WHEN GIRLS BECOME MONSTERS: PUBERTY STAGED AS MALAYSIAN BODY HORROR

Twelve-year-old Zaffan lives in Malaysia, likes TikTok dances and is a com­ple­te­ly nor­mal girl — until she is the first in her class to get her peri­od. Although she is now spared pray­er clas­ses, her class­ma­tes bul­ly her at every oppor­tu­ni­ty. Even her par­ents are no help when her body keeps chan­ging. In an attempt by the vil­la­ge to get her out of trou­ble, Zaffan final­ly releases her ani­ma­li­stic “pube­s­cent”. TIGER STRIPES shows the audi­ence a cul­tu­re whe­re mens­trua­ting peo­p­le are seen as unclean, and expe­ri­ments with the idea of what it would look like if they actual­ly beca­me mons­ters. (EB, LS)