Whip It gets female relationships right with its realistic characters and unconventional setting

By Greta Hagen-Richardson
greta-hagen-richardson@uiowa.edu

At the world première of Whip It, Drew Barrymore stood on stage with the dozen women who star in her directorial début. She spoke highly of her “tribe” and spent much of her 20-minute introduction praising them individually for their personal strength, talent, and their positions as vanguards in contemporary cinematic feminism. From the brilliant comedian Kristan Wiig to the diva R&B singer Eve, the cast of Whip It embodies the movement of young, current female empowerment. Along with her cast, Barrymore weaves dynamic, three dimensional characters into a traditional story that happens to be set in the world of Roller Derby.

On the surface, the film can be summed up as a female coming-of-age story, complete with a romance, a BFF (played brilliantly by Alia Shawkat) and a plot that leads to the female in question finding herself. Despite her roles as Josie Grossie (Never Been Kissed) and one of Charlie’s angels, Barrymore manages to take an often cliché story line and turn it into an emotional, realistic portrayal of familial relationships, first loves, and the act of growing up.

Ellen Page (Juno and Hard Candy) is Bliss Cavendar, a teenage girl who competes in beauty pageants to please her mother by day and kicks butt as the up and coming roller-derby star Babe Ruthless by night. The root of the story is the relationship between Bliss and her mother, Brooke, played by Marcia Gay Harden (Pollock, Mystic River). Instead of participating in roller derby as an act of rebellion and rejection of her mother’s traditional views of feminine beauty, Bliss acts in an attempt to merely try something unconventional and “cool.”
Bliss is not a movie stereotype and neither is her mother and that, in essence, is the point of the movie. While Brooke pushes beauty pageants and the traditional norms they can promote, she also holds a full-time job. Though Bliss is acting out via a rowdy and dangerous sport, she still tries to please her parents. These are the details that drive the film. No character completely subscribes to the customary interpretation of her or his role.

Let’s not forget about the roller-derby setting of the film. Barrymore claims to have played the small role of Smashley Simpson as a way to get her hands dirty with the other actors. Though the derby is violent and cringe-inducing at times, it is also fun and exhilarating to watch women skate around a rink as if they were the defensive line of the Chicago Bears. The action is so engaging it’s easy forget Smashley’s bloody nose and Bliss’s frequent face plants.

The real reason the movie is such a feminist film is that the women don’t get hung up on labels. They are multifaceted people who want to put on makeup while showing off their big purple bruises. They are mothers and daughters and girlfriends without being weak or dependent or saccharinely nurturing. They don’t have to prove a point or blatantly talk about their girl power. The mere act of being fully formed people on screen communicates the message to the audience.

For all these reasons Whip It plays a genre film as fresh and exciting for people of any age or sex. The heart of the movie is somewhat unexpected, so don’t be thrown by the formulaic structure. It moves because of the genuine relationships and quirky setting. Fans of Barrymore, sports movies, and strong women everywhere won’t be disappointed.