100 Kick-Ass Female Characters: #40
40. Angela Hayes, as seen in the film American Beauty, portrayed by Mena Suvari
Is there a more iconic image from the late 90s than Mena Suvari covered in rose petals? It was everywhere during the marketing of this movie, and it was spoofed dozens of times then. But while the image itself is well-known, I've seen the character in the scene (Angela Hayes) catch plenty of flack, which I don't understand because I think she is the best character in this film.
Angela is a high school senior, a member of the dance team and "a teen model." Everyone knows a girl like Angela; she talks tough, she smokes, she "is in control of her sexuality," and she encourages everyone around her to be as sexually overt as she is. Angela enjoys the attention she receives from boys and especially from her friend Janie's father; the more sexual attention she receives, the more Angela feels she has value. She is the object of Lester Burnham's fantasies, the young nymph covered in rose petals, his Lolita, and Angela plays into this fantasy. The irony, of course, is that when Lester finally makes a move on an emotionally vulnerable Angela, even getting her top off, Angela confesses that she is a virgin and her sexual attitudes have been pure bravado.
What I love about the character of Angela is it both addresses the "Lolita" fantasy while also giving wonderful insight to the mind of a teenage girl. Adolescent girls are fetishized to an obscene degree; porn is all about "barely legal girls!" and making sure the girls have no pubic hair. The phrase "jailbait" gets thrown around and emblazoned on t-shirts for girls to wear. Girls are given constant contradictory messages that we should be attractive enough to snag a man but not so attractive as to attract "unwanted" attention; you're supposed to be sexy but not actually have sex because then you're a slut. You're supposed to be virginal because guys don't want to sleep with a girl whose had "too many" sexual partners but we're supposed to be sexually experienced enough to satisfy a man in bed.
Here's what people tend to forget when people discuss "Lolita": Humbert Humbert was a child rapist. Dolores Haze (Lolita) was 12-years-old; that's fucking 6th grade. She repeatedly tells him she doesn't want a sexual relationship and even cries, but he does it anyway. "Lolita" is not a May-December love story; it's the tale of the systematic sexual abuse of a pre-teen.
Angela also perfectly demonstrates what anyone who spends a great deal of time around teenage girls already knows: it's easy to get drunk off of the adrenaline you feel at someone finding you attractive, but its also something you don't wholly understand or are prepared for. You can seemingly go from boyish to having curves overnight, and it's exciting to see people react to you. Teenage girls are figuring out their sexuality, what it means to them and how they want to use it, and much of how they act and what they do comes from that place of exploration without true understanding. Angela knows she wants to be wanted, and, as a result, she begins to equate her self-worth with her desirability to men, which is sadly something too many teenage girls do.
And, as Lester opens her shirt and sees that she's barely more than a child playing adult games, Angela isn't just stripped of her clothing but stripped of the sexual armor she wears to reveal the young girl she actually is. The last glimpse we get of Angela in the film is her fixing her shirt and makeup in the Burnhams' bathroom, and there is a tentative smile on her face. Angela is a confused teenage girl who isn't sure of who she is, the relationships she has, or the power of her own sexuality.
And I think that's a kind of kick-ass which rarely gets acknowledged.
Is there a more iconic image from the late 90s than Mena Suvari covered in rose petals? It was everywhere during the marketing of this movie, and it was spoofed dozens of times then. But while the image itself is well-known, I've seen the character in the scene (Angela Hayes) catch plenty of flack, which I don't understand because I think she is the best character in this film.
Angela is a high school senior, a member of the dance team and "a teen model." Everyone knows a girl like Angela; she talks tough, she smokes, she "is in control of her sexuality," and she encourages everyone around her to be as sexually overt as she is. Angela enjoys the attention she receives from boys and especially from her friend Janie's father; the more sexual attention she receives, the more Angela feels she has value. She is the object of Lester Burnham's fantasies, the young nymph covered in rose petals, his Lolita, and Angela plays into this fantasy. The irony, of course, is that when Lester finally makes a move on an emotionally vulnerable Angela, even getting her top off, Angela confesses that she is a virgin and her sexual attitudes have been pure bravado.
What I love about the character of Angela is it both addresses the "Lolita" fantasy while also giving wonderful insight to the mind of a teenage girl. Adolescent girls are fetishized to an obscene degree; porn is all about "barely legal girls!" and making sure the girls have no pubic hair. The phrase "jailbait" gets thrown around and emblazoned on t-shirts for girls to wear. Girls are given constant contradictory messages that we should be attractive enough to snag a man but not so attractive as to attract "unwanted" attention; you're supposed to be sexy but not actually have sex because then you're a slut. You're supposed to be virginal because guys don't want to sleep with a girl whose had "too many" sexual partners but we're supposed to be sexually experienced enough to satisfy a man in bed.
Here's what people tend to forget when people discuss "Lolita": Humbert Humbert was a child rapist. Dolores Haze (Lolita) was 12-years-old; that's fucking 6th grade. She repeatedly tells him she doesn't want a sexual relationship and even cries, but he does it anyway. "Lolita" is not a May-December love story; it's the tale of the systematic sexual abuse of a pre-teen.
Angela also perfectly demonstrates what anyone who spends a great deal of time around teenage girls already knows: it's easy to get drunk off of the adrenaline you feel at someone finding you attractive, but its also something you don't wholly understand or are prepared for. You can seemingly go from boyish to having curves overnight, and it's exciting to see people react to you. Teenage girls are figuring out their sexuality, what it means to them and how they want to use it, and much of how they act and what they do comes from that place of exploration without true understanding. Angela knows she wants to be wanted, and, as a result, she begins to equate her self-worth with her desirability to men, which is sadly something too many teenage girls do.
And, as Lester opens her shirt and sees that she's barely more than a child playing adult games, Angela isn't just stripped of her clothing but stripped of the sexual armor she wears to reveal the young girl she actually is. The last glimpse we get of Angela in the film is her fixing her shirt and makeup in the Burnhams' bathroom, and there is a tentative smile on her face. Angela is a confused teenage girl who isn't sure of who she is, the relationships she has, or the power of her own sexuality.
And I think that's a kind of kick-ass which rarely gets acknowledged.