Honestly, it would be wrong to call 2023 anything other than the year of the biopic. From billion dollar cautionary tales about the father of the atomic bomb, to lack-lustre retellings of the lives behind Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and the return of pinball, there was another phenomenon on the rise this past year. If 2022 was the year of the eater, us obsessing over our mouths in a world nearing the end of a pandemic and using cannibalism to in an attempt to find our place in the world as outsiders, then 2023 was the year of the girl. Not to say that we leave the year that much closer to the ever sought after true and total equality we seek, although I wish that were the case. Rather, we leave the 2023 able to look back on the way that many of us who identify as female were able to more fully embrace all things girly, without the negative connotation so often attached to this word.

Beginning outside of the world of film was Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour”, opening in March of 2023 with sold out stadiums across the United States and internationally. Tickets sold out within seconds, appearing on re-sale sites with listed prices of over $100, 000, this quickly became the years most sought after and hard-to-get ticket. But for those lucky enough to get their hands on a golden ticket, within the stadium there was a true embrace of everything feminine. Women of all ages dressing up, as their favourite moment in Taylor Swift history, or head to toe in glitter or colourful gowns. Attendees spending months leading up to their show making beaded “friendship bracelets”, to hand out to other audience members and trade amongst themselves. Truly embracing all that being a fan is, after years of girls being taken less seriously because of their interests in boy bands and pop stars.

Following the US leg of the concert, the concert movie was brought to movie theatres in October, making the tour even more accessible to international fans, or those who didn’t win the literal lottery of getting tickets to a live show. And even here, in the small movie theatres in the quiet corners of the country, girls still got dressed up as their favourite era, bringing friendship bracelets to trade and dancing together to their favourite songs, encouraged by Swift herself. In both stadium and the movie theatres experiencing a shared joy, and reflecting that into the world through song, bracelets, and shiny pretty outfits.

With the summer of the girls already in full swing with the ongoing Eras tour, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie released on July 21, alongside Oppenheimer, creating the international (unofficial) holiday that was Barbenheimer. Gerwig’s Barbie was a true joy to watch, with fun summer songs and a message that once again brought to light dual lives women are forced to live and the fact that the patriarchy really doesn’t benefit anyone. Bringing all the movie Barbies together to take back their home, all the real life Barbies – the women piling into theatres on opening night and throughout the summer – were also brought together by this Gerwig’s whirlwind summer movie.

Becoming the highest grossing film of the year, as well as having the biggest opening weekend of the 2023, viewers flocked to the theatres… all wearing pink. Pink, a colour historically attached to women that has become a symbol of “soft” (frail), “feminine” (weak), and “girly” (not to be taken seriously). But the same pink claimed by the millions of movie goers, so many of whom were women, enjoying a night out with their girls. Greeting other ladies in the lobbies of the theatres or the bathroom with a “Hi, Barbie!”, and singing Dua Lipa on the way home. Another reclaiming of femininity and what it means to be a woman in 2023.

With the end of summer, and the sad departure of Barbie from cinemas around the world, a new embrace of being a woman took its spot, if not a little bit harder to see. Emma Seligman’s sophomore film, Bottoms, swept away gen-z, following two young lesbians who start a fight club at their high school with one goal: to have sex with the popular, pretty cheerleaders. While not as box-office breaking as Barbie, and tickets not being as scarce or sought after as the Eras Tour, Bottoms reclaimed the teen high school drama. Re-centering the narrative on young, queer women, a demographic often the butt of the joke in this kind of film (or left out completely), Seligman allowed a new group of young girls to finally have their time in the spotlight on the big screen.

Filled with unlikeable characters as caricatures of the worst people everyone remembers from high school, and bloody and brutal fights between girls in the school gym and on the football field, this unpolished look at high school to portray the girls’ coming of age sets Bottoms apart from its counterparts in the genre. It also so casually approaches the violence that women face in their every day lives, without ever coming off as too “preachy”. In Bottoms, girls are allowed to be messy, horny, gay, and hilarious, without being the antagonist of the film or portrayed as a total threat to society. And audiences ate this up.

It doesn’t matter what your opinions are on Taylor Swift, or if you thought Barbie was too “intro feminism 101”, or that Bottoms was too “casually indifferent”. Obviously (and unfortunately), misogyny is no where near being eradicated, and of course the Eras Tour or a summer blockbuster is not going to even come close to solving the historical issues faced by women up until today, engrained into almost every system we as humans live within. But it is clear that for a few months this year, so many women got the chance to dress to the 9’s or from head to toe in pink or to see a more true representation of their high school experience reflected on the big screen, coming together to experience something made by women, for women. With their girlfriends, moms, sisters, and loved ones, they got to spend just a few hours of their year taking back these little things that were once and still are being used against them, and embrace some of the joys that come with being a woman.

The Eras Tour Movie (2023) is available to rent on most major platforms.
Barbie (2023) is available to stream in Canada on Crave.
Bottoms (2023) is available to stream in Canada on Prime Video.