BEFORE: I know, I know, it's a film for teenage girls based on a book that was made for teenage girls. But I did read this book when I was a kid - even boys have to learn about these things, too. And the film did get a lot of buzz last year when it was released. Look, any time September rolls around and I have a chance to link to films about grade school or high school or college, I'm going to take that. And if one actor is in TWO of those films, you'd better believe I'm going to find that link and use it. Echo Kellum carries over from "Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken". And I've still got "Rocket Science", "Leo" and "Blockers" coming up later this month for more back-to-school fun.
THE PLOT: Eleven-year-old Margaret moves from the city to the suburbs and starts to contemplate everything about life, friendship and adolescence. She relies on her mother, Barbara, who offers loving support, and her grandmother, Sylvia.
AFTER: Well, the book came out in the 1970's, I don't know exactly why it took over 50 years to make a film based on the book. I would imagine that many people tried over the decades but failed for some reason - I will have to look into that later. I bet this is one of those books that conservatives keep trying to ban for some unfathomable reason, like parents don't want their sons to know about women's monthly cycles or something, because that would turn them gay or trans or into devil-worshippers. I may be wrong but I bet it's something that kind of ridiculous.
Yeah, I just looked it up, the main criticisms of the book are the frank (but come on, realistic) discussions about menstruation and the fact that a young girl is allowed to decide for herself what religion she would prefer to practice, or none at all. Hey, Lisa Simpson decided to be Buddhist and nobody ever protested "The Simpsons" for that. So what gives? Is the process somehow BETTER when a child is automatically made to be a member of whatever religion their parents happen to be? That's no choice at all, that's a form of brainwashing - we do have freedom of religion in this country and maybe nobody should be born into ANY religion or automatically made a legacy member, everyone should have to earn their spot in any faith through confirmation or bat mitzvah or whatever.
This was a really progressive idea fifty years ago, to let a kid decide - but Margaret's parents kind of slipped up and made a mistake in logic here, because sure, they wanted her to be able to choose her religion, but if they keep her away from both of their religions, then how is she supposed to make a choice? Dad's Jewish and Mom's Catholic, if they want her to make the right choice for herself as an adult then she really would need more information about what both religions are like, so keeping her in the dark about both isn't really the right answer either. It might be better for her to be what we used to call a "cafeteria Catholic", someone who chooses which rules of the religion they want to follow, and they allow themselves to not follow the rules they don't like. At least she'd get a feel for both faiths that way.
Margaret instead chooses to speak to God directly, asking questions and begging for things to turn out in her favor at times - it's really a powerful metaphor for all religion, we create an entity and we imagine that entity is in charge, and we assume He/She/They know what He/She/They are doing. Then we ask the entity for favors or certain results, and if they happen we assume the entity has honored our requests, and if they don't, well, maybe we asked wrong or we don't deserve what we asked for or maybe the entity works in mysterious ways. But after speaking to God several times and not getting any answer, Margaret starts to wonder if there's even a God in the first place. Yeah, Margaret is a pretty sharp girl. God either chooses not to answer, or doesn't exist to begin with.
The trouble starts when Margaret gets back from summer camp, and learns that her parents bought a car - like, who has a CAR in Manhattan? Oh, yeah, about that, they're also packing up the apartment because that car's going to take them to a house in New Jersey. This is when Margaret starts praying, and honestly, I can't blame her, if I had to New Jersey I'd start praying too. But she prays for New Jersey to not be so horrible, and really, she should learn to keep her requests within the realm of possibility.
Immediately after moving in to the new house, Margaret gets a visit from her new soon-to-be classmate, Nancy - apparently the real estate agent sent a note about the new residents to everyone in the neighborhood, which I don't think is a thing that real estate agents do, or at least it shouldn't be. Nancy wants Margaret to join her secret club, they're going to have a handshake and talk about boys and probably practice kissing and stuff. Yeah, this is why young boys read Judy Blume's books, too, just to see what happens on the inside in these girls' clubs.
As a sixth grader, Margaret is assigned a year-long research project, and her teacher suggests that it be about religion, since she apparently has this choice to make, and in the meantime enjoys the benefit of not having to go to church or temple or observe any holidays that are weird or icky or involve crucifixion or seders or anything weird. Margaret wonders why she never met her grandparents on her mother's side, and finds out that they broke off the relationship with her mother when she married Margaret's father, a Jewish man. This is no joke, Catholics believe that the followers of other religions are all going to Hell when they die, and that Heaven is exclusively for them, like some country club in the sky. Jewish people pretty much believe the same thing about heaven, but they don't believe in Hell at all, so I guess the members of at least one religion are going to have to face some rough truths when they die. Or not.
The girls' secret club keeps meeting and Margaret has to keep a boy journal and not wear socks on certain days, and she has to get a bra even if she doesn't need one yet - Jeez, this was kind of like "Mean Girls" 20 years early, right? And if one of them gets their period, they absolutely have to tell the others what it was like. And they have to practice kissing in case a game of Spin the Bottle breaks out at Norman Fischer's birthday party. I'm surprised that this part of the book got left in the movie, because Spin the Bottle (and Two Minutes in the Closet) are games based on non-consensual contact, and therefore should no longer be considered P.C., in fact they never were.
Margaret also wants to re-connect with her Jewish grandmother by visiting her in Florida for spring break, but then the family hears from Margaret's other grandparents, they want to re-connect with the family that same week, so the trip to Florida gets cancelled. Grandma flies up from Florida instead, so it's one big happy family until everyone starts arguing over whether Margaret should be raised Catholic or Jewish. All of the grandparents want her to practice their own religion, which of course is the problem her parents were trying to avoid, but they're never going to STOP trying to save her soul, as they see fit. The only answer, I'm afraid to say, is to cut all super-religious people out of your life. I did that myself and I'm much happier without them - sorry, Mom and Dad. JK.
That's when Margaret finally has her revelation, that maybe God's not even there, and around the same time she cuts Nancy out of her life, too, because she lied about getting her period early, that's a violation of her OWN club rules, after all. Soon Margaret's off to summer camp again, but she gets her period before that, and it's really no big deal. If anything, THAT'S the takeaway here, that a girl's monthly cycle is really no big deal, why the conservatives get all up in arms about that, I really have no clue.
Also starring Abby Ryder Fortson (last seen in "Playing It Cool"), Rachel McAdams (last seen in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness"), Kathy Bates (last seen in "Prelude to a Kiss"), Benny Safdie (last seen in "Pieces of a Woman"), Elle Graham (last seen in "She Said"), Amari Alexis Price, Katherine Kupferer (last seen in "Widows"), Kate MacCluggage, Aidan Wojtak-Hissong, Landon S. Baxter, Mackenzie Joy Potter, Olivia Frances Williams, Simms May, Zackary Brooks, Jacobi Swain, Isol Young, Zach Humphrey, Karen Aruj, Robert Haulbrook (last seen in "Loving"), Johnny Land, Jennifer Errington, Evan Bergman (last seen in "Jerry and Marge Go Large"), Michael Wolk, Karen Macarah (last seen in "The Disaster Artist"), Ariel DiDonato, Tanya J. McClellan, Dennis Delamar, Samantha LeBrocq, Ethan McDowell, Sloane Warren, Holli Saperstein, Deborah Helms, Cooper Herrett, Gezell Fleming, Jim France (last seen in "Father Figures"), Wilbur Fitzgerald (last seen in "No Good Deed"), Mia Dillon (last seen in "A Shock to the System"), Gary Houston (last seen in "Slice"), with a cameo from Judy Blume.
RATING: 5 out of 10 Radio City Music Hall Rockettes
No comments:
Post a Comment