Brigitte & Ginger Fitzgerald (Canadian 2000-2004)

Movie posters for (Left): John Fawcett (dir.) Ginger Snaps, Canada, 2000 Middle: Brett Sullivan (dir.) Ginger Snaps II: Unleashed, Canada, 2004 Right: Grant Harvey (dir.) Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning, Canada, 2004

The cult Ginger Snaps trilogy draws from a broad spectrum of werewolf lore to chart the tribulations of teenage sisters, Brigitte and Ginger Fitzgerald. The first film casts the werewolf as a metaphor for the coming of age, directly linking the werewolf's lunar cycle with the female monthly cycle. Ginger is bitten by a werewolf on the night she begins menstruating, setting in motion a series of progressive changes to her body, appetites and behaviours.

The first sequel sees Brigitte form an unhealthy dependency on the wolfsbane that initially promised to cure Ginger of her werewolfism. Brigitte finds herself committed to a psychiatric ward, as the film teases out historical links between lycanthropy and notions of lunacy and antisocial behaviour, tackling themes of  narcotic addiction, self harm, alternative sexuality and delusion. 

The final film in the trilogy returns to Canada's colonial past. Early modern histories of misogyny and witch hunts from Europe intersect with the totemic beliefs and practices of the nation's first peoples. 
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