#TragedyGirls

(Some spoilers ahead.)

Most reviews I have read of the film, Tragedy Girls, calls it a modern-day Heathers, and I do see the resemblance. It is a story of murderous high school girls who are searching to answer the same question that all teenagers suffer with: who am I? Well, Tragedy Girls answers this — you are your online presence. The tragedy girls, McKayla and Sadie, are motivated solely by gaining likes and followers online by any means necessary. The all-important social media rules everything. And McKayla and Sadie discover that tragedy leads to popularity.

I didn’t totally get this film, to be honest. I got what it was trying to accomplish, but I don’t think I was entertained. Tragedy Girls was not bad, but it was not great either.

Not Great Aspects

I understand that the filmmakers were using classic horror tropes and cliches in this film, but there were still some eye-rolling moments. McKayla and Sadie use their sexuality to lure men (usually to their death). I didn’t appreciate this as a wink to classic tropes. I think the world is generally afraid of teenage girls, specifically evident in the common vilification of teenage girls who supposedly have the ability to seduce adult men, and even more specifically, teenage girls of color. Whether the film was supposed to be using this characterization to open the viewers’ eyes to the…