Episode 170 - Bratz

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

Honestly I think the mariachi band is the first sign of Yasmin's psychotic break. She's suppose to be our main brat right? We never visit Jade's house and barely spend time with Chloe and Sasha's but both their parents home are relatively grounded and so are their issues. Any time Yasmin gets involved, things get way over the top and out of control hijinks happen. She's the only one that wasn't able to make new friends or connections. I think she might be insane.

It's gotta be stressful, having a Bubbie who is constantly tripping balls on magic chocolates.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

Honestly I think the mariachi band is the first sign of Yasmin's psychotic break. She's suppose to be our main brat right? We never visit Jade's house and barely spend time with Chloe and Sasha's but both their parents home are relatively grounded and so are their issues. Any time Yasmin gets involved, things get way over the top and out of control hijinks happen. She's the only one that wasn't able to make new friends or connections. I think she might be insane.

 

Not only that, but she's poisoning their new friendships. She's always the one who's like, "It's the cliques, we need to stick together" and "Who cares about going to Meredith's party as long as we're together." That's fine and all, but you've been a social pariah for two years. You literally have nothing to lose from this arrangement and everything to gain. It's honestly a bit creepy.

[PollyDarton 1807]

 

Can we all take a moment to appreciate this movie's unsung hero: globe guy.

[tomspanks 9039]

Can we all take a moment to appreciate this movie's unsung hero: globe guy.

 

His BFF is Skeleton Guy, right?

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

Unrelated to this episode: I am reading a book about the Donner Party and it's talking about mirages on the Oregon Trail. You guys. I'm scared of mirages in general.

[Cameron H. 23786]

Considering Jade is the fashion designer, did anyone else feel like the dress she made for her teacher should have been...better? I mean, it's fine, but to me, it looked less fashion forward and more like something you'd wear to fight zombies in Racoon City.

 

 

 

[tomspanks 9039]

Considering Jade is the fashion designer did anyone else feel like the dress she made for her teacher should have been...better? I mean, it's fine, but to me, it looked less fashion forward and more like something you'd wear to fight zombies in Racoon City.

 

True. It was a basic dress, but impressive she did it all during one period.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

 

True. It was a basic dress, but impressive she did it all during one period.

 

Less so since she accomplished it as part of a montage.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

True. It was a basic dress, but impressive she did it all during one period.

How did Jade make the teacher's strappy shoes? And who did the teacher's hair?

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

How did Jade make the teacher's strappy shoes?

 

Maybe Jade has been secretly supplying to Bubbie, too...

[grudlian. 4725]

Less so since she accomplished it as part of a montage.

Kind of impressive they managed a montage out of one class period.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

Kind of impressive they managed a montage out of one class period.

 

Well, they are pretty fucking amazing. This is also one of those two-disparate-songs-crammed-into-one-scene moments Jason was talking about. There's one song for sewing and a different song for showing. There is minimal transition between the two.

[PollyDarton 1807]

True. It was a basic dress, but impressive she did it all during one period.

 

It takes the crackheads on project runway around 8 hours to make something that ugly... so yes, impressive if not completely impossible!

Jade's skills do require a bit of suspension of disbelief. Cloe is a great soccer player - not out of the realm of possibility. Sasha is a cheerleading and tumbling dynamo - I'm still on board. Yasmin... umm... Yasmin... well she can speak spanish, totally plausible. Jade can make a fully finished garment in a class period as well as seizure inducing fireworks experiments? Is that some "Asian girls are magic" racism?

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

Unrelated to this episode: I am reading a book about the Donner Party and it's talking about mirages on the Oregon Trail. You guys. I'm scared of mirages in general.

Something, something ... "You died in a cholera mirage" ... meh, I lost it.

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

It takes the crackheads on project runway around 8 hours to make something that ugly... so yes, impressive if not completely impossible!

Jade's skills do require a bit of suspension of disbelief. Cloe is a great soccer player - not out of the realm of possibility. Sasha is a cheerleading and tumbling dynamo - I'm still on board. Yasmin... umm... Yasmin... well she can speak spanish, totally plausible. Jade can make a fully finished garment in a class period as well as seizure inducing fireworks experiments? Is that some "Asian girls are magic" racism?

 

Poor, Yasmin...lol

 

But since you brought it up, let's talk about Sasha's tryouts. Look, I'm all for confidence and everything, but damn she was needlessly confrontational with the head cheerleader. I mean, she's essentially in the middle of job interview for a very competitive position (especially for a freshman), and she laughs straight in their faces and basically calls all their moves trash. It's lucky she had the moves to back it up, but still, she's trying out to be part of a team. I just think this this might be one of those rare instances where you want to keep your bratitude in check.

[tomspanks 9039]

Poor, Yasmin...lol

 

But since you brought it up, let's talk about Sasha's tryouts. Look, I'm all for confidence and everything, but damn she was needlessly confrontational with the head cheerleader. I mean, she's essentially in the middle of job interview for a very competitive position (especially for a freshman), and she laughs straight in their faces and basically calls all their moves trash. It's lucky she had the moves to back it up, but still, she's trying out to be part of a team. I just think this this might be one of those rare instances where you want to keep your bratitude in check.

 

In Sasha's defense, the cheer routines were basic af and Sasha Cohen and her tiara needed to be taken down a notch, even if she's an Olympian.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

 

In Sasha's defense, the cheer routines were basic af and Sasha Cohen and her tiara needed to be taken down a notch, even if she's an Olympian.

I did like her as Borat though

[PollyDarton 1807]

Poor, Yasmin...lol

 

But since you brought it up, let's talk about Sasha's tryouts. Look, I'm all for confidence and everything, but damn she was needlessly confrontational with the head cheerleader. I mean, she's essentially in the middle of job interview for a very competitive position (especially for a freshman), and she laughs straight in their faces and basically calls all their moves trash. It's lucky she had the moves to back it up, but still, she's trying out to be part of a team. I just think this this might be one of those rare instances where you want to keep your bratitude in check.

 

She is such a jerk to them!

What she says is RIDICULOUS.

If you don't want to re-watch she says "Girl I brought it, nailed it, lent it to my best friend's kid sister, and I borrowed it back while you were still figuring out the beat." What!?

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

 

She is such a jerk to them!

What she says is RIDICULOUS.

If you don't want to re-watch she says "Girl I brought it, nailed it, lent it to my best friend's kid sister, and I borrowed it back while you were still figuring out the beat." What!?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qNFbdZ61qM

Again, as Tom says, the group routine they show off with is so terrible (and filled with sloppy mistakes) but they act like they're right off the set of 'Bring it On'. They're more like the cheerleaders in 'The Replacements'. I think they get what they deserve.

[Cameron H. 23786]

Again, as Tom says, the group routine they show off with is so terrible (and filled with sloppy mistakes) but they act like they're right off the set of 'Bring it On'. They're more like the cheerleaders in 'The Replacements'. I think they get what they deserve.

 

WHAT?!? I don't care if they're a bunch of basic b's what Sasha says is just ridiculous and totally uncalled for! Again, a healthy bit of confidence is fine, but straight up insulting them with no provocation is bullshit. The head cheerleader wasnt being insulting or condescending. She was just setting an expectation. And for that, and nothing more, Sasha acts like a fucking asshole.

 

If I were the head cheerleader, I would have been like, "You might have the skillz 2 pay the billz, but I don't like you, I don't want to hang out with you, and I don't want you on the team."

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

WHAT?!? I don't care if they're a bunch of basic b's what Sasha says is just ridiculous and totally uncalled for! Again, a healthy bit of confidence is fine, but straight up insulting them with no provocation is bullshit. The head cheerleader wasnt being insulting or condescending. She was just setting an expectation. And for that, and nothing more, Sasha acts like a fucking asshole.

 

If I were the head cheerleader, I would have been like, "You might have the skillz 2 pay the billz, but I don't like you, I don't want to hang out with you, and I don't want you on the team."

Hey, Bratz gonna brat, you can't hold them down.

[tomspanks 9039]

It's called bratitude, not polititude

[Cameron H. 23786]

 

Hey, Bratz gonna brat, you can't hold them down.

 

Too true

 

[grudlian. 4725]

It's called bratitude, not polititude

Polite Young Ladiez was a significantly less popular spinoff of the Bratz line but maintains a loyal fanbase to this day.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

In the podcast, the hosts wondered aloud what teen comedy Bratz was most similar too, but it seems to me that the answer is "all of them" -- as in, every popular teen comedy released within the decade prior to the filming of Bratz. Let's count 'em up:

 

1. The opening credits are EXTREMELY similar to those of Legally Blonde, to say nothing of the character who carries a cute little dog in her purse while floating in a pool.

2. As was mentioned, Meredith seems like a low-rent version of Regina George from Mean Girls. Additionally, she enters a talent show with a choreographed dance number as a key plot point.

3. There is a cheerleading scene in which one character literally says, "Bring it on."

4. One of the Bratz plays soccer to the tune of the Faders' "No Sleep Tonight," exactly as in the Amanda Bynes vehicle She's the Man (no cross-dressing, though).

5. The the description of the lunch-table cliques in the courtyard are lifted directly from Clueless, in addition to the scene in which a teacher receives an abrupt makeover from one of her students.

 

These aren't just generic devices used across many teen movies like the mean principal, slobs-vs.-snobs conflict, or annoying younger siblings (though of course Bratz hits on all of these too), these are obvious DIRECT ripoffs of other recent and popular films in the same genre. I'm not sure I can recall any other movie that has engaged in such broad plagiarism, from so many sources. Anything else I'm missing?