Coming of (R)age: A New Genre for Contemporary Narratives about Black Girlhood

Abstract

The Fits (2015), The Hate U Give (2018), Girlhood (2014), and See You Yesterday (2019) mark a five-year span of contemporary on-screen performances of Black girlhood in the independent, major, international, and small-screen film scenes. In this article, I discuss these films alongside movie posters, a book cover, and casting and music choices in order to pinpoint how Black girls become raged upon by their communities, experience emotional rage as an affective response to violence and trauma, and are promoted as all-the-rage icons. I assert that Black girls do not come of age but rather come of (r)age. As evidence, I define four articulations of rage: to become raged upon, to rage against, to become all the rage, and to become enraged. By identifying coming of (r)age as a new genre for contemporary films about Black girlhood, I trouble existing notions about the mediated representations of Black girls by highlighting rage as an integral part of their survival as they transition into Black women.