Bubblegum or Hyper-Pop

Tragedy Girls (2017)

Brief Context to Tragedy Girls

In 2017 Tragedy Girls came out, to little acclaim or fanfare. At the time stories focused on women The story follows two best friends who run a Twitter account called Tragedy Girls. The start of the movie is a red herring fake out; two teens make out in a car on a bridge at night. They hear a spooky noise, and the girl coaxes the boy to go check it out, which results in him taking a machete to the dome and dying. This is a trap however for Lowell, the serial killer, set by the girl in the car and her friend who run a Twitter account called @tragedygirls and seek internet fame. The girls explain to Lowell that they need training in the serial killing department and have abducted him for his guidance. The guy Sadie had been making out with in the car is still alive and they kill him together, telling Lowell his kill count is back down to 4 now.

The Basics

Sadie and McKayla are at a loss for what to do...

...but continue working on a video with Jordan’s editing assistance. They do coverage of serial killers and have a fake out run over with a van scene. It’s tone deaf and on theme with their goals of becoming internet legends by following this killer rather than concern for victims. Their overall plan is to frame Lowell for the murders they commit to gain fame. Both girls are involved at school, participating on the cheer squad alongside their social media accounts. During practice they see Toby, McKayla’s ex who has some Twitter fame, and approach him. They request that he post about their account, but he says it wouldn’t be on brand for him and declines, which causes them to decide to kill him.

They decide to lure Toby onto a specific road...

...that they have a spike strip on with a breathy phone call and a photo of McKayla’s bloody uniform. He goes into rescue mode and takes off on his bike with McKayla following and after they’ve caused him to crash off the side of the road, he says he’s glad it’s her if he’s going to be murdered, showing they sort of matched each other’s freak but she’s willing to sacrifice that for their greater goal together.

To their dismay Toby’s...

...death is thought to be an accident and no fame comes to them for having the scoop on the murder. They then decide they must murder someone else and make it clear that it’s a serial killer. This victim ends up being the cheer captain that they dismember in the woodshop, the janitor even passing them twice and being none the wiser. At Syl’s memorial they’re upstaged however, and this then becomes their next victim. Their murder rampage hits a stall when the trust between them is broken. Lowell uses this to his advantage to turn McKayla against Sadie by convincing her that Sadie is going to turn against her with Jordan. McKayla tests this by suggesting they murder Jordan only for Sadie to say he’s harmless. Regardless they break up as friends and Sadie rises the social ladder while McKayla is relegated to the shadows.

This causes her to take up Lowell’s offer and team up against Sadie. McKayla reveals that she and Sadie have been killing together for a long time, killing Jordan’s mom when she gave them a ride home. This also reveals Sadie to be the ringleader in the past, being calm and cool about murder in contrast with McKayla being upset. Ultimately Sadie chooses her friendship with McKayla over her relationship with Jordan and the pair complete their murder rampage by locking the students at their dance inside the gym and setting it on fire. It’s revealed that 124-something students died in the fire and both McKayla and Sadie say, “best night ever!” as the fire rages on. Both girls go off to college together to continue to grow their following and pursue the next phase of life together.

Conclusion & Final Thoughts

It's different for the genre to have...

...the two end up together at the end which we don’t get in Ginger Snaps or Jennifer’s Body. Especially considering the newness and rather shallowness of the relationship at that point the fact that she chooses her long-term friendship and murder partner makes way more sense. Also, in spite of their evil crimes they faced little to no punishment and walked away rewarded and benefiting from their crimes.

This mirrors feelings around the time that it’s possible the good guys don’t always win. They can get away with the murders in part due to how the world views and treats them, they are taking advantage of a situation that will exist with or without them. They are understanding of a harsher financial reality for them outside of high school and a need to pursue a personal path. Although their path is unacceptable and laden with murder it is an extreme portrayal of a feeling many young women faced at the time of being lost.

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