Things I have learned from recent teenybopper movies.

[meganbmoore]

Specifically, Another Cinderella Story, Camp Rock, and Princess Protection Program.  (AKA, vehicles for Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato.)

1.  Everything is a Cinderella story.
2.  Demi Lovato is so wholesome that not only do cavities flee in terror at her coming, but her very presence turns losers into wholesome young lads seeking a nice, wholesome girl

Comments

[misstopia]

There's a reason I'm tired of Cinderella stories. #4 and #5 particularly sound annoying.

it'd be really nice if they'd wait for her to finish growing up to start with the sexualization.

Yeah, right :\

On the other hand, I do approve of secret agents of any kind.

[meganbmoore]

#5: It says a lot that I was sad in PPP when I realized that the cute, popular guy she liked was a jerk, and she naturally needed to notice the dorky friend with a crush. (And I like childhood friends falling in love and I liked the dorky friend with a crush, just so tired of that.)

I think I've been tired of Cinderella stories for as long as I've noticed how the themes invade so many romantic plotlines.

[misstopia]

SO tired of that! I guess there's nothing wrong with it in itself, but its prevalence sends weird messages, man.

In fairness I'm not really fond of the "There all along" thing where the dorky friend with a crush is a girl who has been ignored by a guy for so long, either. Not all relationships are really about validating who you are as a human being. That's what I see a lot of Cinderalla stories about.

And yeah, young people may be prone to gravitating toward that kind of story, but IMO that's all the more reason to give them other things?

[meganbmoore]

Often, I end up wanting those to end with the friend with a crush realizing that they weren't worth it. The movie Sky High is a perfect example. The female lead has a crush on the lead who is her neighbor/best friend. He completely forgets she exists the second he meets the cheerleader, and only remembers her once the cheerleader, inevitably, is revealed to be a supervillain out to destroy them all. (Literally.) In the meantime, the girl is constantly forgotten, neglected, and stood up. During that time, she briefly bonds with the resident Secretly Nice Bad Boy, who listens to and seems to understand her more in a 5 minute conversation than the Hero did the entire movie (and probably their whole lives). Now, "Nice Girl Falls For Bad Boy" has its problems, too, but I remember finishing the movie and wondering if we were really expected to go for the Hero realizing her was in love with her all along at the very end.

[meganbmoore]

Yeah, I've seen/read some stuff to that effects, but she hides it amazingly well onscreen.

[kakkobean]

I am terrified of Camp Rock--and I haven't even watched it yet.

[meganbmoore]

Be afraid-BE VERY AFRAID! Especially of the parts meant to remind us of what a catch he is.

[kakkobean]

Why, is his name Derek? starts hearing the "this isn't my idea of fun" song from "Swan Princess" repeat in her head

[meganbmoore]

OMG I loved that movie as a teen a should rewatch and see if I still do!

Shane, actually.

[meganbmoore]

I'm fond of WoWP, but didn't get into the few eps of SWaC that I caught. I did notice that #5 simultaneously annoyed and charmed me, though. They also seemed to be going for a bit of a London/Maddie dynamic with the main girls, but it didn't quite work for me.

[ladysaotome]

The only reason I watch SWaC is for the love/hate thing they've got going on between Demi & the McKenzy Falls guy. The "skits" I find horrifically dull - but they remind me of the early 90s when my sisters & I obsessed over MMC which had similarly cheesy sketches that we adored at the time. So sometimes SWaC feels like a throwback to the MMC days for todays tween generation.

[rekallthegreat]

A title like Princess Protection Program sounds like it should belong to a shoujo manga. I'm now picturing a group of cute and sparkly princesses who kick ass as they try to save the world from evil.

When not fighting bad guys they'd hang out in their castle doing 'princess things' until their alarm goes off and they'll dump the princes at the ball while they go defend the kingdom from an evil overlord.

It would be an instant hit.

[meganbmoore]

This is not far off the mark! Though there's only 1 princess in the story, and a tomboy. (But the royal familes of the world have united to create a secret organization devoted to keeping their princesses safe from kidnappers! It is housed in a secret island base!)