The Lizzie MaGuire Movie

The Lizzie MaGuire Movie

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            Growing up watching the Disney Channel, the show Lizzie Maguire was a big hit, perhaps the Hannah Montana of my generation. Staring Hilary Duff, the show follows a young blond girl name Lizzie and her life at home and in middle school. A threesome since elementary school, Lizzie, Miranda and Gordo have been best friends for as long as they can remember but now that they’ve entered middle school and it’s all about cute boys and climbing the social ladder. Along with Kate, the most popular girl, Lizzie’s number one enemy and used to be best friend and Ethan, the heartthrob of their class, Lizzie is faced with the daily struggles of middle school life. Based on the hit show, a movie was made that follows Lizzie, Gordo and their classmates on a trip to Italy before they enter high school. While in Italy, Hilary Duff’s character runs into an Italian Pop Star Paulo and is mistaken for the famous Isabella that is his singing partner. Throughout the film, Lizzie tours Rome on the back of Paulo’s vespa and practices on what will be an out of this world performance at the end of the movie in the Colosseum.

                   While I actually enjoyed this movie, it quickly grew frustrating when Lizzie is mistaken for an Italian Pop Star and ends up singing at the end of the movie. One thing I truly don’t understand is that every actor and actress can now sing and become instantly famous pop stars. This movie is essentially building on the Hilary Duff brand and is the beginning of her singing career. Despite being this girl who deals with mean girls and wondering if she’ll ever be kissed by Ethan, the cutest boy in school, Lizzie now becomes a pop star, wears designer fashion and ‘girlfriend’ of the biggest Italian Pop Star. What kind of message does this send little girls, that is normal?! With shows like Hannah Montana that focus on a girl who is a normal little girl by day and pop diva by night and Lizzie Maguire becoming the it girl in The Lizzie Maguire Movie, we’re playing on the idea that a girls only ambition is to become pretty, perfect and famous! 

Pretties

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

In the highly anticipated sequel to Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies, Tally Youngblood finally undergoes cosmetic surgery to be a pretty. She finally has it all-she’s beautiful, popular, has a gorgeous boyfriend and wears truly awesome clothes, but something doesn’t seem right, something is mentally off and Tally is on a mission to find out what’s happened. Set in a dystopian future, where everyone is pretty, there’s a price for beauty. Once having undergone the surgery pretties are given brain lesions that leave them in a state of being perpetually lazy and living a life of luxury and high entertainment. Now that Tally is a pretty she forgets she has volunteered to take a drug that cures the legion. This epic sequel takes the reader on a journey that helps Tally remember what’s important and who she is and who her true friends are. In a twisted and engaging story, this is an interesting book that deals with our obsession with vanity and a celebrity like lifestyle.

                        A story that is definitely intended more for a young adult audience, I see more and more middle school aged girls reading this series. While the second book in the series deals with themes of popularity, fame, vanity obsession and the harm in them, I think it ultimately teaches young girls the importance of who you are and not being focused on reaching perfection when it comes to our appearance. An interesting approach to telling a story focused on the standards of beauty and reaching a state of perfection, I applaud this author and how he executes such a powerful message. While reading this book, I couldn’t help but think how many young girls (10, 11, 12 years old) request this book. It made me think about parental guidance in tween reading. Are they aware that the maturity and young adult fiction and tween fiction is significant? Do they care/not care what their children are reading? Should tweens be reading material that is too old for them? It’s certainly an interesting topic to discuss.

The Popularity Papers

The Popularity Papers: Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham Chang

The Popularity Papers is an interesting story told from the perspective of two best friends who are just outside the ‘in crowd’ and looking in on the lives of those in the popular group and what makes them so much cooler and better than everyone else. In this journal like story, two fifth grade friends are determined to find out the secrets and the inner workings of what it takes to be popular at their middle school. Through observations, recording and mimicking the attitude and demeanor of the popular girls, Lydia and Julie research every move of the popular girls at school because, ‘when you’re popular, you’re just better.’ Styled with heavy illustrations and in a notebook fashion, learn the inner workings of the in crowd, the importance of the social hierarchy of preteens and follow Lydia and Julie on their quest for popularity and where it leads them.

             In the same fashion as Diary of a Wimpy Kid, this story focuses on the importance of social hierarchy in middle school. I think it’s safe to say that when it comes to writing books (specifically series) for tweens today, authors stick to the same basic themes. Many series that are intended for a tween audience, the story is most likely going to focus on how to navigate middle school and primarily center on the popular crowd and the main character’s relation to those in the popular crowd. While this may be an important part of a twelve old girls life, it’s important to challenge them intellectually. Letting them read story after story that is essentially the same thing, I think it’s important to emphasize a well rounded reading experience. Although, I enjoyed this story more than the others I think it’s time to turn the focus on a different aspect of life in middle school.

Miles to Go

Miley Cyrus: Miles to Go

            In the same fashion as the Justin Bieber juvenile biography, reading and writing about the life of Miley Cyrus seemed like another biography that needed to addressed, particularly for tweens sake. Before Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus was virtually unknown. She was the daughter of a famous country singer and enjoyed her home life in rural Tennessee before she got her break with the out of this word popular Disney Channel Original Show, Hannah Montana. Miley gets up close and personal in this honest ‘memoir’ of life and growing up in the spotlight. From the girl next door to mega pop star and actor, Miley’s story from then and now is one unique wild ride. As we look at Miley from her early days becoming a star on the rise to now being somewhat of a mess, what are the consequences with too much fame for someone so young and still finding herself in the world as a teenager and celebrity? Do young actors really have the chance at a normal life, or are they forced to grow up too young?

            If every young girl who grew up watching and listening to Miley Cyrus had the option of becoming Miley Cyrus, they would jump at the opportunity to become a Disney Channel star and the next big thing in Hollywood. Now as Miley is entering her early twenties we’re seeing the consequences of growing up under the spotlight. Do these young stars have a chance at being a little girl and growing the normal way? Are they forced to grow up in a life that is unrealistic to most people? Is someone like Miley really that great of a role model to little girls? The audience that Miley/Hannah Montana appealed too was young middle school (even elementary school) girls who dreamed and wished they could live a life just like Hannah, her TV personality that launched her career. Miley ultimately kick started this obsession with fame for young minds, now as we look back is it safe to say, maybe she was not the greatest influence little girls need at such a vulnerable age?