Goodluck Girls: Bridgit Mendler and the journey through girlhood

By: Alanna Borges

Introduction

Best known for her work on Good Luck Charlie, Bridgit Mendler is a former Disney Channel star who currently leads a satellite firm called Northwood Space. Mendler also has a law degree from Harvard and is pursuing a Ph.D. at MIT. By examining Mendler's career alongside broader narratives of fame and femininity, we can better understand how the public constructs and consumes girlhood. In this paper I will utilize the use of media coverage, interviews, and scholarship on celebrity culture and girlhood studies. How does Bridgit Mendler's career trajectory challenge traditional narratives of girlhood and celebrity in American media? Bridgit Mendler's transition from entertainment to STEM and law challenges the limited roles traditionally assigned to young women in the public eye, illustrating how female success can be redefined through intellect, ambition, and self-determination rather than visibility and performance.

History

As one of the numerous Disney Channel stars who rose to fame in the late 2000s, Bridget Mendler's career was carefully designed to appeal to tween/teen audiences. Mendler had her "breakout role" in 2010 playing Teddy Duncan on Good Luck Charlie, a sitcom that stood out in Disney Channel for showing a more realistic family-oriented narrative compared to the more fantasy and performance-based shows at the time. The purpose of the show was to reflect the everyday experiences of a middle-class American family, with Mendler's character Teddy portrayed as a relatable and responsible teen girl who is navigating adolescence.

I read a brief part of the chapter, Tweening Disney Channel via the Franchisable Girl, in the book Girlhood on Disney Channel: Branding, Celebrity, and Femininity. Blue (2017) explains, "Disney Channel's young female stars and viewers must be understood as laborers in the production of the network's girl-focused transmedia franchises" (pp. 13-37).

The narrow ideals of girlhood were reinforced through Mendler's role as Teddy, but Mendler's later career would challenge and complicate the early expectations that Disney Channel upheld. This depiction fit right into the media's broader response to girlhood expectations during the late 2000s, which emphasized likeability in young female characters.

Girlhood is not just defined by age, but is socially and historically shaped by cultural norms, expectations, and regional influences (Helgren, 2020). The characteristics portrayed by Mendler's character Teddy, is how Disney Channel reinforced a specific construction of girlhood.

The Construction of Girlhood

As Mendler transitioned from her role as a Disney Channel star to a career in law and STEM, she challenged the traditional constructions of girlhood heavily shaped by the media. Mendlers shift toward law and technology breaks the stereotypical narrative of girlhood that often emphasizes emotional maturity, seen in her early career when she embodied the "likeable" and responsible teen girl that Disney Channel's brand required at the time.

In the first three chapters of the book Disney Channel's extraordinary girls: Gender in 2000's tween sitcoms, Hodel (2020) notes that Disney Channel's portrayal of girlhood reinforced traditional gender norms where girls often were confined to nurturing feminine roles. Mendler's career shift highlights the complexity and fluidity of girlhood, a concept which Gonick (2020) argues is shaped by culture and historical context rather than a single narrative or set of behaviors.

By taking on leadership roles in a high-tech startup and pursuing advanced degrees, Mendler truly represents a new type of femininity that restricts the traditional girlhood values seen in media. Her career transition can fit into the "can-do girl", a trope that supports a version of girlhood that follows neoliberal ideals of self-sufficiency and success, commonly seen in celebrity culture (Duvall, 2020).

Mendler's academic success reinforces the belief that any girl can succeed if she works hard enough, easily fitting into the "can-do girl" narrative. However, Duvall also argues that this narrative rewards privileged identities while overlooking cultural and economic conditions (Duvall, 2020). Bridgit both fits into and complicates the construction of girlhood in celebrity culture.

Significance to Girls' Culture

How Bridgit Mendler moved beyond the narrow model set for child stars is what makes her a unique and significant figure in girl's culture. While many Disney alumni remain in the entertainment industry, Mendler took what could be seen as a "quieter" path by focusing on her academics. According to Reeves (2024), Mendler's decision to step away from the entertainment industry to pursue her passion for science and entrepreneurship reflects her redefinition of success through education and innovation, rather than her visibility on a TV screen.

Bridgit also shares this in her interview with TechCrunch, "for me as a teenager the thing that felt the most impactful and meaningful was to go beyond TV" (Tech Crunch, 2024, 1:41-1:50), emphasizing her early awareness of her goals as a teenage girl. Her career contradicts the belief that for girls to be deemed successful, they must remain visible, emotionally approachable, and gain large public attraction to be considered successful.

To better understand the cultural significance of Mendler's transformation, it is helpful to turn to the work of Holmes and Redmond, an Editorial; A journal in Celebrity Studies. They argue that a celebrity is a complicated social, political, and cultural phenomena rather than just a byproduct of entertainment culture (Holmes and Redmond, 2010).

Their journal entry offers a theoretical framework for understanding Bridgit Mendler's public identity as a constructed and evolving celebrity. It supports a deeper understanding of how Mendler's career shift disrupts the typical narratives about fame and femininity in celebrity culture, offering a new perspective on girlhood as a place of self-authorship and reinvention rather than for people to consume.

Conclusion

Overall, Bridgit Mendler's career is powerful to analyze when looking at girlhood, fame, and success constructed and challenged in celebrity culture. Mendler challenges the limited expectations of the entertainment industry for girls and young women, seen from her early role on Good Luck Charlie to her current work in STEM and law.

Her career trajectory reflects a broader shift in how female identity can be expressed outside of performance and public view. She reimagines what success for girls can look like by stepping away from the spotlight to pursue her entrepreneurial goals. Mendler's journey stands as a compelling artifact that girlhood is not a limit, but a launchpad for reinvention and redefining success on someone's own terms.

Citations

Blue, M, G. (2017). Girlhood on Disney Channel: Branding, Celebrity, and Femininity. Routledge.

Duvall, S. (2024). Celebrity girls' studies: Interdisciplinary scholarship on fame, girlhoods, and identity. In S. D. Gholami & R. Ghabrial (Eds.), The Routledge companion to girls' studies (1st ed., pp. 14–23). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367821890-30

Gonick, M. (2020). Girls. In Cook, D (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies, (pp. 852-855). https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529714388.n306

Helgren, J. (2020). Girlhood. In Cook, D (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies, (pp. 841–845). https://doi.org/10.4135/9781529714388.n305

Hodel, C. H. (2024). Disney Channel's extraordinary girls: Gender in 2000's tween sitcoms. Lexington Books.

Holmes, S., & Redmond, S. (2010). Editorial; A journal in Celebrity Studies. Celebrity Studies, 1(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/19392390903519016

Reeves, S. (2024, March 13). Bridgit Mendler: From Disney Channel Star To CEO Of Space Startup. 102.7 VGS. https://1027vgs.com/2024/03/13/bridget-mendler-from-disney-channel-star-to-ceo-of-space-startup/

TechCrunch. (2024, October 28). Bridgit Mendler on moving from Disney star to founding startup Northwood | TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYf-9Ez8Izo