Those
who missed the theatrical release of Harriet The Spy last
summer should think twice before rushing out to rent the newly
released video. Despite the high hopes of fans of Louise Fitzhugh's
engaging children's novel, the movie version of Harriet The
Spy is a major disappointment, suggesting once again that
Hollywood has little of value to say to people with childhoods.
First published
in 1964, the book is a favorite of pre-teen girls drawing encouragement
from the zany adventures of Harriet, an iconoclastic 11-year-old
who lives as much in her imagination as she does on her block
in New York City. Harriet's best friend is her journal; and through
it she schemes, and snoops, and fantasizes, creating her own wacky
little world. When that world occasionally bumps into reality,
Harriet gets into BIG trouble. But nothing that can't be overcome
by a little spunk and a lot of imagination.
Unfortunately,
the movie doesn't let Harriet overcome anything. When her journal
is discovered by schoolmates (who take offense at finding themselves
the object of Harriet's private barbs), they declare war. The
revenge that is portrayed is brutal and incessant; it left me
squirming uncomfortably at the sight of kids being so mean to
each other.
In one scene,
a classroom full of vengeful kids pours paint on Harriet's head
while a teacher blinks witlessly in the background. This and other
unsettling scenes make lies of reasonable childhood assumptions:
that friends and teachers can be counted on, that bad days always
end, that parents have your best interests at heart.
As the acts
against her mount, Harriet is forced into an emotional corner
from which her only escape is to lash out physically and mete
out her own revenge in equally brutal ways. As cathartic as this
is, it's all a set-up. Harriet-and the viewer-is forced down this
path by manipulative filmmakers who seem determined to replace
the book's hard lessons learned with a cruelty more reminiscent
of Lord of the Flies.
THIS PERVERSE
EMPHASIS may have an explanation. Harriet The Spy was co-produced
by Nickelodeon, the kid-cable network whose programming is the
television equivalent of breakfast cereal. Nickelodeon's high-speed,
sugar-filled view of children is to hurry them through their icky
and uncool childhoods and into the grown-up world of conformity
and status. Nickelodeon-like the rest of mainstream entertainment-has
a not-so-subtle message for the younger generation: Be liked,
or be damned.
The book allows
Harriet to survive her torments and tormentors with her childhood
intact. Life can sometimes be tough, but in the end Harriet still
has her pride, her spy glass, and her tomato sandwich.
But Harriet,
the movie, shows a clear contempt for childhood and insists on
projecting society's own cruel truth about life: The nail that
sticks up gets hammered down. Despite a tacked on "happy"
ending, young viewers cannot forget what has happened again and
again for the last hour: Their heroine-a symbol of their own individuality-has
been squashed.
Sitting in a theater with
my two daughters-both about Harriet's age, both sitting quietly,
numbly, as they watched the cruelty of their peers on screen-I
reflected that when you are 11 years old, you are getting close
to the end of childhood, the end of a lot of good things soon
forgotten in the teen-age years. As the movie came to a merciful
close, I had an overwhelming urge to go home and organize a game
of hide-and-seek.
Read other articles by:
Spivey Jr., Ed
|
Subscribe to Sojourners today at a special introductory price and save $10 off the basic rate! Click here for details.
WE WANT TO HEAR from you! Click here to share your views. Or write to "Letters," Sojourners, 3333 14th St. NW, Suite 200, Washington DC 20010; fax (202) 328-8757. Please include your name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for space and clarity.
|
|
 |
Read other articles by:
Spivey Jr., Ed
|
