The pink-haired elephant in the room, aka the live-action "Jem" movie
Okay, it wouldn't be like me to not blog about this on my LiveJournal account. It's been a little over a month since the news got out, and I was vocal about this on Tumblr and Twitter, so let's get this out of the way on here.
I'm not terribly happy about the live-action "Jem and the Holograms" movie. I wish I could be happier about it, but I'm not. I was surprised when the news came out because I honestly thought it would never happen, but looks like I was wrong. And I was thrilled about it at first.
Then I heard about "crowdsourcing for talent" and thought that sounded a little sketchy. Then I heard who was involved in the project. Frankly, I think Scooter Braun needs to worry more about roping in his own star client (Justin Bieber) than producing a live-action "Jem" movie. Also, while I never watched the live-action "G.I. Joe" movies, I've heard that Jon Chu managed to get dubbed the "franchise-killer" after his hand working on them. I've also heard the term "microbudget" thrown around, which does not leave me very confident in this film production. And not only is Christy Marx not involved in the project (she wasn't even approached to at least consult, and she's said she would've loved to have been involved in this), but there are no women really in charge on a major scale. I don't buy that video that Jon Chu put out about "See? We do have women involved in this!" They only put that out to save face for all of us fans that complained "THERE ARE NO WOMEN INVOLVED!" I've heard the rumblings from the black fanbase that aren't happy that the actress that got cast as Shana is light-skinned with straightened hair when Shana is very obviously not light-skinned and has curly hair that she has proudly worn curly throughout the entire series. (You want to be able to recognize Shana Elmsford, dammit. I always felt she was the most-overlooked Hologram, and just....jeez.)
No mention of Synergy in the synopsis, no mention of the Misfits (WHAT THE HELL?!), Jem is going to be an "online singing sensation," and the thing that pisses me off the most?
THEY AGED DOWN JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS TO BE TEENAGERS.
Okay. Now, I was in kindergarten when "Jem" premiered and the toys came out. Roughly six years old. Jerrica Benton and the rest of the girls were well into their adult years. As a six-year-old, I always liked that Jerrica was an adult about the same age as my parents and had to take on this responsibility of a dozen foster girls, running the family business, AND be Jem on top of it all. I wanted to grow up and be like this woman (despite her flaws). So it offends me that they felt the need to age Jerrica, Aja, Shana and Kimber down to be teenagers. Why? To make Jerrica's story more tragic because she's sixteen years old and orphaned? Or is it because they feel that tweens and teens can't relate to a full-grown woman with adult responsibilities like running Starlight Music and dealing with a dozen foster girls? Will ageing down Jem and the Holograms make the target demographic want to see this movie and revive interest in the "Jem" franchise (AND BUY TIE-IN MERCHANDISE?!) since Hasbro didn't really want to do squat with the franchise over the last 20-something years? YES I'M OFFENDED. I felt Jerrica, Shana, Aja and Kimber (and even Raya, and the Misfits and the Stingers and Eric Raymond) were all more interesting because they were adults. The cartoon was very soap opera-ish back in the 80s because they were adults, and that's also why I loved it. You age Jem down, you are essentially turning her into Hannah Montana.
I do like that they are going with actresses that aren't terribly recognizable for Jem and the Holograms. (I don't watch "Nashville," so I'm not familiar with Aubrey Peeples.) I heard Molly Ringwald's supposed to be in this as Mrs. Bailey, but not in the housekeeper role like in the original cartoon. She's going to be more of an aunt-figure, I guess. I also like that they are not going to give Rio purple hair. (THANK GOODNESS.)
I just don't like the way that John Chu and Jason Blum are going about making this movie. As a longtime fan, I have a right to be concerned. I also fear that this film may split the fandom. There are going to be the casual fans who were all, "I loved that cartoon when I was a kid! This is going to be awesome!" and eat this up. Then there those of us more devoted, "hardcore" fans who still have our dolls and regularly frequent the fansites and do the online RPing and do our own custom OOAK dolls and go to JemCon who may be feeling the same way I do about this. And we have a right to be concerned. This is our fandom with which they're taking creative license. It's like how some of the hardcore Trekkies feel about the newer Star Trek films.
But I could be wrong, and the film could be cool. I'll just reserve my judgment until it's done and released. But I'm not holding my breath.
I'm not terribly happy about the live-action "Jem and the Holograms" movie. I wish I could be happier about it, but I'm not. I was surprised when the news came out because I honestly thought it would never happen, but looks like I was wrong. And I was thrilled about it at first.
Then I heard about "crowdsourcing for talent" and thought that sounded a little sketchy. Then I heard who was involved in the project. Frankly, I think Scooter Braun needs to worry more about roping in his own star client (Justin Bieber) than producing a live-action "Jem" movie. Also, while I never watched the live-action "G.I. Joe" movies, I've heard that Jon Chu managed to get dubbed the "franchise-killer" after his hand working on them. I've also heard the term "microbudget" thrown around, which does not leave me very confident in this film production. And not only is Christy Marx not involved in the project (she wasn't even approached to at least consult, and she's said she would've loved to have been involved in this), but there are no women really in charge on a major scale. I don't buy that video that Jon Chu put out about "See? We do have women involved in this!" They only put that out to save face for all of us fans that complained "THERE ARE NO WOMEN INVOLVED!" I've heard the rumblings from the black fanbase that aren't happy that the actress that got cast as Shana is light-skinned with straightened hair when Shana is very obviously not light-skinned and has curly hair that she has proudly worn curly throughout the entire series. (You want to be able to recognize Shana Elmsford, dammit. I always felt she was the most-overlooked Hologram, and just....jeez.)
No mention of Synergy in the synopsis, no mention of the Misfits (WHAT THE HELL?!), Jem is going to be an "online singing sensation," and the thing that pisses me off the most?
THEY AGED DOWN JEM AND THE HOLOGRAMS TO BE TEENAGERS.
Okay. Now, I was in kindergarten when "Jem" premiered and the toys came out. Roughly six years old. Jerrica Benton and the rest of the girls were well into their adult years. As a six-year-old, I always liked that Jerrica was an adult about the same age as my parents and had to take on this responsibility of a dozen foster girls, running the family business, AND be Jem on top of it all. I wanted to grow up and be like this woman (despite her flaws). So it offends me that they felt the need to age Jerrica, Aja, Shana and Kimber down to be teenagers. Why? To make Jerrica's story more tragic because she's sixteen years old and orphaned? Or is it because they feel that tweens and teens can't relate to a full-grown woman with adult responsibilities like running Starlight Music and dealing with a dozen foster girls? Will ageing down Jem and the Holograms make the target demographic want to see this movie and revive interest in the "Jem" franchise (AND BUY TIE-IN MERCHANDISE?!) since Hasbro didn't really want to do squat with the franchise over the last 20-something years? YES I'M OFFENDED. I felt Jerrica, Shana, Aja and Kimber (and even Raya, and the Misfits and the Stingers and Eric Raymond) were all more interesting because they were adults. The cartoon was very soap opera-ish back in the 80s because they were adults, and that's also why I loved it. You age Jem down, you are essentially turning her into Hannah Montana.
I do like that they are going with actresses that aren't terribly recognizable for Jem and the Holograms. (I don't watch "Nashville," so I'm not familiar with Aubrey Peeples.) I heard Molly Ringwald's supposed to be in this as Mrs. Bailey, but not in the housekeeper role like in the original cartoon. She's going to be more of an aunt-figure, I guess. I also like that they are not going to give Rio purple hair. (THANK GOODNESS.)
I just don't like the way that John Chu and Jason Blum are going about making this movie. As a longtime fan, I have a right to be concerned. I also fear that this film may split the fandom. There are going to be the casual fans who were all, "I loved that cartoon when I was a kid! This is going to be awesome!" and eat this up. Then there those of us more devoted, "hardcore" fans who still have our dolls and regularly frequent the fansites and do the online RPing and do our own custom OOAK dolls and go to JemCon who may be feeling the same way I do about this. And we have a right to be concerned. This is our fandom with which they're taking creative license. It's like how some of the hardcore Trekkies feel about the newer Star Trek films.
But I could be wrong, and the film could be cool. I'll just reserve my judgment until it's done and released. But I'm not holding my breath.