When Sarah and I decided we wanted to talk about teenage girls, especially using a quirky sidekick character from a short-lived television show of the mid-nineties as the conduit to the discussion, I have to admit, I hesitated. Who in their right mind would ever take us seriously?
3:37 pm | June 1 2011 | 21 notes
The thing people always miss about Rayanne is her joy. We’re so busy obsessing over her clothes, worrying about her drug habits, tsking about her wantonness, being shocked by her drinking, that we overlook the reason Rayanne is such a compelling character: she’s having a really, really good time, on her own terms, by her own rules. And yeah, it’s not always pretty—because being a human being, let alone being a girl, is sometimes a rough go. And yeah, she fucks up, and yeah, she makes some bad calls. But Angela Chase doesn’t want to be Rayanne Graff because Rayanne is a sad sack of a girl. Angela wants to be Rayanne because, out of everyone, Rayanne is having the most fun.
3:37 pm | June 1 2011 | 32 notes
Holy crap you guys, thank you so much for your interest in the Rayanne Project! We were blown away by the enormous and enthusiastic response — so blown away, in fact, that we realized this project needed (at the very least!) its own corner of the internet in which to flourish, which is, well, what you’re looking at right now.
The site here will officially launch June 1st, when we’ll put up our first content — but you’re welcome to submit work before then. Like, you could send us something today, if you wanted. In the meantime, you can also follow us over on the tweeeeeter too, if you just can’t get enough.
The guidelines for submitting are pretty simple: we’re looking for media — writing, photography, videos, essays, photocollages, some amazing thing you came up with that we haven’t even thought of — that will use the lens of My So-Called Life (and, in particular, the character of Rayanne Graff) to talk about female adolescence, punk identities, and marginalized persons or subcultures. Some topics people have already suggested: looking at what it feels like to identify with Rayanne as a working-class teenager from a single-parent home; self-portraits taken as a teenager; why MSCL’s characterizations of teenagers still resonate so strongly, and why there are so few complex portrayals of teenage girls in the media over fifteen years after the show aired; talking about Rayanne’s mom and how her parenting is characterized on the show; the complexity of friendships between teenage girls like Rayanne, Sharon, and Angela; Ricky and the representation of queer youth of color. That’s just a sampling to get you started — we’ve received so many awesome ideas and we’d love to hear more!
You can submit prospective posts directly here through the SUBMISSIONS page, or to therayanneproject@gmail.com. We don’t have strict guidelines or length requirements—that’s up to you. When you submit, please be sure to include any contact information and/or a link to your blog or website, so we can be sure to credit you. We will only post your contribution on this tumblr, and will never reuse it anywhere else without your written permission. We will not edit or alter your work without your written permission. Your content will belong to you, and you are welcome to post it anywhere else you like. We absolutely want to make a space for as many voices as possible, but due to the overwhelming (and amazing!) response, we may not be able to post everyone’s submission.
Thank you again for your interest in this project, and we can’t wait to see what you have to come up with!
10:48 am | May 13 2011 | 20 notes
