even when they’re mad at each other they have NO sense of personal space..
jeremy deliberately sits This close to michael when there was plenty of room to sit at least a little further away .. and during their entire confrontation ESPECIALLY while jeremy is sitting next to him, michael’s hands twitch (almost like he’s going to touch jeremy before he stops himself). when jeremy stands up, he reaches out for him and then pulls his arms back.
michael does the same thing when he’s mad at jeremy for ditching him at the mall and ignoring him, but as soon as he figures out its bc the squip actually worked he gets excited for him and runs up to him, getting in his personal space again.
michael clearly tries distancing himself but he cant help but reach out for jeremy, because thats what they’ve always done (as is depicted in two player game). I really think michael communicates most effectively through his body language, which is something that (in my eyes), is pretty evidently shown the moment he comes on stage.
actually sorry i'm making this a separate post too so i can put it in the tag and itll show up. if u read my reblog on my previous post its literally just the same material sorry.
long post of my analysis of gender, tropes, and the musical be more chill ahead
so. i'm going to start with the wider overarching ideas of teen romcoms. im mostly thinking the mean girls/princess diaries/that sort of movie. early 2000s kind of cheesy kind of problematic at points but still having that nostalgia.
in most of these sort of movies, theres a very structured plot. the lead girl is an outcast, a weirdo. she's either childish or unattractive or a nerd or a loner. she frequently has a best friend (or a few) who are somehow more of insert "undesirable" trait here. usually, this best friend is also more eccentric, more outwardly strange, rejects the idea of the popularity.
the lead girl also has a crush on a guy who's unattainable, he's interesting to her, she's never talked to him a day in her life but she swoons over him. she's in love with the idea of A Boy. (and frequently, the guy has caught the attention of a popular girl who functions as her rival, whos prettier, and better liked, and has more of the traits the main girl desires.) she sees her male crush with the popular girl and loses hope.
the lead girl gets a chance to change her life- maybe she's noticed by a popular girl- who offers her a chance to be something else for seemingly arbitrary reasons. through this, she gets a makeover, a way to be as pretty as the girl shes a rival of. she also lies or embellishes herself to be attractive to people around her, especially the guy she likes.
the girl climbs the social ladder, she gains the attention of the popular boys and the romance she's been craving. she's desirable now. (and sometimes shes desirable in ways that aren't good for her, sometimes shes used as a way to show off or make people jealous, not for her, but for what she's become). she goes to a party that goes horribly wrong. her quirky weird best friend blows up at her.
the main girl also sees the intricacies of people she's never thought to have flaws, to have issues. even the girl who she's competing over a guy with. she realizes that idealizing people who are just like her, deep down, doesn't work. she hits rock bottom, loses everything, and then has to forcefully gain it back, make things right, and then she gets the guy at the end.
every single one of those plot points happens in be more chill, but everything is genderflipped. the main girl becomes jeremy, an insecure guy, making the narrative more about toxic masculinity than toxic femininity. the insults are about jeremy's looks, yes, but more prominently about his sexuality- something that men are traditionally a lot more insecure about than women, in most cases. he's a hopeless romantic. he's insecure. he's awkward and anxious. he's all the traits of a traditional teen movie romcom protagonist, but male.
the quirky girl best friend becomes michael, whos the outgoing, exuberant, eccentric friend. he's at a different place in his life than jeremy, whos fixated on popularity. he gets upset when his friend changes and leaves him behind.
the Male Love Interest becomes christine- unattainable but excitable. she's more than just a hunk for the main lead to be attracted to, but she serves the purpose of getting jeremy out of his comfort zone.
the popular girls become two separate archetypes of maleness, with jake and rich. jake takes on the romantic lead- popular, cool, athletic, effortlessly attractive, and the rival of the lead for the romantic attraction of the love interest. he's still operating under toxic masculinity. he lashes out with anger, he's not kind at times, he's seen as unintelligent.
rich takes on the almost gretchen-weiners-esque "popular girl" role. he's still popular and cool, but he's almost trying too hard. he's just as angry and aggressive, he's trying hard to be something he's not. he's also the one whos an analog for queerness, which is an interesting flip- think the "its like you're in love with me or something" bit from mean girls. he's the one who offers jeremy a chance for something different, a do-over.
the squip, while not a direct analog for anything in traditional romcom movies (since its kind of a nebulous. scifi concept) stands in for the literal themes of these sorts of stories. its toxic masculinity, its popularity, its the voice in your head telling you to tear others down, to pry out information, to push your way to the top.
the popular girls are particularly interesting, because as individuals, they kind of mess around with everything a bit. while everything else has been pretty cut and dry, they're all a mix of a bunch of things. they serve the roles of the popular guys in these sorts of scenarios while being very stereotypically feminine.
chloe is the mean girl, the leader of the pack. in teen movies, she'd be the star quarterback, the ex of the romantic rival, the one who is the peak of toxic masculinity- which the musical flips to make about toxic femininity with her (and brooke.)
the next paragraph is going to talk about Do You Wanna Hang and touch on SA, if you don't want to read it, skip to the next italicized section.
chloe also functions as something all too common in teen movies. she pushes jeremy into a sexual encounter he doesn't want to be in. she's not even interesting in him, as a person, but him as an object, something usually reserved for women in fiction. she does it as a power play, a way to get back at other people. she attacks his looks, his attitude, and this is when the downsides of "being popular" start to reveal themselves. (side note, this is an INCREDIBLY problematic trope to me, especially in its original form, because it enhances the idea of "if youre attractive you want this" type deal. a what were you wearing sort of attitude towards sexual assault. instead of treating it like a tragedy, its almost a status symbol.) and because the main character is a male- its never addressed further. its brought up in a singular line between the popular "guy" stand-ins.
i am done talking about this topic you're safe now
brooke is also intriguing, because shes one of the only characters in this concept that doesn't seem to have a direct parallel. if i'd have to give her something, i'd probably mark her down as the male sidekick to the popular guy, the one who doesn't get anything other than being the best friend. but she does get something, by virtue of her being a girl now. she's a viable love interest, or at least a status symbol.
jenna falls into a similar category to me- a character who only serves to bolster the reputation of the main character. she takes on the role of information spreader, which is a traditionally feminine role.
i could also talk about how i think that its interesting that while most of the actions in be more chill that are given to people of opposite genders (e.g. romantic rival, call to popularity, quirky best friend, the Do You Wanna Hang problem) the MOTIVATIONS for the actions are still aligning with the gender of the characters. like, rather than the gender of the original trope. if that makes sense.
anyways i scrolled back and realized i had like 10 paragraphs im gonna stop now but. yeah. gender in bmc is fascinating to me
The not-so-longly awaited Jeremy Heere & family analysis:
Disclaimer before I get into this! I’m basing these observations on what’s canon and what can be predicted based on canon. I’ll be refraining from anything HC oriented! I will not be making up new scenarios that don’t at least have SOME actual context in the given plot. Also, please understand that these are MY interpretations that may be based on personal experiences/other sources of media I’ve seen.
ALRIGHTY! So, to begin, Jeremy is a character who is canonically seen to suffer from some sort of social anxiety disorder and possibly depression. It’s obvious BMC is meant to be heavily based on mental health, and Jeremy is our prime, classic mc example of that. He struggles with his self image and clearly can’t talk to people without resorting to typical awkward tendencies. He doesn’t understand his popular peers and can’t communicate with them. He’s unpopular, but wishes for a better future, dreaming about his own popularity. He was most likely born shy!
But that’s easily deduced. What I want to focus on is his parents' role in his upbringing.
From what we know from canon, Jeremy’s mom has recently left and his father was clearly not dealing with the divorce well. It’s implied that his mom recently got this divorce based on the conversation Jeremy and Michael have at the beginning of “Two-Player Game.” Michael is seen asking Jeremy how his mom is doing and whether or not he’s heard from her. Jeremy’s response is that his mom hasn’t talked to him, seemingly not caring (we’ll get into that later). The only reason Michael would open up a conversation this way is if this was a recent event. Michael, being the good friend he is, asks about it to check in with his friend.
Jeremy’s mom not speaking to him is a clear sign of one of two things. Either she literally doesn’t care for him, or she’s too dysfunctional to care for him. Thing is, Jeremy doesn’t seemingly have any trauma relating to an abusive mother… so that leaves me to believe she was an absent one. Many predictions can be made about her character. I’ve seen her portrayed as disorganized and overly anxious and possibly even bipolar. This would explain some of Jeremy’s own tendencies (such as his anxiety). This would also explain Jeremy’s reaction to her leaving. He does love her (and she probably loved him), but probably struggles to show this. Whatever you believe, it’s easily assumed that Jeremy’s mom was not the best parent.
In addition, with this divorce, you can also conclude that Jeremy’s parents did not have a good relationship (of course), in which his mom might have treated his dad with this offhanded attitude as well. There might’ve been explicit fighting, there might not have been. That’s unknown to me. I will mention that if there was, that might explain Jeremy’s indignation towards his father and mother. He treats his father poorly even before he gets the Squip.
Now left without his mom and with a deadbeat dad, Jeremy has to now deal with the stress and anxiety of school all on his own without parental supervision or advision (not that his parents were great before, but regardless, that’s not the point). He’s completely alone now, dealing with the feelings of social loneliness and self hatred. I’d also like to briefly mention that he can’t turn to Michael because Michael doesn’t relate, and therefore, cannot sympathize with his problems/insecurities (I can write a rant abt that later). Jeremy’s also gotta deal with the bullies that have tormented him for years. To him, he probably felt there was no one to love/guide him, and that if he wanted to fix his issues, he’d have to do so on his own. That’s why he buys the Squip. A desperate attempt to fix his life with his own hands. An attempt to keep himself from his dad’s fate.
The Squip was the perfect and easiest ‘out’ for him, because his self esteem was already too diminished to believe he could open up to others on his own by being himself. He felt he was a lost cause, so when he was presented with this easy solution that could guide and fix him, of course he took that opportunity!
That’s the gist of it ig. Lemme know if there’s anything else you guys want me to dive deep into ^^ I could do Mike and Jer’s friendship or smth
not to get meta about the be more chill fandom which i haven’t interacted with in years but. the way michael became the fan favorite and much more fan media was focused on him and giving his character more depth and just. yknow what i mean michael was like the Cool Good character everyone loves. which yeah fan favorites are present in all media but this is so interesting in bmc specifically because the entire story of bmc is jeremy being the main character even tho he outright says he can’t be the one who the story’s about. like. putting that into context of how much michael is put into the spotlight is so interesting because it’s a complete subversion of the actual story. jeremey finally gets to be in the spotlight and be the main character and have his own story, and then the people who see his story turn around and immediately make it ahout a different character. i’m not wording this well but idk the relationship between the actual story and the way the fandom treats the story is so weird yknow
