A Nation of Girls Stuck in the Valley: Mapping the Valley Girl in US Teen Media

abstract: One of the most prominent icons of 1980s US popular culture was the Valley girl—a white, suburban super consumer imbued with both teen girl aspiration and widespread disgust. Analyzing 1980s and 1990s teen film and television, alongside popular press coverage of the Valley girl phenomenon, I argue that this figure distills deep cultural ambivalence about suburbia and consumerism into a misogynist critique of girl culture during a period of prominence for teen media and girls' consumer power. Teen media depictions of Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley shift over time yet routinely narrate the necessity for girls to escape its confines.