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My Girl
Movie

My Girl

1991 • Unknown

Woke Score
1
out of 10

Plot

Vada Sultenfuss is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. She is also in love with her English teacher, and joins a poetry class over the summer just to impress him. Thomas J., her best friend, is "allergic to everything", and sticks with Vada despite her hangups. When Vada's father hires Shelly, and begins to fall for her, things take a turn to the worse...

Overall Series Review

The film centers on 11-year-old Vada Sultenfuss during the summer of 1972, a girl preoccupied with mortality and navigating an eccentric home life where her father runs a funeral parlor. Vada is a classic tomboy, grappling with the complexities of first crushes, female adolescence, and a deep-seated fear of death stemming from her mother's absence. Her best friend, Thomas J., is a sensitive boy whose unwavering loyalty is the foundation of her world. The introduction of Shelly, a new, independent cosmetologist at the funeral home, disrupts Vada's life as Shelly begins to form a close relationship with Vada's widowed father. The narrative is a bittersweet coming-of-age story focused on family, friendship, and the painful but necessary confrontation with life's hardest truths and emotional maturity. The film's strength lies in its emotional honesty and exploration of universal themes of grief, attachment, and moving forward.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

The narrative is driven entirely by universal themes of family, grief, and growing up, not by identity characteristics. Characters are judged by their personal merit, kindness, and emotional depth. The cast reflects a genuinely colorblind casting approach without any forced diversity or political commentary on privilege or systemic oppression. All main characters are white, and the film is set in 1972 with no anachronistic themes or historical 'race-swapping.'

Oikophobia1/10

The setting—a small-town American funeral home in 1972—is depicted with a nostalgic, almost sentimental glow. The institutions of family and small business, while unusual due to the profession, are the central emotional shield against Vada's internal chaos. The film celebrates the formation of a new family unit and demonstrates respect for the family home, father, and community, with no signs of civilizational self-hatred or demonization of heritage.

Feminism2/10

Vada, the female lead, is strong-willed and emotional, but her complexity comes from her internal struggles and flaws, not from a 'Mary Sue' or 'Girl Boss' depiction of instant perfection. The adult male, Harry, is a flawed but loving, protective father who is actively seeking a stable relationship. The introduction of Shelly, an independent working woman, ultimately functions to repair and complete the nuclear family unit, showing a complementarity rather than a devaluation of traditional roles. Masculinity is protective; the goal is family formation.

LGBTQ+1/10

The core relationships are a platonic boy-girl friendship, an 11-year-old girl's crush on a male teacher, and the heterosexual romance between the adult characters, Harry and Shelly, which progresses toward a traditional commitment. The nuclear family structure is depicted as the standard and desirable norm. There is no presence of gender ideology, centering of alternative sexualities, or lecturing on sexual politics for children.

Anti-Theism1/10

The movie's central theme is a deep engagement with death and loss, facilitated by the family's profession, which naturally leads to existential and spiritual questions. Faith or organized religion is not a primary plot point, but there is no hostility shown toward it. The tone acknowledges a profound sense of objective emotional truth and the enduring moral necessity of compassion, not a descent into subjective 'power dynamics.' There is no vilification of Christian figures or traditional morality.