Director Cheryl Hess’s 2022 short documentary She Got Balls is a story about meatballs. It’s also a story about gentrification, progressive attitudes, and the culture clash that comes between them. With meatballs.
Hess uses the story of a South Philadelphia neighborhood and the “scandal” that comes during a local meatball contest to examine various political elements in ways that are relatable, bittersweet, and funny. As the film opens we’re treated to delicious images of various local meatballs, each chef having a story about tradition and how Italian cooking is deeply ingrained in South Philly. We also hear the various members talk about how they refuse to try the vegan meatballs being offered by local chef Jen Zavala. As Zavala recounts, the year prior she offered up her vegan meatballs–themselves a take on an old-school Sicilian dish–only for it to go viral as an example of “wokeness” infiltrating the Italian-American community. Many, to this day, believe Zavala’s meatballs won the contest, when they actually didn’t.
As Zavala recounts about the immediate backlash to her entrance in the contest she’s more than aware people see this beyond the vegan meatball of it all. Zavala is a representative for everything young, progressive, liberal, and non-white that the local populace can’t accept. When a local museum is vandalized, citing Columbus is a rapist, it doesn’t matter when someone mentions that Columbus wasn’t actually Italian. For Hess, this meatball contest is American in microcosm, showcasing the growing divide between the old guard and the new. As Zavala says, to accept her meatball is to accept the changes that are happening, which no one wants to do.
In just twenty minutes Hess makes you care about Zavala, and even the random people calling her dumb for daring to enter a vegan meatball into a meatball competition. As Zavala says, the community is one that will knock you down and then ask if you’re okay. The people Hess’s camera captures aren’t necessarily bad, they’re just resistant to change. Or are they? It is this ambiguity that Hess, rightfully, never chooses a side on. When Zavala enters again, and loses, the audience understands that she’ll be right back in the competition next year, hoping it’ll finally be the time a vegan meatball, and change, will be accepted. Recommended.
Which public library collections should include She Got Balls?
She Got Balls is worth carrying for its unique approach to using a local community issue to expand on wider political topics. It can be included in tributes to short films or documentary shorts. The movie has some foul language so it’s better aimed at middle school or above. Curated examinations of Italian-American issues or generational divide could also include this title.
What academic subjects or media education courses would benefit from this film?
This documentary can be used to examine Italian-American heritage, as well as examinations of Boomers vs. Millennials. Its look at gentrification makes it perfectly suited for social sciences classrooms looking at the changing urban landscape.
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