'Reviving Ophelia,' Cultural Touchstone On Teen Girls, Updates After 25 Years
The new edition is in some ways like the retelling of a familiar tale for a new generation; but parts of the discussion that the book first inspired have moved beyond what an update can encompass.
The recent Dark Phoenix movie offers two familiar narratives. The obvious (from the comics and the first generation of the franchise) has Jean Grey wrestling with new powers that enhance both her abilities and her capacity for destruction.
But this X-generation is younger, which gives Jean's struggle some distinctly adolescent subtext. And it's the reaction of her team members as much as anything that speaks to being a teenage girl: People around you — even if they know you — treat you as inherently unknowable, deeply irrational,
