Young and Invincible

2016 Sundance festival’s White Girl presented the dark side of putting too much trust in this seemingly lighthearted mantra.

The film centers around Leah, a New York City, college Sophomore with a lust for spontaneity and infatuation with drugs, specifically cocaine aka “white girl.” She approaches life fearlessly failing to comprehend the repercussions of her reckless actions. The film follows her romantic involvement with drug dealer, Blue and the trouble that follows her poor decisions over the course of summer.

While this young and invincible attitude is no new concept for a party girl character, White Girl gained complexity through its complication of gender, class, and the very institutions, which rule our society.   Her gender is repeatedly exploited as a double-edged sword. While she uses her sexuality and the overwhelming male gaze from her boss and lawyer to the advantage of her personal agendas, she is repeatedly exploited and becomes a victim of rape.  After countless lies, illegal and selfish acts, the film ends with Leah sitting quietly as her college semester resumes. Ultimately her gender and race allows her slip silently through the system, which allows her to be more “invincible” than her boyfriend Blue.

The film made me ponder upon this concept of invincibility. What makes us invincible? Is it the naïve belief that we are?

Leah’s lies and infidelity to Blue, lead to a drug dealer’s vengeance towards her boyfriend in one of the final scenes. Freshly prison released Blue walks down the street with Leah in hopes of turning his life around yet his peaceful walk is tainted as he is forced to retaliate in self defense. Blue is covered in blood yet Leah stands there untouched, without a drop of blood on her body, privileged from enduring the any true repercussions for her actions.

Karen