(no subject)

[elucreh]

This weekend I was a good big sister and watched a movie with my eleven-yo baby sister; she got to pick.

She chose that Perfect Man movie--with Hilary Duff? (She's eleven. Try not to judge too harshly.)

It's actually not a terrible movie. Cheesy? Yes. Condescending? Yes. But not terrible.

However?

The narration from Duff's character is presented as though she's blogging about it. And apparently the scriptwriters have never actually read a blog, particularly one written by a teenage girl.

I was a teenage girl with a blog. I have teenagers on my flist. They don't write like that. Nobody I know, including the off-LJ blogs I get linked to that are professional or otherwise more-public-than-personal, reads like that. In style it's probably closest to Samantha Ferris's blog, but it's kind of like mayonnaise being closer to ketchup than peanut butter, and seriously...the public broadcasting blog of a thirty-something actress. C'mon, y'all. I do better research than that for fic. Let alone a movie millions of dollars are being spent on. They could have afforded to pay the writers to surf MySpace for a couple of days.

There are other little things...does anybody actually address people by their screennames in e-mail when you know the names they go by? Would you call me "BrooklynBoy" if you knew I was Ben, really? "Dear Brooklyn Boy, today blahblahblah..."?

I didn't think so. (ETA: To clarify: they met in real life, and were referring to each other by their actual names; then changed to calling each other by screenname when they were separated and only communicating online. Moreover, these were the adults, not people growing up in online culture.)

And what gets me most is the fact that they keep presenting the character as isolated, lonely, by the way her family keeps moving around. Here's a hint, movie writers? If she's got a personal blog? She's part of a community. She moved to New York...I guarantee at least one person she knows online lives within a four-hour ride. I guarantee if she feels safe blogging about her intimate personal issues, she has people she considers friends reading this thing...people she doesn't lose when she moves, people she counts on and communicates with, people who keep her from feeling as though she's all alone in a cold, cruel world. The point of the internet, particularly of blogging, particularly of blogging about the very very personal details of your life, particularly when you're just another of a thousand other ordinary citizens? Connecting to people.

So next time? Find a different narration device. Or do some goddamn research.

Comments

[kiwi-cow.livejournal.com]

Another case of an older generation attempting to tell a younger one what the younger one is like. I always find it amusing when people attempt to tell me what I am like just because I technically have a blog. Actually two, but one is for school, so that doesn't count.

[shocolate.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the film - my 11-year-old chose Juno yesterday - but I do address people by their user name.

I have several people on my flist that I have met in real life and still use their user names.

[ashavah]

Yeah, I sometimes get called by JK even when people know my real name, and I do it sometimes, too. I think it depends on the situation. And if you spent forever thinking of a person by their username and then learned their real one, you might well still call them by that name.

Apart from that, I agree with you. People without blogs really ... tend not to understand the blogging culture. And bloggers are totally part of a community. Quite a strong one, too.

[elucreh.livejournal.com]

But that is how you were introduced. Bleargh, I don't explain well when I'm ranting. No, they met IRL, knew each other by name. Only started e-mailing after he went on a business trip. I just don't think you'd revert, you know? (I'm not casting stones on the username thing in general, I told my roommates to call me Lu.)

[elucreh.livejournal.com]

But that is how you were introduced. Bleargh, I don't explain well when I'm ranting. No, they met IRL, knew each other by name. Only started e-mailing after he went on a business trip. I just don't think you'd revert, you know?

[lunar-endeavor.livejournal.com]

On the one hand, yeah, very dumb of them--on the other hand, this is pretty much always the problem when you have a narrative conceit like letters or a journal--it never, ever acknowledges what real letters and journals are like, nor does it hold to the conventions of that particular writing genre. And, in truth, it can't, if it's going to fulfill its narrative purpose. Some writers push the limits of the form more gently than others, but a lot of writers are just plain lazy about it.

Also, it's a Hollywood movie aimed at tweens. No waaaaay are they going to waste money on research. Research is for Oscar-bait, indies, and overeducated sissies!

[elucreh.livejournal.com]

ROFL

Thanks for that!

[ms-katonic.livejournal.com]

Well, it's still possible to feel lonely even with online friends to keep you company - but I agree, in NYC, surely there'd be someone around to meet up with?

But am with you on the email - no one signs emails with their internet handle to someone they've met in RL and know the real first name of!

[openmydoors.livejournal.com]

AHAHAHA someone should actually do a film about a blogger who went to search up her/his blog friends and stuff... It would be interetsting, IF they did their research all proper and the like. :D