# 130 Stacey's Movie

I think Cokie totally had a point. The BSC is totally a clique that only has friends outside the club when it's convenient for the plot of a book. It was nice to have someone mention that this is one way of looking at it.

Don't remember much about this one except MA's interview. It actually made me feel bad for Sharon. I'm not a Sharon fan usually (not a Sharon-hater either) but think that she always tried to be really good to MA. I know she can't replace her mother and all but I thought she always did what she could to be as much of a "mom" as she could. This was Sharon's redeeming quality, in my opinion, though it was often overshadowed by the annoying airheadness and scatterbrained stuff (which I thought was totally overdone). Sorry if I'm going off topic too much here. Maybe this should be on the Sharon page.
Anyway... as for this book, (with what I remember which might be inaccurate) I thought Stacey was kind of cold to include MA's interview and some of the personal things people said. I probably better reread before saying more. Just wanted to voice my sympathy for Sharon.

When I read this one last fall, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it, considering it's so late in the regular series. This is probably one of my favorites. I love the books where a BSC member is social with other students. It's an added bonus that my three favorite secondary characters - Pete, Emily, and Erica - are featured so prominently.

I really enjoyed everything about the main plot from the disastrous making of their first movie to the interviews and all the drama those caused. I guess Emily Bernstein's supposed to be the villain of the book, but I really liked her. It was nice to learn she has an actual personality. I liked that she stood up to Stacey and refused to back down on the Mary Anne issue. It may be a bit coldhearted, but Emily is a hardcore journalist. She doesn't mind exploiting the pain of others. In fact, she sort of delights in it.



Stacey and Emily argued several times about editing out the Mary Anne footage and later, Stacey's comments about her parents' screaming matches pre-divorce. I think Pete sided with Emily. I believe Erica, as the director, had the final say and Emily convinced her to keep the interviews intact.



The final thoughts were lame. I wish the rest of the group hadn't agreed to that compromise.

Hm, I don't have the book with me but I'll try to remember...

Claudia - was interviewed in the art room at school (of course) and talked about her frustration with teachers rewarding students for being good in things like English and science, but not respecting/rewarding the misunderstood individual aka artist and making life hard for them (uh, how many times have you received an honor for your artwork, Claud? I can think of a couple...)

Mary Anne - is moody in her interview and lets it slip that she's angry with Sharon for forgetting an item of hers at the dry cleaners (I think). She also says in the heat of the moment that she hates her birth mother for dying.

Abby - she's bugged by her mother's chaotic schedule but when Emily compares Abby's own busy, on the go life with her mother's, she wonders if she's more like her mother than she thinks and walks off to ponder it.

Jessi - reveals that she is more comfortable around her Dance NY friends because she feels she doesn't have to prove herself as much to them as she does with her white friends.

Pete Black - he wishes he could get a job and was able to drive so he could escape small-town life.

Cokie Mason - talks about what she looks for in a boyfriend and issues of popularity.

Emily Bernstein and Erica Blumberg - don't reveal much, they just talk about their ambitions (Emily wanting to be a journalist) and things that make them angry (for Erica, war and pollution...by far the most boring interviewee).

Alan Gray - it really bothers him when people don't take him seriously as anything other than the class clown.

Stacey - after Emily gets her to let down her guard, she regrets revealing some things about her parents' divorce, like how they wouldn't stop screaming at each other during their fights.

[giggle] I AM the Mary Anne apologist!

Honestly, I felt bad for her, partly because I really related to her specific gripe--I have big issues with people who can't/don't/won't follow through on promises, even little ones, and I totally got why that would grate on MA so much, especially because she's pretty self-sufficient for a thirteen-year-old (in domestic type stuff, at least). To me, it read like she was upset, but she was booked into this interview, and didn't have the confidence to say flat-out "sorry, I know I said I'd do this now, but it's really a good time," so she was already self-conscious about being upset and she snapped. I've done it. She immediately regrets it.

(And my read on Emily, which is admittedly shaped by my school journalism experiences, is that no, I'm sorry, you really aren't that hard-core in eighth grade. I think it was more about Emily wanting to FEEL important like a Real Journalist Uncovering a Scandal! then it had anything to do with real journalistic issues, which is an interesting story in itself, but doesn't really get told here. But if she'd been less self-important and less committed to herself as the Carl Bernstein of SMS, they probably could have handled the add-ons more organically. Of course, I also think their teacher was not very good and needed to be much more closely involved actually TEACHING. :misses my nationally award-winning high-school journalism teacher, who would have kicked I disagree if I acted as pretentious as Emily when I was editor:).

But then, I think the Sharon/Mary Anne/Richard dynamic should be SO much richer and more interesting, especially as Mary Anne learns more about her mother as an individual, because I do think on the whole, Mary Anne is much more open and welcoming to Sharon in her life than losts of thirteen-year-olds would be in that situation. (Instead we get Bicoastal!Dawn x Infinity). In "MA and the Little Princess," which I think is a very dumb book, MA is, IMO, infinitely patient with Sharon, even when Sharon starts refering to herself as Mary Anne's mom, which would upset me in that situation (even if Mary Anne doesn't remember her mom, she knows she existed, as a person, who can't just be replaced). But Mary Anne has to not only deal with Sharon being her stepmom (and the chaos Sharon carries with her), but the pressure of being the surrogate for Dawn and Jeff, which is a lot of pressure for someone who already spent a lot of her life being the sole emotional focus for her dad. I'm surprised she doesn't snap at or vent about Sharon more often, honestly.

Or else you are all much, much nicer people than me.

It was nice to see Stacey go to bat for her so hard though. There is something really interesting about the Stacey/Mary Anne friendship.

Hee! I almost mentioned that fic when I wrote that post, but I felt bad because I drew a blank on Celica60's name, and fanfiction.net hates my computer and won't let me use the search engine.