This paper seeks to examine and analyse the manner in which three coming-of-age or rites-of-passage films - Gidget (1959), Puberty Blues (1981) and Blue Crush (2002) - seek to portray the relationship between female adolescence and surfing. In a sport that remains predominant;y white, middle class and male - recreationally, professionally and in its key representations - these three films provide historians and cultural analysts with a suitable terrain to explore that relationship through focusing a lens on the interaction between content and context. Surfing's relationship to sex and gender appears to crash onto the shore of popular culture in waves of inconsistence, contradiction and extremes. Scholarly examination is warranted to further our understanding of gender issues, female adolescence, patriarchal anxiety and the shifting cultural significance of the surfing lifestyle.
History
Journal title
Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies
Volume
10
Issue
1
Pagination
77-106
Publisher
University of Newcastle, Faculty of Education and Arts
Language
en, English
College/Research Centre
Faculty of Science and Information Technology
School
School of Design, Communication and Information Technology