When the group walks around the neighborhood wearing sandwich boards to advertise their services, they don’t get any clients, “but at least we got our steps in,” Claudia quips.Īnd then there’s how the showrunners play with language. Claudia complains about watching her genius older sister, Janine, “correct people’s grammar on Reddit.” Mary Anne is mortified by the flip phone her father forces on her. They trade Instagram handles and cross-reference their followers to find clients.Įach episode finds a way to feel grounded in our era. ” Stacey, then, proposes using “targeted social media ads” and calculating the "best ratio of clickthrough to investment." The girls use Google Docs as a replacement record book. And when Kristy proposes the club to her friends, she describes it as a way for her mother to avoid joining an expensive nanny website, which, Claudia adds, “would then sell her personal information to, like, the Russians. They’re representative of the material itself: funny, smart, and aligned with each sitter’s personality.įor instance, Claudia bought said funky landline from Etsy. The most amazing thing is that these references, however tongue-in-cheek, don’t feel corny or obligatory. The show injects 2020 pop culture and technology into the mix.Īlthough there is a landline (!!) the girls use for BSC calls only, you’ll notice hundreds of modern nods that place the girls firmly in 2020. The Baby-Sitters Club never succumbs to ignorance for the sake of simplicity it embraces the reality tweens face today, and is so much better because of it. There's something so powerful in watching a children's show invite the larger, more complicated world into its otherwise idyllic story. Nearly every episode emphasizes some key element of inclusivity, whether it's sex or race, socioeconomic status or transgender identity. Mary Anne (Malia Baker), brunette and white in the books, is biracial, while Dawn Schaefer, famously straw-haired in the series, is played by Latinx actress Xochitl Gomez.īut the diversity goes far beyond the initial cast. You’ll notice right off the bat that the main cast doesn’t look exactly like the characters on your retro covers. The characters and the story are more inclusive. Here’s everything Netflix changes from the chapter books, and why it works so well. I’ll admit I didn’t read all 200+ books in preparation for this article, but I did zoom through the first six, and it’s remarkable to see how the show’s first 10 episodes breathe new life into an old story. It’s the one you’ve always known, brought out of storage and carefully calibrated for 2020. But I’d argue if you watch the first five minutes-or even the first 30 seconds-of episode 1, “Kristy’s Great Idea,” you know you’re watching a story that’s been carefully preserved, protected, and transposed into the modern day. So when it became clear Netflix would take some liberties with its adaptation of the series, concern was understandable. $7 at Amazon $7 at Macy's Credit: Scholastic Today’s grown women still self-identify as a Claudia or Dawn-and wear their status like a badge of honor. Daughters would beg their parents to buy them one of the Super Mysteries or Friends Forever Specials. Their stories went on to sell hundreds of millions of copies, rounding out a series of more than 200 books, which now fill boxes in attics everywhere. The Stoneybrook girls-Kristy Thomas, Mary Anne Spier, Stacey McGill, Claudia Kishi, Dawn Schaefer, Mallory Pike, and Jessi Ramsey-were independent, affectionate, funny, kind, moody, selfish, bored, brilliant, and classic. The club’s seven entrepreneurs were the OG feminist icons, long before most of us understood what it meant to be a feminist icon. Martin in 1986, they were a staple of Scholastic book fairs and tween lore for many who came of age in the late 20th century. Change-any change-is perceived as threat.Īnd, some would argue, The Baby-Sitters Club books were untouchable. Fans love stories told exactly as they remember them. Rebooting a beloved franchise is like attempting a Pinterest DIY-so common it supports an entire industry, yet so easily mishandled it’s a safety hazard. If you’re a Mary Anne like me, you were probably more skeptical. If you’re a Kristy, you knew from the moment Netflix’s Baby-Sitters Club reboot was announced that it’d be a masterpiece.
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