“No growth for happy kids: the circuit of representation and identification in What Maisie Knew, the novel and the movie”

This article considers the systems of representation in What Maisie Knew, both Henry James’s 1897 novel and Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s 2013 film adaptation. Focusing on the main significant alterations that the movie produces, this article intends to show the complex effects of eliding both the narrator’s ironic voice and mediation, and Mrs. Wix’s function as a catalyst for Maisie’s growth. Consequently, my reading questions the supposed happiness of the movie’s ending, which, instead, represents the imperative to enjoy and be happy that Slavoj Žižek describes as the pervading feature of contemporary society.