Summer Movies--#13

OK, I’ll tell you right up front, this is a weird one. The title alone almost kept me away. It’s called The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants [2005] by Delia Ephron and Elizabeth Chandler. But the title is familiar to teenage girls as it started out as a book aimed at them—and they apparently loved the book well enough for a studio to take notice and make the film.

And guess what? It was successful—successful enough, in fact, to spawn a sequel with the surprising title of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.

What’s so special about this movie? Well, it was aimed at teenage girls, not teenage boys.

Most films are aimed at teenage boys because—guess what—studies have shown that girls will go with their boyfriends to whatever movie they want to see, but boys won’t go with their girlfriends to see movies with girls as the main character[s]. So boys drive the movies that are made.

Isn’t this sad? I would have thought that equality would be something we could hope to have achieved by now, but statistics don’t lie. But why? Why will girls just follow along and go to whatever their boyfriends want to see?

So that’s why The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is important—it aimed for a teenage girl audience and got it, thus spawning other films aimed at teenage girls.

Take a look at a trailer for the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV1IkLvTe1I

The premise is… well, just weird. But hey, I’m not the demographic for this film, am I?

In a nutshell, the film is about four girls who are each heading off to different adventures for the summer, and they mail these pants to one another. Why? Because the pants are… well, magic. First of all, they fit each girl perfectly—even one who’s a bit chunky. So they really are magic pants. I mean, what pants do you know that can fit from a size 2 to a size 14? But the magic isn’t just confined to the pants fitting each girl, the pants also produce magical moments for each girl. And as these girls are friends, they mail the pants to one another so that each of them can share in the magic.

But, of course, it’s not about the pants. The pants are just the vehicle through which the stories of these four girls can be told. This is a different way to construct a film—kind of an episodic way. And though if a producer uses ‘episodic’ to describe a script, it can be the kiss of death, in this instance, the episodic format works. We get to travel with each of the four and see them come back together, too.

So if it’s not about the pants, what is it about? Friendship. Period.

It’s a simple thought, isn’t it? So ask yourself, is there a simple thought behind a story I want to tell? If so, just go for it. That’s the way most scripts begin, in fact, with a writer who has a simple idea, has faith in that idea, and works to tell that story.

So get to work!

Copyright © Diane Lake

27Sep20

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com