Episode 170 - Bratz

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I will say, as a small counterpoint, that Meredith's seating chart seemed to help the first handful of Freshman that came to her check in table. They all seemed pretty lost and in need of an identity/friends (especially the crying girl). I don't know where these students are coming from that they don't already have friends but it seems like the Bratz are the only girls that came into high school with existing friendships.

I was actually thinking this same thing while watching! She honestly gave people groups to belong to and I didn't see anyone being discouraged about the areas they were being placed!

[joshg 207]

i have no correction or omission for this pile of crap. this is the fastest i've ever turned against a movie. 3 minutes in and i was furious with it. and it only got worse from there. i really thought it was going to get panned by everyone so i was shocked paul said he liked it. then i realized he missed half of it. that's probably the only way to get anything from this movie ... just skim over it in a sleepy haze at 1 in the morning as you watch it with your mam.

 

9% on RT!! that's way too high. this is a stinker. i enjoyed GPK more. I said it in the mini but this, for me, is the worst movie covered by HDTGM. i hated it. i told my younger sister i watched it and she gave me a look of pure disappointment. when i told her it was for the podcast she asked "why do you put yourself through this?" .. this podcast is the only reason anyone should ever watch this movie. that or to torture your worst enemy. i bet this movie is why the doves cried

 

I agree, this movie was cancer. But I think it's important to try to break down why it is so awful. It is clearly going for a message of empowerment, loyalty, and you-go-girlism. But that's a tough case to make when you insult your audience within the first five minutes of the movie. Encouraging people to break free from stereotypes is disingenuous when YOU are the one who is making those stereotypes to begin with. Why spend 90 minutes telling people that they don't need to fit into the jock/nerd paradigm after you've already laid out the cheapest ethnic stereotypes imaginable? Jade (and I mean, really - JADE?) has an Asian tiger-mom who pushes her in science AND THE VIOLIN. Yasmin's heritage seems to be Latina/Jewish (which, for the record, has nothing to do with Sephardic), so of course mariachi, La Cucaracha (the most cliche Mexican song ever), and bagels. Because of course Jews eat bagels every morning and call their mothers Bubbie, even though "Bubbie" means grandmother.

 

So any positive message comes across as fake, at best. Not to mention the fact that the girls are all pretty, skinny, and rich. (It reminds me of Modern Family, a sitcom which also purportedly supports non-traditional families and liberal attitudes, yet God forbid the two teenage boys, Luke and Manny, every have a crush on a girl who isn't a model straight out of Seventeen Magazine). It's not even as if Meredith's ostentatiousness was presented as some shallow cautionary tale about the superficial trappings of materialism. ALL the girls are rich...Yasmin is apparently the "poor" one because she is the one teenager without the walk-in closet.

As one review on Rotten Tomatoes said, "This is why the terrorists hate us."

[SaraK 1980]

I was actually thinking this same thing while watching! She honestly gave people groups to belong to and I didn't see anyone being discouraged about the areas they were being placed!

 

I would actually argue she hates the Bratz less for their failure to conform (because she seems pretty confident that the system will just work regardless) and more just because Chloe "stole" her boyfriend. The rest of the Bratz are just guilty by association.

[tomspanks 9039]

Like June, I was curious about the "source material" of the Bratz and Googled some of the dolls.

 

I can't with these Bratz "Big Babies" dolls:

 

 

Also, this Dylan doll - notice how you have to take off his feet at the ankles to switch shoes. And so much jewelry!

 

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

 

I would actually argue she hates the Bratz less for their failure to conform (because she seems pretty confident that the system will just work regardless) and more just because Chloe "stole" her boyfriend. The rest of the Bratz are just guilty by association.

 

This movie is definitely about conformity, though. They go to "Carry Nation" High School. Carry/Carrie Nation is this person:

 

 

She was a temperance activist, which means she railed against alcohol, specifically, but also she just generally went around telling people how to live their lives. There's even a statue of her at the school. And the campus of Carry Nation High School is covered with signage that says "Obey" and "Listen" and "Submit," and it's run by a girl who puts everyone into their places on the first day. And yeah, she hates Da Bratz because of Cloe, but also because they are constantly defying the order she tries to maintain over the school, just by being themselves. Meredith carries around evidence of everyone's weirdness on her flash drive (like Cloe singing "La Cucaracha") threatening to reveal it to the rest of the school, and that seems to terrify Da Bratz into submission for most of the movie, until they learn to embrace it at the end of the movie.

 

But the movie has the internal contradiction of having an "anti-conformity" message while also relying very heavily on stereotypes to flesh out characters whose primary concern is fitting in.

[tomspanks 9039]

 

This movie is definitely about conformity, though. They go to "Carry Nation" High School. Carry/Carrie Nation is this person:

 

 

Holy shit, this explains so much about the school signs with the lady in glasses and the talent show trophy.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

 

This movie is definitely about conformity, though. They go to "Carry Nation" High School. Carry/Carrie Nation is this person:

 

 

She was a temperance activist, which means she railed against alcohol, specifically, but also she just generally went around telling people how to live their lives. There's even a statue of her at the school. And the campus of Carry Nation High School is covered with signage that says "Obey" and "Listen" and "Submit," and it's run by a girl who puts everyone into their places on the first day. And yeah, she hates Da Bratz because of Cloe, but also because they are constantly defying the order she tries to maintain over the school, just by being themselves. Meredith carries around evidence of everyone's weirdness on her flash drive (like Cloe singing "La Cucaracha") threatening to reveal it to the rest of the school, and that seems to terrify Da Bratz into submission for most of the movie, until they learn to embrace it at the end of the movie.

 

But the movie has the internal contradiction of having an "anti-conformity" message while also relying very heavily on stereotypes to flesh out characters whose primary concern is fitting in.

Best C+O of the week so far.

 

My favourite sign on the walls at the school was 'NO GAMBLING'.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

ALL the girls are rich...Yasmin is apparently the "poor" one because she is the one teenager without the walk-in closet.

Chloe is actually the one presented as the "poor" one because her mother has to work for the rich girl in school as a maid / cook in order to make ends meet. Then they all give Chloe the scholarship at the end because "she wouldn't go to college without one." Even though I agree with June that Chloe had the biggest chance of getting a scholarship anyway through her soccer abilities. (Jade might have gotten an academic one as well if we're being honest.)

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

 

Holy shit, this explains so much about the school signs with the lady in glasses and the talent show trophy.

 

And since you brought up the talent show ... are we just ignoring the fact that Magic Mike killed a girl?

 

Edit after re-listening to the episode: They did briefly mention that, after all.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

And the campus of Carry Nation High School is covered with signage that says "Obey" and "Listen" and "Submit," and it's run by a girl who puts everyone into their places on the first day.

Holy shit, this explains so much about the school signs with the lady in glasses and the talent show trophy.

Omg they never talked about the signs all around school! I thought that was going to come up in the movie as this big deal like they were actually being treated like prisoners and this was like some "1984" or "They Live" conversation but it literally was never brought up. How disappointing.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I bet someone murdered him and there is a coverup.

CONSPIRACY THEORY!!! He was murdered by the government cause he knew too much!!!

[SaraK 1980]

 

This movie is definitely about conformity, though. They go to "Carry Nation" High School. Carry/Carrie Nation is this person:

 

 

She was a temperance activist, which means she railed against alcohol, specifically, but also she just generally went around telling people how to live their lives. There's even a statue of her at the school. And the campus of Carry Nation High School is covered with signage that says "Obey" and "Listen" and "Submit," and it's run by a girl who puts everyone into their places on the first day. And yeah, she hates Da Bratz because of Cloe, but also because they are constantly defying the order she tries to maintain over the school, just by being themselves. Meredith carries around evidence of everyone's weirdness on her flash drive (like Cloe singing "La Cucaracha") threatening to reveal it to the rest of the school, and that seems to terrify Da Bratz into submission for most of the movie, until they learn to embrace it at the end of the movie.

 

But the movie has the internal contradiction of having an "anti-conformity" message while also relying very heavily on stereotypes to flesh out characters whose primary concern is fitting in.

 

That is an insanely deep reference for a children's movie. And also a bit horrifying.

[joshg 207]

How dare you Paul, Chet Haze was in this.

 

What does Meredith’s absentee mother do for a living? Their house, her clothes, and her two mega parties don’t seem feasible on a high school principal’s salary.

 

And I had an issue with the scholarship dealie too. For the reason you guys mentioned, there’s no way Chloe wouldn’t have been offered a sports scholarship when the movie goes out of its way to show she’s a superhuman soccer player; she launches the ball onto the field via circus back flip.

But in the end it appears the Bratz become a girl group on MTV, so none of them go to college? What was the point? Also, college, weren’t they high school juniors? They skip from the beginning of freshmen year to two years later, so the beginning of junior year? Because September of freshmen year to the September-ish of senior year is three years. This movie had a lot of finality for junior year.

 

And really, what American school sports team would cut a star player because she dares to spend time with friends outside the team’s practice hours, or sit in the team’s designated courtyard clique spot? Where was their coach to nix this? Does the team just make all the decisions?

 

A related basic question: The completely unnecessary MTV career path aside, why would any college scholarship choose their recipients based on the results of a talent show? We would assume that the Bratz would want to go to colleges where they would be recognized for their individual skills and achievements. One girl would get a soccer scholarship, one would get a science scholarship, etc. Only Sasha was really interested in dancing and Yasmin was the only one who really cared about singing. So then why award a supposedly academic scholarship based on your MTV-style singing and dancing showstopper?

 

And an even more basic question, which also applies to the talent show in Grease 2. How many high schools in real life have a talent show and then try to make it into a competition? At the end of the show, what could be worse than claiming that all but one of the performing acts are losers?

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

 

My favourite sign on the walls at the school was 'NO GAMBLING'.

 

I liked the sign that said, "OBEY ALL SIGNS"

[Cameron H. 23786]

This movie also had one of my least favorite tropes which is "a person withholds information, which could easily be shared, but doesn't just so drama will ensue." When Yasmin tells the Bratz that she's dropping out of the Talent Show everyone gets mad at her, but she could have just told them that Meredith had threatened her and it would have been no big deal. I can't stand that kind of manufactured drama.

 

I was also annoyed by "Deaf" Dylan, not just for the reasons mentioned, but for his limited ASL skills. He only signs TWICE in the movie. That's insane! In college, I was friends with a girl who - while not deaf herself - was studying ASL and it became such second nature that she couldn't NOT sign.

 

However, I did enjoy the fact that there was never a conflict with the main girls over a boy. The girl's are - for the most part - friends who unconditionally support one another, and I think that is a very good message.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

CONSPIRACY THEORY!!! He was murdered by the government cause he knew too much!!!

ABOUT ALIENS, TAYLOR?

[taylor anne photo 11311]

ABOUT ALIENS, TAYLOR?

TWO WORDS: UH DUH

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

paul posted the new logo on his instagram account last week so i'm guessing some of ye don't follow him which means ye probably missed this post from last night ...

 

 

so many questions ... mainly .. was paul one of the clowns terrorizing jasons neighborhood in the van??

The marketing for this "It" movie sure is weird, guys...

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

I forget what was said exactly, but one of the hosts said something along the lines of "It would have been one thing if they showed them being a band/singing songs at the beginning...", which reminded me of a recent movie that DID start like that, Kevin Smith's "Yoga Hosers", in which his daughter and Johnny Depp's kid are doing a cover of Anthrax's "I'm the Man" for...reasons. Talk about a movie that has no idea what its audience is...

[grudlian. 4725]

TWO WORDS: UH DUH

As much as this movie wasn't for me, I'm glad I saw it just for this quote which I have used in real life now.

 

I won't be telling people where I heard it though to save myself the embarrassment of admitting I watched Bratz.

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

One of the gang asked if a deaf person could be a good DJ using just the sensation of the beats vibrating through the headphones on his neck.

 

I guess I don't really know, but I would think ... maybe? Good DJ-ing is all about matching beats, so as long as Dylan could feel the rhythm, he should be able to beat-match effectively and could probably scratch OK, too. The main issue would be mixing songs that are too different -- if he's unfamiliar with the songs he's trying to beat-match, he might go from a hip-hop song to Tom Jones or whatever. But, if he wasn't born deaf, he should have a catalog of music in his head that's familiar to him; he'd just have to avoid mixing anything that was released after he lost his hearing. I guess that means he wouldn't be able to use any new music, which might cut down on his club appeal, but he could do weddings and things like that, right?

 

I've met a few deaf folks that really enjoy going to metal shows simply because the music is so heavy and loud that they can feel the beat. I have a friend who is an ASL interpreter, and metal shows are a big percentage of the gigs she gets. So, to me, DJ-ing seems doable.

 

Thoughts?

[babyoilbandit 81]

i have no correction or omission for this pile of crap. this is the fastest i've ever turned against a movie. 3 minutes in and i was furious with it. and it only got worse from there. i really thought it was going to get panned by everyone so i was shocked paul said he liked it. then i realized he missed half of it. that's probably the only way to get anything from this movie ... just skim over it in a sleepy haze at 1 in the morning as you watch it with your mam.

 

Just came to say this exact same thing. I've seen The Room twice now and yet I couldn't make it through 3 minutes of this crap, it's just so obnoxious that I refused to waste my time watching it for whatever comedy value it may have, what an odd choice of film, oh well hopefully the episode is a good listen

[SaraK 1980]

I know that this came up in the mini episode thread - but Jade's plan is to change clothes at school in the middle of a courtyard with just her friend's surrounding her? A) There's not really space to change and doesn't seem like it would be any sort of cover to change. Why not just go to the bathroom? Or behind a wall?

 

Just for fun, I looked up the goofs on IMDB and this one made me laugh:

When Jade adds up the numbers, Jade adds up 2,147 to 2,268. Jade says 5,415 when in actual fact it is 4,415.

 

I feel like I'm being really harsh on Jade but she was my favorite. I just wanted better for her.

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

The gang talked about how they wished the actress playing Yasmin was a Latina. According to the internet, the actress, Nathalia Ramos, was born in Spain to a Spanish father and an Australian mother, who has a "Sephardic Jewish background." Maybe that explains Yasmin's "bubbie," which is a term for a Jewish grandmother. And maybe it also explains why they butchered the song La Cucaracha.

 

The writers of this movie must be unaware that "Spanish," as in "from Spain," is not the same thing as "Latina," as in "from Latin America, i.e. Mexico and everything south of it." Lots of folks from Spain are blonde like Yasmin, but if she were from Spain, she wouldn't be considered a "Latina" and she probably wouldn't be singing "La Cucaracha" with mariachi accompaniment.

[tomspanks 9039]

The writers of this movie must be unaware that "Spanish," as in "from Spain," is not the same thing as "Latina," as in "from Latin America, i.e. Mexico and everything south of it." Lots of folks from Spain are blonde like Cloe, but if she were from Spain, she wouldn't be considered a "Latina" and she probably wouldn't be singing "La Cucaracha" with mariachi accompaniment.

 

Yes! My husband is Spanish and he said the La Cucaracha song wasn't a thing when he was a kid. He learned about it through pop culture, lol. Confession: he translated the Spanish lyrics for me.