Bathrooms in movies, particularly those from high school settings, are transformative spaces that act as a setting of refuge, anguish, and development.
Although traditionally a place where you would do your business, one common theme the bathroom stands for is privacy. Privacy in bathrooms is a useful tool in film to reveal complex emotions from tears to violence and even manifestation.
A place to hide in moments of discomfort or to celebrate your true self. The juxtaposition of the girls’ bathroom makes for an interesting discussion.
We see these moments in countless 2000s high school bathrooms, where teenage girls eat lunch on their laps as they don’t fit in with the cliques of the school hierarchy.
For Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) in Mean Girls (2004), the girls’ bathroom acts as her sanctuary before she plans her first moves to crack the plastics. In contrast, the application of lipgloss and expressions of honesty also take place where characters are vulnerable and preparing for their departures from the private setting.
Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) in Hairspray (2007) performs a rendition of ‘I Can Hear the Bells’ as she enters the girls’ bathroom, where others are glamorously smoking. She exits the cubicle with a full toilet paper veil and bouquet, declaring her love for Link (Zac Efron). This shameless and sweet scene appears to depict her own personal desires.
The girls’ bathroom can also be a space for vulnerability. In Grease, Rizzo (Stockard Channing) confesses to Marty about her pregnancy suspicions in a crowded bathroom. The use of covert language like ‘I skipped a period’ and ‘You think you’re pg?’ upholds this secretive but disclosing nature between close friends. Girls go together to the ladies’ room. It’s an inherent code of girlhood reinforced by the themes we watched and continue to watch in film.
In Clueless, the act of navel-gazing and makeover can be seen when Cher (Alicia Silverstone) and Dionne (Stacey Dash) are washing Tai’s (Brittany Murphy) hair dye out in an attempt to change her from tomboy to established girly. This scene moves away from the discussion of high school and public bathrooms to a more domestic setting. As they both wash her hair with care, she flips her head back to spray water everywhere. Their disapproval of the lighthearted act sets a tone for their dynamic, which sees Tai eventually conform to the best friends’ level of gender performativity.
Interestingly, the domestic setting doesn’t alter what girls’ bathrooms in film really stand for. They may be more personal at times, like when Vivian (Julia Roberts) is in a bubble bath listening to music in Pretty Woman (1990), but closeness and privacy remain central.
Bathrooms can also act as a source of complication and conflict. A famous example of this is in Pulp Fiction, where Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) is accompanied by a selection of women powdering their noses and touching their hair whilst she snorts cocaine, announcing: “I said goddamn.”
No one bats an eye, allowing Mia to stare deeply at herself in a seductive manner. This expression of true self is an important part of the girls’ bathroom. Whether it’s vulnerability or indulging in your vices, a lack of judgement is essential to the experience of the girls’ bathroom.
Other feelings of frustration can arise within the bounds of the tiled walls. In She’s the Man, Viola (Amanda Bynes) and Olivia (Laura Ramsey) are gossiping about a boy they’re crushing on before they’re interrupted by Monique (Alexandra Breckenridge). The boy the two girls were discussing is Monique’s boyfriend. In a fit of rage, she attacks Olivia, shoving and pushing into sinks and toilet stalls. This commences a back-and-forth in their lovely lunching outfits.
Although they are supposed to be somewhat put together in this part of the film – they are attending a posh lunch – the girls break convention and feel able to act out. The bathroom signifies a somewhat safe space where all expectations can go out the window. Girls can be whatever they need to be in those moments. They can be free.
With pops of pink, mirrors, and sanitary product machines, girls’ bathrooms aesthetically tend to symbolize the confines of femininity. The supposed obsession with our appearance and reminders of our menstrual cycles may be reductive, but under the surface, we girls know the true happenings of the girls’ bathroom.
