Some generalized snark

[ilovejunk]

Reading through the books I've come across a few odd things that show up over and over, but haven't really been pointed out thus far. So, I figured I'd make a post about them.

1. I can't help but notice AMM seems to have a hardcore "zomg TV is the entertainment method of SATAN!!" stance. Seriously, it seems like nobody ever watches TV in this series

Comments

[cassandraclue]

2b)i went to private school and my area was heavily saturated with private schools. my school was in 2 private school athletic leagues. i attended two private schools, both quaker, and within 20 minutes of each other. the fact that stoneybrook had 2 private schools never seemed weird to me. what is weird is that there's no catholic school.

3)the sitters mention wearing makeup a lot, especially stacey, claudia, and dawn. only kristy, mal, and jessi never wear makeup, so i don't really know what you're talking about. yeah, they freak out about ma's makeover, but that was just dawn and kristy being psychotic.

4)stamford might just not be that happening. i know kids from the area (fairfield county) where stamford is and where stoneybrook is supposed to be, and they all went to new york for entertainment.

5)the newtons have one.

[cassandraclue]

btw, princeton, new jersey where ann grew up has 7 private schools according to wikipedia. stoneybrook is heavily based on princeton. but seriously, where are the catholic schools?????????

[glitterberrys]

There are no Catholics in Stoneybrook, apparently, judging by book 56. Kristy (or Mary Anne? I can't remember, SOMEONE) was scandalized that the racist Lowells assumed Mallory was Catholic because of their huge freakin' family.

[rugger_green]

I was just thinking this. It does seem odd that Catholicism is nonexistent in Stoneybrook. I get that it's supposed to be WASPy, by geez.

[beatlegirlstl]

That's just weird to me, but I'm from St. Louis, and we have over 200 Catholic parishes and grade schools in the area, plus about 15-20 Catholic high schools. Even if Stoneybrook is small, I would expect there would be at least one Catholic school!

[imxlennysxmom]

Yeah, but mentioning Catholicism as more than a passing remark seems to be un-PC nowadays. We can discuss other cultures and religions, but Christianity gets all the religious aspects sucked out of it and it becomes all about Santa Claus, if it's mentioned at all. I'm actually surprised the Lowell comment got in.

[ilovejunk]

I don't recall seeing any mention of any of them wearing makeup where the other sitters didn't go "OMG! You look so weird!", except for Dawn's awful makeover and the time Kristy put on mascara when Bart stayed at her house, both of which are described as if makeup is really weird. Also I can't remember which book it was in but I clearly remember one where Claudia put on makeup and everyone acted like she'd lost her mind. And they most definitely talk shit about other girls for wearing makeup, particularly Cokie Mason and Sabrina Bouvier (the older one obviously).

And the two private schools only seem weird because Stoneybrook is written as if it's barely large enough to have the middle and high school separate from each other, much less have multiple elementary schools. Although I suppose this could be bias on my part since I come from a small town and automatically picture Stoneybrook being similar to where I live.

[lionessvalenti]

When Mallory bought all that makeup in California, Claudia and Stacey bought it off of her since THEY wear makeup, which I don't understand, since I don't think Claudia and Mal have exactly the same skin tone. But I guess Stacey could wear it. In Mystery #6, Janine raids Claudia's makeup, and Claud teaches her how to wear it properly.

The only time I know of the girls thinking Claud was crazy for makeup wearing was in the first book, and she was wearing A LOT of it. And I don't think Kristy had ever seen her wearing makeup before anyway.

Though I will agree that girls like Cokie Mason and what not... they get razzed by the BSC for wearing a lot of makeup. Apparently that's the sign of being mean - wearing too much makeup.

[miss_myu]

I thought that Stacey and Claudia buying Mallory's makeup was a bit squicky. Who wants second-hand makeup? Plus, sharing mascara wands and the like is a very good way to pass around eye infections...

[mikeymoozer]

Ooh, where in Fairfield county? My exboyfriend's from there; I loved it when I visited. :0)