63: Karen's Movie

[Kylie90210]

Please discuss this book here.

[annieb]

I all I remember about this book is Karen and her friends getting into a fight because of Karen's bossiness. ;D

[tiff85]

Karen could be very bossy at times and liked getting her way. I remember reading this book and I think Karen, Nancy, and Bobby got into a heated argument about Karen's bossiness.

[Kylie90210]

^ They make a movie for Seth's Dad... Princess Gigglepuss, and Karen the director is obsessed with getting it perfect, and is a little bossy. I didn't think she was that unreasonable, for Karen anyway.

[wanderingfrog]

I thought she was being pretty unreasonable in this book, actually, but it's been a while since I've read it, so I don't remember all the specifics.

[virgoscorpio]

I had to laugh because Karen mentions SALADS in this book. Does anyone remember how she was on a "making salads kick" in Karen's Plane Trip??!

[supprazz]

Salads AGAIN? Now what happened?

[virgoscorpio]

^ LOL. I think she helps make a salad at the Little House and also whilst in Nebraska. Now I want a salad, haha.

So I have to point out something. Remember in the last book, Karen's New Bike, when Sam takes Karen's old bike and works on it so it can be in the bike parade (and eventually goes to the girl who was given Karen's stolen bike)? Well in this one he basically edits Karen's entire movie for her. It always seems like Sam and Charlie, as high-school kids, have no lives and have ample amount of time to help Karen with whatever project of the month. It's really sweet of him but a bit unrealistic to me.

[scrounge]

It does seem a little unrealistic but Charlie and Sam have no life in the BSC either except that they attend a lot of high school sporting events when the plot calls for a baby-sitting chapter at Kristy's house. Charlie is always driving his sister and her friends places.

I like the dated technology (Seth buying his parents a VCR while his dad convalesces) because for me the books really should be firmly set in the late 80s/very early 90s.

[wanderingfrog]

Just reread this and I didn't think Karen was being unreasonable. She was the director of the movie so she, y'know, directed it, and her friends got all butthurt about her getting them to do a few lines over. Sheesh, who expects everything to be perfect the first time without doing anything over? Karen could have been slightly more tactful, since she's a seven-year-old dealing with other small children and not with professional actors, so she could have been more polite and given more positive feedback, but I didn't see anything really wrong with her behaviour. She's usually bossier in day-to-day life than she was directing this movie! It wasn't like this was a school project a bunch of them were working on, or even just a game entirely for fun. Karen had the idea to make a movie as a present for her sick grandfather, it was her family's video camera, and I don't think it was unreasonable for her to direct it and tell people to do a few things over to make it better. Her friends were being really touchy.

[Sideshowjazz1]

If a real director had acted the way Karen did, yes, they would be within their rights. But Karen's friends are doing her a favour, and I think she's being too bossy.

[livvy]

Karen's friends had no idea. Karen did everything right. She was the director and her job is to direct. Sure she's a little bossy but you'd think her friends were used to it by now.

[livvy]

Apr 23, 2018 22:02:13 GMT -5 Sideshowjazz1 said:

If a real director had acted the way Karen did, yes, they would be within their rights. But Karen's friends are doing her a favour, and I think she's being too bossy.

But her friends should have been used her bossiness by now.

[Sideshowjazz1]

Dec 9, 2022 9:06:07 GMT -5 livvy said:

Karen's friends had no idea. Karen did everything right. She was the director and her job is to direct. Sure she's a little bossy but you'd think her friends were used to it by now.

Maybe, but as I pointed out, Karen's friends won't get anything out of the movie. Real actors get paid. They don't even get much credit for it when they get things right. Karen doesn't tell them anything they do right, just wrong. Yes, she'd make a good director another time. But not for a group of seven-year-olds who aren't as thick-skinned for criticism yet. They need praise, too.

[sparklymouse]

I forgot that so much of this was about her ailing grandpa. Seth must be an only child. He picked up and went to help out for 3 weeks without any mention of any other help. Lisa was a crackhead because she was going to make a bunch of food to bring along so that Granny wouldn't have to cook. I approve of the gesture. Just make the stuff there. Don't be dragging your bag of casseroles on the plane, lol.

The plot of the play was that a prince wanted a wife. His parents put a notice in the paper, and girls came to audition to win his hand in marriage. He wanted a wife who made him laugh. The first two girls told him jokes that he didn't like. The third one tickled him with a feather boa, so that was who he chose. That woman was going to have the most exhausting marriage.

Seth's friend delivered the TV/VCR to the Little House, and then Seth had to pack it up and ship it. I wonder how much it cost to ship a big-ass tube TV to Nebraska.

I liked how Karen became more self-aware after seeing herself act up on camera. I have heard reality show cast members say the same thing about seeing themselves in action.