Aaron's Thoughts
Boys State is probably my favorite documentary of all time. To say that expectations were high for the much anticipated sister documentary, would be an understatement. Which is probably unfair to Girls State. I wonder how my reaction to the two of them would have changed had they been released in reverse.
At the outset, I was extremely irritated at the choice to spend so much time and effort on highlighting that both Boys and Girls State in Missouri that year were taking part on the same campus. In fact, a decent chunk of the film is spent showing the girls dwelling on that, how they processed it & then ultimately externalized it. Of course, by the time I saw the payoff this filmmaking choice made complete sense & actually really worked (even though it caught me off guard at first).
Compared to Boys State it, it far less entertaining. Part of that is the filmmakers trying to give us glimpses into the week that Boys State didn’t (focusing on the Supreme Court portion rather than the Governors race). The other part is that it just seemed like most of these girls got along and could agree on most things. Even the discussions around abortion seemed to get to a basic place of agreement. Just seemed to be far less tribalism in the week & no knuckleheads like the first film. Maybe that’s just an accidental commentary on men vs. women, but that tension is what made Boys State so much to fun.
While Boys State leaves you concerned, Girls State leaves you more hopeful. Both are equally fascinating, but are really trying to do two completely different things and have different comments on the world & politics. They honestly work better as stand alone docs than viewed as a pair. The less you know about the other, the more you will be able to enjoy them for what they are. Which is ironic given that I just spent far too many words comparing and contrasting them.
