Valley Girl

Overview

Influenced by works of the 1980s by Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince that appropriated existing art and advertisements, Michele 0'Marah's films duplicate pop cultural artifacts with creative economy. This video is a purposely low-budget remake of the 1983 romantic comedy Valley Girl, which had been O'Marah's favorite movie as a teenager. Her 2002 iteration featured artist friends, including Mark Grotiahn and Karin Gulbran, performing against brightly colored handmade backdrops or on location in Los Angeles. The deliberate artifice and DIY spirit of the film align with O'Marah's interest in exposing the contrived nature of the original movie's story line. "I wanted my video to expose the underlying myth of the original: that Prince Charming will pursue you to the ends of the earth," she said. "The idea of remaking it and making the construction of my video really obvious just acknowledged that the story is a construction, too."