Thirteen Movie Review
Thirteen stars the two beautiful actresses Nikki Reed and Rachel Evan Wood. If you know these two actresses, you already know that they only star in amazing movies and they make their roles so life-like.
Thirteen, directed and written by Catherine Hardwicke, was also co-written by Nikki Reed. It’s amazing how a young girl realized what other teenage girls were going through and decided to write a movie about it to show parents and teenagers how the actions in this movie will only lead to destruction. What if all girls had the opportunity to share their voices by writing a movie or a song to reach others? Last week we talked about giving young g girl’s an outlet to voice their feelings and opinions, and Nikki Reed did exactly that when she co-wrote Thirteen. This movie is a perfect movie that covers many of the issues we’ve covered in this class; drug use, stealing, teenage sexuality, self mutilation, depression, low self-esteem, and rebellion.
Thirteen is about two girls, who are just becoming teenagers and become friends, even though they come from two different worlds.
Nikki Reeds plays Evie a popular, highly energetic, super sexy, teenager that sees a girl that she can change into her little play toy when she meets Tracy. Evie is a pretty girl, that comes from a troubled past. She abuses drugs, smokes cigarettes, has sex with older guys, and lies and deceives to get her way.
On the other hand, Tracy used to be a shy girl, with low self esteem. Her mother and father divorced and her father has just started a new family in the beginning of the movie. Tracy feels abandoned by her father and to cope with her depression and stress she cuts herself.
When Tracy and Evie first meet it is not love at first sight. Tracy runs after Evie one day after school, practically beginning Tracy to be her friend. Evie invites Tracy to shop with her on Melrose Avenue and hands Tracy a fake number to call her at after school. Excitedly, Tracy runs home and tries to call Evie until she realizes that Evie gave her the wrong phone number. Even though Evie humiliates her, Tracy, once again, runs after Evie and meets her at a store where she is first encountered by Evie’s rebellion when Evie steals clothing from a store. Tracy is uncomfortable with this so she leaves the store, but turns into Evie when she is sitting on a bench and steals a lady’s purse that is sitting next to her. How quick a girl can change, when she wants to fit in with the crowd. It’s as if Tracy had to buy her way to hang out with Tracy. So maybe they both lured each other in their own way.
In this movie, Tracy’s mother is a strong, but weak character. She is a middle aged, divorced woman, who is also a recovering addict. To make matters worse, she is dating a drug addict, who often relapses, even in front of her children. Tracy’s mother does not know what to do when her daughter starts to grow up and rebel. When she sees her young daughter transforming in her eyes, in the matter of days, she doesn’t know how to act or think. Maybe she sees herself in Tracy. Like mother, Like daughter. She doesn’t want to push Tracy away or give her rules, in fear of losing her. Many mothers go through this, especially with their first daughter. Unfortunately, Tracy’s mother is going through her own problems, so she does not know how to effectively deal with Tracy’s rebellion. Young girls go through different things, than their mothers did, and this movie shows the difference between generations. It’s a great movie for a mother to watch with her daughter.
Eventually, Tracy realizes that Evie is a bad influence on her daughter, but is connived by Evie to stay around. Evie makes up a story about her mother’s boyfriend hitting her so she can stay around Tracy and the family more. One lie of the many lies that Evie tells during this movie.
An important issue facing today’s use is drug use. Even though Thirteen has been out for many years, it is a movie that every generation will be able to relate to. One scene of the movie, shows the issue of drug use that we have talked about in the class. Evie buys Acid, hangs out with the drug dealers, and introduces Tracy into a life that she has never experienced before. For a girl who has never done drugs before, Acid is a pretty hard drug to try for the first time. Evie wants to impress Tracy so much that she doesn’t care. With Evie there are no limits or boundaries. This scene brings up an important issue in the movie. Girls try to grow up too fast, and when they start experimenting with drugs, their lives are never the same. We can see this reality from Tracy’s character in this movie. I bet if Tracy could go back and never take that hit of acid, she probably would. Drugs are just the beginning in a young girl’s path of self destruction.
Teenage sexuality was a big part of this movie. Before she met Evie, Tracy had never even kissed a boy. Her first night hanging out with a guy she met through Evie, she performed oral sex on him. In another scene, Evie tries to have sex with Tracy’s next door neighbor, just because he had his own house. Even though Evie seemed confident, you could obviously see that she had low self esteem and needed attention wherever she went. This often made Tracy uncomfortable, but Tracy never spoke up. Whatever Evie wanted to do, Tracy would do too. This issue of standing up for what you believe is right, is another issue that young girls battle with. They want to fit in with the crowd, and be accepted, that they often make the wrong choices.
Tracey eventually came to her senses and realized that she wanted some time away from Evie. For months, she spent every day with Evie, until it got to be too much. Evie viewed this as the ultimate betrayal and decided to get revenge on Evie. Young girls change very fast and easily, and often turn their backs on good friends.
Throughout the movie we see a young, shy girl who had so much potential turn into a manipulating, monster. Her respect for mother diminished, and every day by her actions, she disrespected her mother. By association, Tracy went down the wrong path of self-destruction by stealing, drinking, and abusing drugs. In the end, Tracy’s mother was the only one there for her who was willing to stand by her side no matter what; something all mothers should do.
Thirteen was the perfect movie for this class. It featured many issues that young girls battle everyday and by showing the lives of thirteen year olds, who are spiraling out of control, I think this movie is very effective at showing society what our youth are going through. There needs to be a change and girls need help at younger ages. We can’t just assume that because a young girl is thirteen years old she is not being exposed to sex or drugs. Obviously, kids need to be deterred from these issues at a younger age.
Thirteen, directed and written by Catherine Hardwicke, was also co-written by Nikki Reed. It’s amazing how a young girl realized what other teenage girls were going through and decided to write a movie about it to show parents and teenagers how the actions in this movie will only lead to destruction. What if all girls had the opportunity to share their voices by writing a movie or a song to reach others? Last week we talked about giving young g girl’s an outlet to voice their feelings and opinions, and Nikki Reed did exactly that when she co-wrote Thirteen. This movie is a perfect movie that covers many of the issues we’ve covered in this class; drug use, stealing, teenage sexuality, self mutilation, depression, low self-esteem, and rebellion.
Thirteen is about two girls, who are just becoming teenagers and become friends, even though they come from two different worlds.
Nikki Reeds plays Evie a popular, highly energetic, super sexy, teenager that sees a girl that she can change into her little play toy when she meets Tracy. Evie is a pretty girl, that comes from a troubled past. She abuses drugs, smokes cigarettes, has sex with older guys, and lies and deceives to get her way.
On the other hand, Tracy used to be a shy girl, with low self esteem. Her mother and father divorced and her father has just started a new family in the beginning of the movie. Tracy feels abandoned by her father and to cope with her depression and stress she cuts herself.
When Tracy and Evie first meet it is not love at first sight. Tracy runs after Evie one day after school, practically beginning Tracy to be her friend. Evie invites Tracy to shop with her on Melrose Avenue and hands Tracy a fake number to call her at after school. Excitedly, Tracy runs home and tries to call Evie until she realizes that Evie gave her the wrong phone number. Even though Evie humiliates her, Tracy, once again, runs after Evie and meets her at a store where she is first encountered by Evie’s rebellion when Evie steals clothing from a store. Tracy is uncomfortable with this so she leaves the store, but turns into Evie when she is sitting on a bench and steals a lady’s purse that is sitting next to her. How quick a girl can change, when she wants to fit in with the crowd. It’s as if Tracy had to buy her way to hang out with Tracy. So maybe they both lured each other in their own way.
In this movie, Tracy’s mother is a strong, but weak character. She is a middle aged, divorced woman, who is also a recovering addict. To make matters worse, she is dating a drug addict, who often relapses, even in front of her children. Tracy’s mother does not know what to do when her daughter starts to grow up and rebel. When she sees her young daughter transforming in her eyes, in the matter of days, she doesn’t know how to act or think. Maybe she sees herself in Tracy. Like mother, Like daughter. She doesn’t want to push Tracy away or give her rules, in fear of losing her. Many mothers go through this, especially with their first daughter. Unfortunately, Tracy’s mother is going through her own problems, so she does not know how to effectively deal with Tracy’s rebellion. Young girls go through different things, than their mothers did, and this movie shows the difference between generations. It’s a great movie for a mother to watch with her daughter.
Eventually, Tracy realizes that Evie is a bad influence on her daughter, but is connived by Evie to stay around. Evie makes up a story about her mother’s boyfriend hitting her so she can stay around Tracy and the family more. One lie of the many lies that Evie tells during this movie.
An important issue facing today’s use is drug use. Even though Thirteen has been out for many years, it is a movie that every generation will be able to relate to. One scene of the movie, shows the issue of drug use that we have talked about in the class. Evie buys Acid, hangs out with the drug dealers, and introduces Tracy into a life that she has never experienced before. For a girl who has never done drugs before, Acid is a pretty hard drug to try for the first time. Evie wants to impress Tracy so much that she doesn’t care. With Evie there are no limits or boundaries. This scene brings up an important issue in the movie. Girls try to grow up too fast, and when they start experimenting with drugs, their lives are never the same. We can see this reality from Tracy’s character in this movie. I bet if Tracy could go back and never take that hit of acid, she probably would. Drugs are just the beginning in a young girl’s path of self destruction.
Teenage sexuality was a big part of this movie. Before she met Evie, Tracy had never even kissed a boy. Her first night hanging out with a guy she met through Evie, she performed oral sex on him. In another scene, Evie tries to have sex with Tracy’s next door neighbor, just because he had his own house. Even though Evie seemed confident, you could obviously see that she had low self esteem and needed attention wherever she went. This often made Tracy uncomfortable, but Tracy never spoke up. Whatever Evie wanted to do, Tracy would do too. This issue of standing up for what you believe is right, is another issue that young girls battle with. They want to fit in with the crowd, and be accepted, that they often make the wrong choices.
Tracey eventually came to her senses and realized that she wanted some time away from Evie. For months, she spent every day with Evie, until it got to be too much. Evie viewed this as the ultimate betrayal and decided to get revenge on Evie. Young girls change very fast and easily, and often turn their backs on good friends.
Throughout the movie we see a young, shy girl who had so much potential turn into a manipulating, monster. Her respect for mother diminished, and every day by her actions, she disrespected her mother. By association, Tracy went down the wrong path of self-destruction by stealing, drinking, and abusing drugs. In the end, Tracy’s mother was the only one there for her who was willing to stand by her side no matter what; something all mothers should do.
Thirteen was the perfect movie for this class. It featured many issues that young girls battle everyday and by showing the lives of thirteen year olds, who are spiraling out of control, I think this movie is very effective at showing society what our youth are going through. There needs to be a change and girls need help at younger ages. We can’t just assume that because a young girl is thirteen years old she is not being exposed to sex or drugs. Obviously, kids need to be deterred from these issues at a younger age.
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