C.H.E.R.U.B appreciation thread
you’ll remember CHERUB? I know it was published pretty heavily in AUS and the UK, idk about the US and honestly seppos can miss out on this one.
SO CHERUB, it was this young adult series in the early 2000′s about...... KID SPIES! cool right? Alex Rider can eat my ass, CHERUB is the child spy story we needed. for those not in the know, CHERUB agents are orphans and disadvantaged kids who act as spies. The theory seems to be that a mob boss will be suss of an adult joining them, but their kids friends run around the house all the time. So Cherubs can do surveillance and stuff, while having the excuse of being ‘just a widdle kid’.
so whats to appreciate? whats to appreciate!?!? LET ME TELL YOU!
As mentioned, the series is based around orphans and kids from rough backgrounds. the main character is a chav from south London, most of the kids have semi-tragic backstories about drug addict or criminal parents. As a result, the whole cast essentially are POC and lower class kids, who are useful specifically because of those traits. The series uses the notions of rich people ignoring poor people as a justification for spying. pretty cool concept.
as far as ‘child spies’ goes, the series takes its time in showing how cherub is effective, and it’s even based in real spying operations in WW2, where french ands english kids were used against the nazis. Cherub is explicitly based on the Charles Henderson Espionage Research Unit B, a fictional operation in WW2.
the main chracter is kinda awsome. James Charles is a chav chad, he’s habndsome, smart and tough. but also, James is kinda just a kid. there are loads of times the series will show you James in a tough spot, and the inner narration is juxtaposed against this trained kid spy, cause we hear James thoughts and it keep us in his head.
All this is lame stuff though, craft and style and chracter. lets do the fun and really cool stuff.
All the kids get to chose new names when they join cherub, and unlike ‘remus lupin’, their chosen names are often just lame. EXECPT FOR ONE GUY, this kid who beats the hell out of James when they meet, and goes onto be a main character. This kid is obsessed with martial arts, and is kinda the tank of the group. anyway, his CHOSEN NAME is........ Bruce Norris, as in Bruce Lee and old Chuck. It might be dumb, but it’s also funny and shows how dedicated Bruce is to kicking ass. I STG he also says at one point he’ll get business cards to put in peoples mouths after he knocks them uncurious that say ‘you just got you ass kicked by Bruce Norris’.
to finalise this rambling post, id like to point to book 9, the Sleepwaker. in this book a secondary character is sent to investigate a dodgy ARAB businessman. throughout the novel a plane crash is always mentioned and the crash is seen to be suspicions. ANYWAY, eventually the CHERUBS and police corner the ARAB BUISNESMAN, he holds his son at knifepoint and its very drastic.
once the confrontation is over, its revealed that the ARAB businessman was just a shitty capitalist, he sold bad parts and caused a crash by accident. the whole novel prays on islamaphobic fears, and almost everyone thinks the ARAB businessman’s a terrorist, but he not, and whats more is the revelation causes a real shift in one of the adults, he says ‘we were guilty of a crime too, we assumed am arab businessman in connection with a place crash must be a tourists’.
i think thats pretty cool, not to mention that in the same novel, James and his ‘will they wont they girl’ (spoilers, they don’t) beat the shit out of a domestic abuser, and the head of Cherub is kinda like, ‘yeah fair, go do a few laps as punishment’. Most of the books are really progressive, and deal with real issues in a grounded way, including:
- Cults, Human Trafficking, Animal trafficking and liberation, gang violence and hooliganism, white supremacy, terrorism and loads more. The issues are. dealt with in a mature way, and always fall on the ‘right side of history’. Also theres a scene where in two seconds, a rapist has his spine broken, and a Bikie who calls himself ‘the fuhrer’ (yes named after THAT fuhrer) is dangled by his broken leg for over an hour, and a Postman pat cop says cheerfully ‘let the bastard hang’
So Tl:DR, Cherub cool, slick, surprisingly progressive, and, I’ll admit it, if given a choice between Cherub and Hogwarts, catch me in the Cherub buildings anytime.
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