Easy A (Movie)

Easy A . Sony Pictures, 2010.
Cast: Emma Stone, Stanley Tucci, Amanda Bynes, Penn Badgley.
Director: Will Gluck
Screen Writer: Bert V. Royal
Rating: PG-13.
Length: 92minutes.
ASIN: B0036TGSIK

Plot:

After letting her best friend believe she lost her virginity, Olive becomes the subject of gossip at her high school. Believing that its better than being invisible, she decides to encourage the gossip instead of putting a stop to it. When a gay friend comes to her asking for help with his reputation, she agrees to let everyone think that they had sex. In return, he gives her a gift to thank her. Soon, she has other boys in the school coming to her with the offer of gifts to say that they had a physical relationship. As her reputation worsens, Olive gains the attention of the school’s Christian group, who even go so far as to picket her. Her best friend doesn’t like the attention Olive is receiving and the two have a fight. The only friend Olive has left is the boy on whom she has had a crush since she was 12. Olive finally reaches the point where she can’t deal with the rumors or they way they are making her feel anymore and decides to let everyone know the truth in a very creative way.

Critical Evaluation:

Emma Stone really shines in Easy A. She’s a young actress with a long comedic career ahead of her. She is able to deliver lines with both a deadpan sincerity and a sarcastic wittiness that keeps the viewer laughing throughout most of the movie. She portrays Olive as both hilariously confident and awkward, while at the same time vulnerable and sometimes defensive. Olive’s interactions with her family are priceless.

Easy A manages the difficult task of projecting a very obvious moral without losing any of its entertainment value. It is able to comment on both the danger of rumors as well as the hypocrisy of the reaction to sex in high school, but it does so in a way that the audience doesn’t feel as if it's preaching. Instead it is packaged as a comedic romance that just happens to have a good message. It’s one that can be enjoyable for teens and adults alike.

Annotation:

After helping a friend by lying about her sexual experience, Olive decides to use her new reputation to her advantage. She soon finds out rumors can get out of hand, even when you start them yourself.

Director Information:

Will Gluck has been involved with the film industry in numerous capacities since 1996. He started his career as a writer for the John Laraquette Show. He has written for several television shows since then. In 1998 he also began producing many of the shows for which he wrote. He then made his directorial debut with 2009’s Fired Up. He's next movie is coming out in 2011.

Genre:

Comedy

Curriculum Ties:

English: Modern Comparison to The Scarlet Letter

Movie Talking Ideas:

• Talk about the rumors being started and how they got out of control.
• Discuss the connection between the movie and The Scarlet Letter.
• Present a basic plot teaser as Olive using the signs like she did in her confession.

Reading Level/Interest Age:

13 and older

Challenge Issues:

Suggestive lLanguage
Sexual content
Anti-religion

Challenge Defense Ideas:

• Require the challenger to fill out a written challenge form with clear reasons stated and examples given.
• If not already familiar with the content, become familiar.
• Refer the challenger to the library's collection policy.
• Refer the challenger to reputable reviews of the books, as well as reviews by those in the book's target audience.

Reasons for Selection:

It's a recent movie that has received favorable reviews.

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

Summers, Courtney. Some Girls Are. St. Martin's Griffin, 2010. 256 pages. ISBN-10: 0312573804. ISBN-13: 978-0312573805.

Plot:

Regina used to be a member of the most powerful and feared group of girls in the school. When her best friend’s boyfriend attacks her at a party, Regina chooses to trust the wrong girl and wakes up the next day an outcast. The rumor is that she willingly slept with him and betrayed her best friend. Nothing Regina says can change the story and she’s left with no friends, no boyfriend, and the horrible truth. Having spent years being terrorized by Regina and her former friends, the school is all too happy to turn on her. In an attempt to protect herself from the bullying, she turns to a victim of hers, Michael. Michael is a loner who spends most of his time writing in his journal. He isn’t thrilled to be her savior or her redemption, but he at least chooses not to engage in tormenting her with the rest of the school.

Regina and Michael grow closer as they begin to see each other as individuals instead of a representations of the high school social strata. Despite his initial reluctance to befriend her, they fall for each other. When Regina finds a way to get back at the other girls, they decide to use Michael against her by stealing his journal. As her situation becomes more and more hellish, Regina must choose between her feelings for Michael and saving him from their retribution.

Critical Evaluation:

The bullying in Some Girls Are is brutal and cruel. The acts the characters commit are horrible, but they are never unbelievable. This is a very striking read of exactly what people are capable of doing to each other. Though there are many novels written on the subject of bullying, what makes this book stand out is that there is no black and white to the situation or characters. Throughout Regina’s victimization we’re reminded that not too long ago she was the bully herself. She does feel remorse and often acknowledges that she is probably getting what she deserves, but she doesn’t completely change her ways. She is still willing to lash out and victimize her tormentors when the opportunity presents itself. However, despite the popular mean girl turned outcast storyline, reading this as strictly a story about comeuppance doesn’t do it justice. It’s much deeper than that.

One of the most interesting aspects of the book is the relationship between Michael and Regina. At first Regina uses him as a shield from the rest of the school. In him, she sees both someone to save her and a way to redeem herself for her former actions against. She doesn’t see him as a person, but rather something she can use and her pursuit of him borders on pathetic. To Michael, Regina is simply the mean and spoiled girl who got what she deserved. Summers’s talent is evident in writing the progression of their relationship from that initial point to when they finally fall for each other. Though fast paced, it isn’t rushed or forced. It also doesn’t seem unrealistically sweet or too like a fairy tale. We genuinely believe that two people who originally hated each other are finally starting to see each other as people, even if they don’t really want to. This makes the culmination of the ending drama much more poignant. Some Girls Are is a book that left me feeling sick and sad, but one that I wouldn’t hesitate to read again.

Reader's Annotation:

When Regina’s best friends turn on her, she goes from being one of the most popular girls in school to the most hated.

Author Information:

Courtney Summers was born in Ontario, Canada on April 25, 1986. While in high school, she decided that she wasn’t happy with her education. With her parent’s permission, she dropped out to pursue learning on her own terms. She has many interests and jumps into each with a passion bordering on obsession at times. She has written about her love of both zombies and volcanoes on her blog. She decided to take up both photography and writing during the years she normally would have been in high school and college.

Her first book was published in 2008, her second in 2010, and another will be published in December of this year. She writes exclusively for young adults. She states that her reasoning for doing so is her love of the “immediacy” of young adult fiction, something that isn’t as present in other types of fiction.

Genre:

Realistic Fiction: Bullying

Curriculum Ties:

Psychology: Bullying

Booktalking Ideas:

• Focus on the scene when Regina first realizes everyone has turned on her.
• Discuss going from the bully to the bullied.
• Discuss the relationship between the main character and her "friends."
• Discuss the relationship between Regina and Michael.
  

Reading Level/Interest Age:

14 and older

Challenge Issues:

Attempted rape
Profanity
Bullying
Drug and alcohol use

Challenge Defense Ideas:

• Require the challenger to fill out a written challenge form with clear reasons stated and examples given.
• If not already familiar with the content, become familiar.
• Refer the challenger to the library's collection policy.
• Refer the challenger to reputable reviews of the books, as well as reviews by those in the book's target audience.

Reasons for Selection:

Bullying is big problem with teenagers. This book gives an accurate portrayal of what bullying can be like.