From Periphery to Prestige: A Bourdieusian Analysis of Cultural Mobility in Lady Bird (2017)

Abstract

Young people often negotiate their position and identity while attempting to access broader cultural space through education and cultural participation. This phenomenon has also caught the attention of filmmakers, who present it through their cameras. The study analyzes Lady Bird (2017) through the lens of Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of the cultural field. Focusing on the character Christine McPherson as a working-class adolescent, the research explores how cultural mobility is constructed as a gradual and complex process during the coming-of-age phase. This study adopts a descriptive qualitative approach, combining textual and film analysis methods, to gain a deeper interpretation of how Christine achieves cultural mobility in the film. Data were collected through close reading and viewing the screenplay and scenes, as well as systematic note-taking on key scenes, dialogues, and both mise-en-scène and cinematographic elements. These data were then categorized according to Bourdieu’s central concepts: field, habitus, and capital.  The findings reveal that Christine’s efforts to achieve upward cultural mobility are shaped by the accumulation of her capital and habitus, as seen in her actions and point of view, including her artistic participation, self-representation, and decision-making. This study implies that films can function not only as entertainment but also as a reflection of social structures and movements, revealing a universal experience of the transitional phase during the coming-of-age process.