ABSTRACT
The film 13 Going On 30 (Gary Winick, 2004) illustrates what Joyce McDougall calls “a new or modern narcissism.” 1 In particular, the film elucidates how “the absent father” in contemporary romantic comedies suggests the generation of a narcissistically fragile feminine subject for whom “the Name of the Father,” in Lacanian terms, is only tenuously established. While cinema is not a direct reflection of contemporary spectators’ conditions, it may suggest some of their concerns and may thus offer valuable insight into aspects of contemporary psychic conditions and their vicissitudes. In the case of 13 Going On 30, the film articulates concerns that may illuminate the predicament of contemporary young women seeking to establish an ethical framework by which to understand their choices.
