spend the day with me!, 2021

SPEND THE DAY WITH ME! evokes impressions of media sources such as ASMR, beauty tutorials, surreal and unregulated kids'YouTube, ‘Cam Gxrls’, shopping channels like QVC and also ‘Vlogging’ videos where some content creators, for example, invite their viewers to watch them carrying out various everyday activities such as making food, getting ready to go out or attending events.

 

SPEND THE DAY WITH ME! explores crossovers, both material and conceptual, between childhood and adulthood; specifically the premature sexualisation of young girls - an example of which being the ‘sexy schoolgirl’ trope which has been present in pop-culture for decades.

 

Throughout SPEND THE DAY WITH ME!, materials typically associated with children, such as balloons, silly-string, plastic toys, comics, and a candy bracelet are used in sensual, grown-up, and sometimes erotic ways. The character throughout the video has a lonely, childlike demeanour, but also a maturity and a sexual self-consciousness which in combination is disturbing to watch.  

 

SPEND THE DAY WITH ME! alludes to the manufactured image in a post-internet, post-social media, capitalist world. As children we are shaped as if by a cookie-cutter through societal norms such as 'heteronormativity' and taught how to behave in order to be accepted and valued.

Women and girls are valued for their ‘femininity’, and this, even in adulthood, is often associated with infantile attributes such as softness, gentleness, innocence, sweetness and aspects of appearance like smooth, hairless skin. The character in SPEND THE DAY WITH ME! conveys this supposed ‘childish femininity’ which is reinforced as valuable by society.