as an absolute surprise to me. And the unexpectedness of it, made me relate to the characters so much more who were also dealing with the shock of her sudden death. 

The ambiguity over Alaska's death- whether it was an accident or suicide- is what the 'after' section focuses on. We see how the characters,  particularly Miles- come to terms with her death, what it means to them and we also watch them attempt to unfold the mystery of if she killed herself/why she killed herself. Her death acts as a major plot point in the novel which prompts a lot of character growth from Miles, who essentially gets to live with the deluded idea he had of her- that she was perfect and only had feelings for him regardless of her long-distance boyfriend. Her death means that she isn't there to either deny or confirm Mile's presumptions and so he can believe in the flawless version of Alaska that exists in his head, all he wants. This enforces the manic pixie dream girl concept. Even though it is a main part of the story, it does perhaps feels slightly wrong that Alaska's death happens primarily so that Miles can grow as a character. But this again is the point, as it forces Miles to realise that Alaska was just a normal girl and not this amazing, perfect person he had built up in his head. Even the other characters in the book acknowledge that Miles' view of Alaska was distorted.    

Essentially, the 'manic pixie dream girl' trope is not necessarily a bad thing if it is used to teach a lesson about how we think of/view other people, and I think that this is how Green intends to use the trope. Whether or not he is successful in this is down to personal opinion. It's important to point out that Green is not the only purveyor of this trope. The whole concept of the 'manic pixie dream girl' (as described earlier) is rife in multiple forms of media and there are abundant forms of this genre of character through out much young adult literature. Whilst this is the point, there is often no real reason for it, whereas I think Green manages to utilise the trope in a way that shows why it is harmful.

The end of the novel is quite emotional and I think it does subvert the 'manic pixie dream girl' trope in a positive way as Miles comes to realise that his image of Alaska was not necessarily true and that her vulnerability and delicate nature- something he had attributed as aspects of her beauty- were what led to her tragic end. John Green builds a manic pixie dream girl and then takes her apart, showing why it is a harmful way to view women, like he does in other novels of his, such as 'Paper Towns'- one of my favourite novels. And 'Looking For Alaska' is a fantastic novel as a result, and one that I would thoroughly recommend.  

By Frances Hudson 

The Strawberry Dress

The dress is infamous. From the legions of Instagram posts and viral memes the aptly-termed 'strawberry dress' from Lirika Matoshi has been enjoying wild popularity. As far as trends go, the strawberry dress won't be the first, nor will it be the last item of clothing to generate such a frenzy. Yet, somehow, this strawberry-sequinned, pink tulle dress does feel different to other buzz garments that have briefly taken over the internet and our brains. Trends always come and go, that's just the way fashion works. As the revered Heidi Klum points out, when it comes to fashion "One day, you're in and the next, you're out". But not many trends culminate in the midst of a global pandemic. The general question: 'how do items of clothing skyrocket to such intense levels of fame?' is a difficult one to answer. But add to that the complications of a global pandemic and you have the origin story of the strawberry dress's popularity. 

The pandemic didn't completely halt the fashion industry. Yes, fashion has had to adapt. It's undoubtedly different to how things were before the Coronavirus pandemic, but the show must go on- and this is a sentiment that fashion has adopted, creating new, innovative ways to work under the conditions that 2020 threw at the world. From showcasing new clothing collections digitally to magazines shooting editorial images and lookbooks over Zoom, fashion is not stopping. It's the same for trends. Although the pace of trends has perhaps slowed down (which can only be a good thing in environmental terms), they are still very much thriving. In fact, most trends have centred around the world's current pandemic state. The start of 2020 saw a 49% spike in sales of loungewear, according to FashionUnited UK, in accordance with the fact that lockdown left the majority of people not allowed to leave the house, even to go to work. Working from home suddenly afforded us the opportunity to ditch our more formal 'outside' clothes for more comfy 'indoor' clothes. 

However, the strawberry dress broke this pattern. The dress can most certainly not be considered as loungewear and errs far more on the side of chic sophistication than the casual nature of other lockdown trends. It's more appropriate for parties, or even red carpet events as model Tess Holliday proved at the 2020 Grammys in January. So why did this dress become so popular in a time where the majority of clothes people were buying, and indeed wearing, were primarily concerned with comfort over chicness (sweat pants, hoodies and the like)? There may not be an exact answer, but the likely truth is that the strawberry dress acted as an escape from the gloom reality of the pandemic. There's nothing wrong with loungewear, in fact sometimes leisurewear can be preferred to the effort of other, more 'presentable' outfits, but when loungewear became all we wore, we needed to find a way to escape the boredom and tedium of the monotonous pattern of our days. The strawberry dress offers that. 

The dress also reminds us of a time before Covid where we had reasons (or could, at least, find reasons) to get all dressed up and go to places- a concept which currently feels contrastingly alien. Now, if we want to get dressed up it's usually just for the sake of it and the only events scheduled in our diaries are all either on Zoom or non-existent. Whilst it's sometimes just fun to get dressed up for no inherent reason, there is a certain thrill to make-up and fashion when we know that we have somewhere exciting to go, and this experience has not been afforded during lockdown. The strawberry dress however, is so mesmerisingly fairy-tale and princess-like that it allows the wearer to step outside of the stark reality the world is presently facing and rather creates the illusion of being the kind of dress one would wear to a party, even though that is abundantly not the case at the moment as parties are not currently allowed. Still though, the strawberry dress achieves in manifesting this sense of joy and glee that has been mainly lacking during these unprecedented times, in a way that not many other clothes have managed to do. The elegance and opulence that comes with the dress has provided us a welcome break from wearing lazy tracksuit bottoms and mismatched hoodies all the time. Perhaps this is why the strawberry dress has cemented itself as such a wildly popular garment.   

By Frances Hudson

Golden Globes Controversy

The Golden Globes are meant to be a celebration of all the good that has gone on in the film industry over the last year, rewarding and shining light on the best television and films that have alighted our screens, dishing out accolades to everyone who deserves it in the film industry. For the most part, the Golden Globes  achieve this, despite the obvious difficulty of clashing opinions. Awards ceremonies are essentially just a jumbled up assessment of peoples' attitudes- good or bad- towards everything in film over the last year with the final nominations, winners and losers decided by a select few. Inevitably, there will always be some disagreement regarding decisions made by the Golden Globes because opinions are subjective, and what makes a show/film good or bad relies on personal preference. Just because a certain film received a certain award, it does not guarantee that everyone will like it. Some controversy will always ensue over which show/film was or wasn't nominated and which show/film should have won. It is perhaps understandable given the dubious nature of past decisions that the Golden Globes have made, such as the 2020 scandal where no female directors were acknowledged despite it being a year where many female-directed films met major critical and commercial success. There's also the fact that some of today's most classic films, that have stood the test of time, lost out at the Golden Globes when they were first released. It proves that these award ceremonies should not be treated as shiny highlight reels detailing what to watch or not to watch from the past year.  Many of the winners, it would appear, only win based on shallow merits of fashion or politics, a clear example of which is this year's omission of Micheala Coel's fantastic television show I May Destroy You in favour of Emily In Paris. 

It has proved a sizeable mistake, evidenced by the outrage and backlash the Golden Globes has consequently found itself the recipient of. Even one of the Emily In Paris writers has come forward to say that it seemed wrong that I May Destroy You didn't feature in Golden Globes nominations whereas Emily In Paris did. Perhaps the Golden Globe's strange decision to exclude Micheala Coel's amazing television drama 'I may destroy you' in favour of the light-hearted, heavily ridiculed Netflix series 'Emily in Paris' is a reflection of the intensely strange last year we've had, a testament to the tumultuous experience the world has faced. But frankly, it just seems wrong that the groundbreaking I may destroy you has not been nominated at all, whilst Emily In Paris has. It's not that Emily in Paris is a bad show. In fact, it provided many some light-hearted relief in these dark times and it should be recognised for that. But I May Destroy You is a serious masterpiece that undoubtedly deserves recognition and that shines a light on important topics. Not being nominated for a Golden Globe doesn't lessen the show's impact or Coel's brilliance at all, it just showcases the ludicrous absurdity of the Golden Globes. 

In more positive news, this year the Golden Globes nominated three female directors- a substantial improvement on last year. Out of the 78 years the Golden Globes has only ever nominated 5 female directors, so at least the awards are improving in respects of diversity which suggests hope for the future.     

 By Frances Hudson 

What Is Culture?

The word is bandied about,

Stuck on white walls in galleries under colossal paintings.

Hiding in the small print of those tiny, shiny placards,

Those work of art descriptions,

rolling off the tongue of supposed intellectuals constantly as they nod their heads vehemently,

Agreeing with the inscriptions,

Clutching delicate wine glasses whilst hands gesticulate wildly and red-wine stained lips articulate mildly: “Yes, it’s a cultural phenomenon”

“Cultural masterpiece”

“Very cultural”

“Yes, it really showcases the artist’s cultural identity”

“Culture”, ”culture”, ”culture”.

When all the quotes on the back of classic novels and popular contemporary literature consist of “cultural masterpiece” or “pioneer of culture”,

When the world seems to revolve around celebrities spouting stupidity to spark some controversy which will unleash the cancel culture, 

When the culture of hate that exists on social media criticises and abuses and chips away at confidence in poisonously angry comments,   

When a person’s opinion is reduced to nothing more than their background, their upbringing, their culture,

What does it actually even really mean?

It’s taken so out of context, blown way out of proportion.

The truth is that culture can be anything,

In biology the term ‘culture’ refers to the cultivation of cells stored in just the right conditions to thrive...

And this is basically what all cultures and subcultures are: a collective that starts out small and grows when provided with the correct ingredients to flourish. 

Punks, hippies, bikers, goths, emos, beatniks, 

Each with their own music and interests and style and language,

Culture is not just some random term that is lobbied about to give off the sense of high-brow sophistication or to create an aura of academic intimidation

And it shouldn’t be about haters smearing their cruel critiques across the internet. 

Culture is whatever you want it to be.

By Frances Hudson

Why Books Are Amazing!

 I really, really love books. The outstanding majority of them-with a few key exceptions- are brilliant (although even the not-so-great ones are still valid. Just because a book doesn't fit someone's 'what makes a good book' criteria, it doesn't mean that it won't be the most amazing book for somebody else) . There is something so satisfying and valuable about appreciating different forms of literature.Whether it's novels,  plays or poems, literature is amazing because it opens up a whole new world where anything can happen.

In particular, books are like magical vessels of imagination waiting to be unlocked which can transport you to parallel universes. They can take you away from a miserably grey, grim, rainy day where there's nothing to do and instead send you on crazy adventures, in far-away lands. Books may only look like a stack of harmless paper bound together but, in reality, they are so much more than that. Books can make you feel sky-high with joy and hope, they can slice fear into your heart (don't read horror novels before bed), they can make you cry- out of sadness or happiness, they teach us lessons and entertain us. Don't underestimate books. They are powerful. 

By Frances Hudson  

Tess Holliday on the Cover of Cosmo

The 2018 October issue of UK Cosmopolitan magazine should not have sparked the potent level of controversy that it did. For starters, it appeared in exactly the same format as any other Cosmopolitan magazine cover (indeed, it was presented in the same way as most other mainstream magazine covers). The front cover featured a list of articles concerning the usual topics... fashion, beauty, dating and so on, that graced the glossy, interior pages of the magazine. The cover also boasted a glamorous cover girl in the middle of the page- like any other edition of the popular magazine. Nothing new. But this Cosmopolitan front cover set off a tsunami of dissension, a ripple of shock waves that emanated in the form of an angry debate. You might be asking, what on Earth could cause such drama? such immense contention? The answer: because they put plus size model Tess Holliday on the cover. 

For those who don't know, Tess Holliday is a UK size 26 model from America. Her cover girl status marked a significant milestone for Cosmopolitan UK as she was the first ever plus-size model to be featured on their front cover. For many, this was an incredible moment. A lot of young women read magazines as they are growing up, which often promote unrealistic beauty expectations, covers plastered with the latest, greatest manifestation of 'perfect'. Wafer thin models: impossibly perfect and impossibly skinny with impossibly long, blonde hair and impossibly straight, shiny, white teeth. In a society where an inordinate heap of pressure is placed on women to look a certain way, where young women are scrutinised from an early age and judged wholly on their appearance until they are trained to be self-conscious of how they look, it felt (and still feels like) a massive win to finally see some positive representation of a different body type. At the time of the magazine's release, some people rightfully revelled, happy that the magazine cover had an image that proves to young women that they don't have to be a size zero to feel beautiful. It acknowledged that there are many different body shapes and sizes, a new phenomenon for a lot of women magazines. Imagine an alien from a planet far, far away has to gather as much information on human beings as possible, ready for some tawdry intergalactic space invasion targeting planet Earth, and the only information they were given about the female species came from magazine covers. It's disconcertingly disturbing that before the front cover of Holliday, they would probably think that all women were the same skinny size and lithe, athletic shape... when truthfully this just isn't the case. 

It's really important that people- especially young, impressionable girls- are taught that they don't have to be skinny to be gorgeous, that they can love themselves no matter what. And this crucial lesson was finally, successfully shown with Holliday's cover.

However there were some people who chose to criticise. They saw Holliday's cover as an attempt to promote obesity and to encourage an unhealthy lifestyle. Their blatant outrage at the fact that Holliday graced a magazine cover was vociferous. The haters hid behind their computer and phone screens, taking to social media to lambast Holliday and the magazine itself for teaching young girls that it was 'desirable' or 'healthy' to be overweight. Of course this is ridiculous. It was not the magazine's intention to promote obesity or anything of the sort. Rather, they were trying to show young girls that they can still love themselves no matter what their weight is or whatever perceived 'imperfections' they have that society has labelled as 'wrong' or 'incorrect'.

I think that the people who possessed that wild, uncontrollable, utter rage at Holliday's cover conveyed a multitude of insecurities. Instead of painting Holliday as a villain, their hatred of her success simply showcased their own issues, speaking volumes more about their envy towards the woman who doesn't care what they say about her. Under the surface, their mean comments aren't even really about Holliday's weight or the stupid notion that the magazine cover was encouraging obesity. It was more the fact that Holliday was confident in her appearance and her abilities that wound the haters up. Holliday wasn't (and still isn't) ashamed of her weight. She isn't broken up over her size, she doesn't torture herself with harmful diets where you're only meant to eat 100 calories a day or something equally as moronic as that. Rather, she's a body positivity advocate.

The people that claim Holliday is trying to 'recruit' members to her 'obesity club' are the kind of people that are, in a sense, jealous of her confidence, poise and her unapologetic, unconditional love of herself.  

By Frances Hudson