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In the 1996 film Foxfire, the title carries a twofold significance, serving as both a biological metaphor for the characters' lives and a direct, though derisive, reference used by an authority figure to label their rebellion.
The term "foxfire" refers to the bioluminescence created by certain species of fungi that grow on decaying wood. This natural phenomenon is highly symbolic of the film's plot and themes:
While the girls in the original Joyce Carol Oates novel explicitly name their gang "FOXFIRE," the 1996 film is more subtle. The most direct reference to the title comes from an outsider:
Mr. Parks (Richard Beymer): During a scene where the girls are being reprimanded by school administration for their assault on the predatory teacher, Mr. Buttinger, the principal (or administrator) Mr. Parks mockingly asks:
"What do you call yourselves? Girls who run with foxes and that sort of thing?"
This line is a meta-nod to the title and the name of the gang in the source material. Rather than the girls choosing the name themselves, the film presents it as a label thrust upon them by an adult world that fails to understand the gravity of their sisterhood, reducing their survival-based bond to a "gang" cliché.
A forum discussion suggests this literary reference, which would provide additional context for understanding Mr. Parks' line as both mockery and a cultural reference to female wildness/empowerment literature of that era.
The AI Summary presents the biological definition and symbolic interpretation as if it's explained in the film, but no sources indicate the film itself defines or discusses foxfire as a natural phenomenon. This is a critical oversight in answering the user's question about the title's significance 'in relation to its plot.'
The novel's description of the tattoo as specifically 'a red flame' provides context that the symbol is about fire/passion/rebellion rather than necessarily representing the greenish-blue glow of bioluminescent foxfire.
In the 1996 film Foxfire, the title's significance in relation to the plot is never explicitly explained within the film itself. The only direct reference to the title comes from Mr. Parks, a school administrator, who mockingly asks the girls: 'What do you call yourselves? Girls who run with foxes and that sort of thing?' This line appears to be both a dismissive comment and possibly an allusion to the 1992 feminist book 'Women Who Run With The Wolves' by Clarissa Pinkola Estés.
While 'foxfire' literally refers to bioluminescent fungi that glow on decaying wood, there is no evidence that the film explicitly makes this biological connection or uses it as intentional symbolism. The flame tattoos that Legs gives to each girl in a bonding ritual are described in sources as symbols of 'struggle' and 'freedom,' not specifically as representations of bioluminescent foxfire.
In Joyce Carol Oates' source novel, the gang is explicitly named 'FOXFIRE' and their symbol is described as 'a red flame.' The 1996 film adaptation is notably more subtle, never having the girls name themselves and only including the single mocking reference from Mr. Parks. The title therefore functions more as an inherited element from the source material rather than as a concept that is developed or explained within the film's narrative itself.