Within the secluded, comforting walls of an abandoned house the girls make the transformation from simply following the status quo to exercising self-determination. Having adorned the house in items with which they personally identify, they have marked the space as their own. It is within this seat of power that one of the most striking scenes of feminine empowerment takes place. The scene is also one of the most complex and misunderstood.

After a particularly daring midnight raid on the high school in order to retrieve some of Maddy's artwork, the girls return to the house high on the energy of having accomplished their objective. They are sitting around an impromptu candle-lit alter when the girls are stunned by Legs removing her shirt. Legs pulls out a tattoo kit and proceeds to imprint the image of a fire on her breast. The girls stare as the image takes form and they struggle with the meaning of this apparently defiant act. Once Legs has completed the ornamentation, Maddy makes the decision to have one as well. Legs then goes from girl to girl, metaphorically transforming them into women as they each decide to take the leap.

The scene is beautifully choreographed and shot. Sigel and production designer John Myhre have created amazingly aesthetic shots that are carefully lit to add a dreamy haze. The most striking element is that there is a virtually transparent time compression sequence accomplished by two dolly shots. The sequence begins with a shot of Legs tattooing Maddy, the camera dollies to the left and rack focuses on Rita (Jenny Lewis) who is sitting in the background. The camera continues to dolly until the focus is again on the foreground, and now it reveals the passage of time by the fact that Legs is now tattooing Goldy (Jenny Shimizu). There is a cut to an insert of the tattoo and back to Goldy as she passes a joint to Rita. The camera dollies again to follow the joint as it makes its way to the right of the room where Legs is now giving Violet (Sarah Rosenberg) the tattoo. The editing by Louise Innes flawlessly ties the time compression together. Through the continuity of shots, the audience understands the passage of time has a dreamy, almost surreal quality to the nascent women.