Why are teens climbing into bedroom windows? A video essay

I noticed that popular recent Netflix shows (Never Have I Ever, Ginny and Georgia) depict a teenager climbing into a bedroom window. While I think there can be positives to the trope, in this video essay, I discuss how the trope can perpetuate some problematic myths about romance and consent. *CONTENT WARNING* for discussion of dubious and hazy consent *SPOILER WARNING* for a lot of the media I discuss. The biggest spoiler is for West Side Story *ADJUSTMENT* bell hooks name should be lowercase in this! Please like and subscribe if you’re keen on more analysis about sociocultural messages in media. I’m currently working on video essays about conversations in romance and another on the representation of intimate male friendships in media! If you’re interested in my sources for this video, check out this google doc: You can also check out my Letterboxd (link below) for lists of the films in this trope. Leave a comment on this vid if you can think of any more! OTHER VIDEO ESSAY CONTENT FROM ME *Letterboxd:* *Insta:* *TikTok:* @framemygaze *Twitter:* CREDITS *Framemygaze (What I did):* Research, script, narration, video editing (using Final Cut Pro), keyframing animations *Thomas:* Helped with script editing, vocal coaching and SFX editing. He also animated the timeline of movies, the animation of academic papers being outlined and the base pie chart using Aftereffects that I couldn’t do on Final Cut Pro (I only added the tiles and key to the pie chart) *Alethea:* video editing, tweaking, and suggestions. *Meg:* script tweaking and suggestions CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction and history of the window entering trope 1:44 Trope glorifies the invasion of personal space 3:49 Trope presents “Stalking for Love“ as harmless 4:37 Trope promotes ignoring boundaries 6:17 Trope not critiqued properly in canon 7:59 The trope romanticises coercive actions 8:58 What about friends entering windows? 9:17 How do we fix the window entering trope? FILMS SHOWN IN THIS VIDEO ESSAY THAT INCLUDE THE WINDOW ENTERING TROPE Dracula (1931) Secrets (1933) Romeo and Juliet (1936) ​​Young and Innocent (1937) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) Peter Pan (1953) Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) West Side Story (1961) Romeo and Juliet (1968) The Vampire Lovers (1970) Superman (1978) A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) The Boy Who Could Fly (1986) Maurice (1987) Heathers (1989) Aladdin (1992) Far and Away (1992) Heavenly Creatures (1994) Forrest Gump (1994) Romeo and Juliet (1996) Scream (1996) Inventing the Abbotts (1997) Rushmore (1998) Scary Movie (2000) Peter Pan (2003) Wimbledon (2004) . (2004) The Merchant of Venice (2004) Sky High (2005) High School Musical (2006) Hairspray (2007) High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008) Twilight (2008) Twilight: New Moon (2009) Jennifer’s Body (2009) Tangled (2010) Megamind (2010) Kick-Ass (2010) My Soul to Take (2010) Super 8 (2011) Green Lantern (2011) Scream 4 (2011) Now Is Good (2012) Amazing Spider-Man (2012) The Best of Me (2014) Paper Towns (2015) 20th Century Women (2016) Valley Girl (2020) Mainstream (2020) West Side Story (2021) The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021) Through My Window (2022) Turma da Mônica: Laços (Monica and Friends: Lessons) (2022) Rosaline (2022) TV SERIES SHOWN IN THIS VIDEO ESSAY THAT INCLUDES THE WINDOW ENTERING TROPE Cheers S8E22 (1990) Clarissa Explains it All S1E03 (1991) Sister, Sister S1E8 (1994) Boy Meets World S3E3 (1995) Sister, Sister S4E1 (1996) Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E1 (1997) Dawson’s Creek S1E1 (1998), S2E10 (1999), S2E13 (1999) That ’70s Show S2E8 (1999) Drake and Josh S3E4 (2005) Gilmore Girls S3E8 (2002) The Vampire Diaries S1e3 (2009), S1E9 (2009) Revenge S1E3 (2011) Borgia S1E1 (2011) Teen Wolf S1E1 (2011) Degrassi S13E14 (2013), S3E22(2013) Girl Meets World S2E17 (2011) Skam S1E1(2015) Stranger Things S1E1 (2016), S1E6 (2016) Supergirl S02E08 (2016), S5E3 (2019) Riverdale S1E6 (2017) Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, S1E10 (2018), S4E5 (2020) Heathers S1E3 (2018) On My Block S1E8 (2018) Alexa & Katie S1E1 (2018) Black Lightning S2E2 (2018) Sex Education S1E1 (2019) Euphoria S1E4 (2019) Shameless S10E6 (2019) Chilling Adventures of Sabrina S4E5 (2020) Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. S2E8 (2023) Ginny & Georgia Season 1 S1E1 (2021) One Of Us Is Lying S1E4 (2021) Never Have I Ever S2E9 (2021) Wednesday S2E6 (2022) Ginny and Georgia Season 2 S2E1 (2023) #videoessay #ginnyandgeorgia #neverhaveiever #marcusbaker #paxtonhallyoshida #twilight #edwardcullen #throughmywindow #hsm #supergirl #flynnrider #breadtube Other keywords for the algorithm: Jason Dean, lucy diamond, César Díaz, Peter Pan, Ares Hidalgo, Cesar Diaz, Lucy Diamond, Kara x Lena, Rue x Jules, Marcus x Ginny, fensterln, bread tube, clip, scene