Ana Martínez Vega

American Cinema

Critical Response: Lady Bird (2017)

Set in 2002 in Sacramento, Lady Bird that reflects on the transition from adolescence to
adulthood, mother-daughter relationships and the American dream. This coming of age
film directed by Greta Gerwig tells the story of a teenager on her way to adulthood who
wants to distinguish herself among her classmates and family. Christine, who denies her
name and prefers to be called Lady Bird, wants to break with the ideology imposed on
her and build her own identity. She wants to satisfy her mother as well as be true to her
own dreams and desires. The importance of Lady Bird lies in presenting a simple story
with a development of an imperfect protagonist who makes her life a melodrama.

Christine wants to break away from who she is, but she
cannot find herself and takes her frustration out on her
family and her best friend. She struggles regarding her
relationships, her personal life and her final years as a
teenager. In her search for her identity she falls in love
for the first time, disowns her best friend to start a
friendship with the popular and rich girl, detaches
herself from her origins to create her perfect life… she
is an age of searching and questioning. All this
uncertainty will allow her to learn from her mistakes.

Even in the most developed countries, there are people with a lack of opportunities and
dreams that are difficult to fulfil. This family is not in the best economic situation. In
Lady Bird it is not possible to fulfil the American dream because of a family with
financial problems living in a middle-class neighbourhood. There is a special emphasis
on this, as Lady Bird and her mother go around the richest neighbourhoods visiting
houses for sale and, for a moment, feeling that they can live in a mansion where they
don’t have to worry about money. The American dream is present in a teenager who
want to escape from her boring and without opportunities town.

We find Lady Bird shopping in a thrift store for her prom dress; the nurse mother who
spends all day working because her husband can’t find a job and is depressed; poverty
and social differences are reflected in Lady Bird, something Hollywood is not used to. It
depicts the American society that is so rarely portrayed in cinema. All this will make

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 Ana Martínez Vega
American Cinema

one of her main concerns revolve around her university future, wanting to go to New
York but being out of her league.

There is a great evolution in the mother-daughter relationship. Although Lady Bird

suffers from heartbreak and frustrations, there is no bond more important than her
relationship with her mother. Indeed, it is this relationship that will allow her to mature
and find herself. In the end, Christine assumes that she is not Lady Bird, a girl who
denies where she comes from. Accepting her name will allow her to grow and find her
own identity by maturing, leaving behind her teenage years and, above all, by no longer
rejecting her origins. This film, which goes beyond adolescence, shows us a coming of
age that touches on issues such as social differences.