Girl Power

Set in 1934, "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" hearkens back to a time when pop standards like "Paper Moon" burbled on the radio, people used manual typewriters, and a child could actually envision a viable career in newspapers. It's a soothing fantasy in 2008 - except for the home foreclosures and the parents losing their jobs. Maybe things haven't changed that much. The movie, adapted from Valerie Tripp's series of short books and starring Abigail Breslin, is the first big-screen brand extension of the popular "American Girl" line of dolls and period accessories.

By Justin A. Rice, Town Correspondent Rebecca Hains, a Salem State University communications professor who has a book coming out at the end of the month called "Growing up with Girl Power: Girlhood on Screen and in Everyday Life," is also out with her list of what people should consider when buying holiday gifts for adolescent girls. The book explores how then notion of "girl power" saturated the commercial marketplace in the 1990s with toys such as the Bratz dolls, then the Spice Girls and cartoon women (The Powerpuff Girls)

Viewers, it's time to make way for girl power! Among the two dozen shows premiering this fall on the five major networks, women will be standing tall. Of course, a debate already rages whether females are liberated or demeaned on certain new shows, namely ABC's "Pan Am" with all those sleek stewardesses and NBC's "The Playboy Club" with its satin dolls. But that's an argument as old as the term "jiggle TV" harking back to the original "Charlie's Angels" — which, 35 years later, returns to ABC in an updated but no less jiggly version starring tough-but-tantalizing Annie...

Viewers, it's time to make way for girl power! Among the two dozen shows premiering this fall on the five major networks, women will be standing tall. Of course, a debate already rages whether females are liberated or demeaned on certain new shows, namely ABC's "Pan Am" with all those sleek stewardesses and NBC's "The Playboy Club" with its satin dolls. But that's an argument as old as the term "jiggle TV" harking back to the original "Charlie's Angels" — which, 35 years later, returns to ABC in an updated but no less jiggly version starring tough-but-tantalizing Annie...

You can accuse French pop tart Yelle of sounding derivative, but your insult would only be half right. During Yelle's 50-minute show at the Roxy, I hastily scribbled notes such as "Debbie Gibson spends a semester in France and is hired as the new lead singer of the Human League" and "Synthesizer line from Corey Hart, background vocals cribbed from Rob Base, production from the school of Jellybean Benitez. " Yelle's skill, however, is not in aping Reagan-era bubble-gum synthpop - although she certainly has a knack for it. What she demonstrated on Wednesday night was a...

COUNTRY Reba McEntire Keep On Loving You Valory Music Co. ESSENTIAL “She’s Turning 50 Today’’ Performed by anyone else, “Strange,’’ the ready-and-raring first single from Reba McEntire’s new and 31st album, would make you pity the protagonist whose man has just left her. But this is Reba McEntire, so instead of a hanky she’s waving a victory flag. “Strange, I oughta be in bed with my head in the pillow cryin’/ Over us/ But I ain’t/ Ain’t love strange,’’ she sings with serious attitude on the defiant chorus.

How are girls supposed to behave in a culture that tells them they're Disney princesses for the first 12 years and sex toys after that? "Girls Rock!" has one answer: Strap on a Fender and rage against the machine. Arne Johnson and Shane King's documentary about the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Ore., is a messy, DIY affair, and it throws scattershot observations against the screen when it could have dug in and mined for greater insight. It's still well worth seeing - noisy, funny, troubling, liberating - especially if you have a young female-type person knocking...

Those five little girls playing dress-up at the start of the Spice Girls show? The ones who held hands and pranced about and turned into magical butterflies in the starry sky? In the span of a three-minute video, they told the story of the Spice Girls. The real Spice Girls are on the road hawking the sequel, or rather a 10th anniversary edition of the same old story. Lo and behold, it's still an amusing read. The tale began and ended at the Garden last night with "Spice Up Your Life," one of many anthems to positivity which, along with variations on a...

Those five little girls playing dress-up at the start of the Spice Girls show? The ones who held hands and pranced about and turned into magical butterflies in the starry sky? In the span of a three-minute video, they told the story of the Spice Girls. The real Spice Girls are on the road hawking the sequel, or rather a 10th anniversary edition of the same old story. Lo and behold, it's still an amusing read. The tale began and ended at the Garden Wednesday night with "Spice Up Your Life," one of many anthems to positivity which, along with variations on a theme of Girl...

By Justin A. Rice, Town Correspondent Rebecca Hains, a Salem State University communications professor who has a book coming out at the end of the month called "Growing up with Girl Power: Girlhood on Screen and in Everyday Life," is also out with her list of what people should consider when buying holiday gifts for adolescent girls. The book explores how then notion of "girl power" saturated the commercial marketplace in the 1990s with toys such as the Bratz dolls, then the Spice Girls and cartoon women (The Powerpuff Girls)

COUNTRY Reba McEntire Keep On Loving You Valory Music Co. ESSENTIAL “She’s Turning 50 Today’’ Performed by anyone else, “Strange,’’ the ready-and-raring first single from Reba McEntire’s new and 31st album, would make you pity the protagonist whose man has just left her. But this is Reba McEntire, so instead of a hanky she’s waving a victory flag. “Strange, I oughta be in bed with my head in the pillow cryin’/ Over us/ But I ain’t/ Ain’t love strange,’’ she sings with serious attitude on the defiant chorus.

If you know her only from the ubiquitous hit singles or her recent Grammy performance, you're going to have a skewed opinion of Katy Perry. Maybe skewed is the wrong word. You're probably going to roll your eyes and dismiss her. Yes, Perry kissed a girl and she liked it, but her shtick - girl power wrapped up in the prettiest package - is utterly innocuous. She splits the difference between a pouty pinup with a retro sexiness and a trash-talking girl who hangs with the boys and then writes emo love songs, as she calls them, about how they mistreat her. It's an appealing persona that has made her a...

You can accuse French pop tart Yelle of sounding derivative, but your insult would only be half right. During Yelle's 50-minute show at the Roxy, I hastily scribbled notes such as "Debbie Gibson spends a semester in France and is hired as the new lead singer of the Human League" and "Synthesizer line from Corey Hart, background vocals cribbed from Rob Base, production from the school of Jellybean Benitez. " Yelle's skill, however, is not in aping Reagan-era bubble-gum synthpop - although she certainly has a knack for it. What she demonstrated on...

How are girls supposed to behave in a culture that tells them they're Disney princesses for the first 12 years and sex toys after that? "Girls Rock!" has one answer: Strap on a Fender and rage against the machine. Arne Johnson and Shane King's documentary about the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Ore., is a messy, DIY affair, and it throws scattershot observations against the screen when it could have dug in and mined for greater insight. It's still well worth seeing - noisy, funny, troubling, liberating - especially if you have a...

Set in 1934, "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" hearkens back to a time when pop standards like "Paper Moon" burbled on the radio, people used manual typewriters, and a child could actually envision a viable career in newspapers. It's a soothing fantasy in 2008 - except for the home foreclosures and the parents losing their jobs. Maybe things haven't changed that much. The movie, adapted from Valerie Tripp's series of short books and starring Abigail Breslin, is the first big-screen brand extension of the popular "American Girl" line of dolls and period accessories.

Those five little girls playing dress-up at the start of the Spice Girls show? The ones who held hands and pranced about and turned into magical butterflies in the starry sky? In the span of a three-minute video, they told the story of the Spice Girls. The real Spice Girls are on the road hawking the sequel, or rather a 10th anniversary edition of the same old story. Lo and behold, it's still an amusing read. The tale began and ended at the Garden Wednesday night with "Spice Up Your Life," one of many anthems to positivity which, along with variations on a theme of Girl Power,...

If you know her only from the ubiquitous hit singles or her recent Grammy performance, you're going to have a skewed opinion of Katy Perry. Maybe skewed is the wrong word. You're probably going to roll your eyes and dismiss her. Yes, Perry kissed a girl and she liked it, but her shtick - girl power wrapped up in the prettiest package - is utterly innocuous. She splits the difference between a pouty pinup with a retro sexiness and a trash-talking girl who hangs with the boys and then writes emo love songs, as she calls them, about how they mistreat her. It's an appealing persona that has made her a...

LOS ANGELES -- Nice guys may finish last, but "Mean Girls" came in first at the weekend box office. The comedy, starring Lindsay Lohan as a student who gets swept up in the politics of fashion, love, and popularity among high school cliques, earned $25 million, according to studio estimates released yesterday. Although it stars 17-year-old Lohan, the presence of "Saturday Night Live" star Tina Fey, who wrote the screenplay, appealed to grown-ups. Overall, "Mean Girls" got its strength from girl power.

Those five little girls playing dress-up at the start of the Spice Girls show? The ones who held hands and pranced about and turned into magical butterflies in the starry sky? In the span of a three-minute video, they told the story of the Spice Girls. The real Spice Girls are on the road hawking the sequel, or rather a 10th anniversary edition of the same old story. Lo and behold, it's still an amusing read. The tale began and ended at the Garden last night with "Spice Up Your Life," one of many anthems to positivity which, along with variations on a theme of Girl Power, constitutes the...