Hilary Duff, Lizzie McGuire & The Teen Idol Pigeonhole

Hilary Duff had quite a reign in her heyday TV shows movies McDonald's toys music in the early 2000s she was as inescapable as baby fat at the onset of her career in 2001 she was already one of the most profitable names off Disney Channel her TV success translated well to box office successes but I'm not going to focus on the numbers or stats rather how her status as a teen idol affected her from a graffiti character she played during that period Hilary Duff's celebrity was likened to that of Annette Funicello Zinn the 1960s as both actresses were disney darlings with a large team fanbase that catapulted them to worldwide recognition in the case of dub her stardom came quite suddenly Lizzie McGuire premiered on Disney Channel Zoo Disney if you will in January of 2001 by March Hilary Duff starring role in the decom McKenna Kelly meted the most viewed program in the network in 19 years Lizzie McGuire was raking in over 2 million views per episode before anyone knew it there were Lizzie McGuire games Lizzie McGuire Happy Meal toys Lizzie McGuire dolls ok and Hilary was cemented as a teen idol before her 14th birthday the character Lizzie McGuire was honest caring innocent and a kind-hearted preteen she knew right from wrong she stood up for a friend she cared about and respected her family except Matt [ __ ] Matt and she was an all-around good person there's that one episode where she gets a nose ring and is like take a chill pill parents it's just a time but she's back to normal by the end so it doesn't really count and the media Hilary Duff's pretty much viewed the same way a good girl and an ideal role model for kids around the world how the public perceived Lizzie McGuire and how they perceived it Hilary Duff were identical and I believe this perception had quite the impact on Ducks movies from 2001 all the way up until 2006 so what we're gonna do is look at these films as they are just plots just characters and circle back to the rest later [Music] following a thirteen-year-old hippie in the making this story centers around Kelly whose bohemian way of life gets interrupted when she transfers to military school at the behest of Gary Cole when she gets there she's almost immediately antagonized by Ren Stephens well how did you ask my watch when he has 12 hours on it you get down my by the minute don't you and struggles to find her footing in such a strict place after her rivalry with friendlies her two being sentenced this is the word they used I am not kidding to the drill team she soon learns to appreciate the school and finds beauty even art in their routines Kelly is respectful confident kind has a great relationship with her parents and embraces her new stepfather completely when she finds out she has to move she's upset as any kid would be but ultimately she decides that it's important to make the transition easy for her mother which is nice real sweet first lesson zip it and listen to things I have never mastered we love ahsoka we're clean all in all this isn't a bad movie it's certainly cheesy and made for children I should know I was one of them but honestly it's not abundant with moments that reduce the characters to tropes nor is it a movie so severely unfunny or a tone deaf and I can't get through it everything in this story comes full circle Kelly has an arc Quran has an arc even Gary Cole has an art I can honestly say that I don't have any huge problems with it which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for some of what's coming up next the Lizzie McGuire movie is an extension of the Lizzie television universe following the same characters from the show ani bigger bolder adventure the adventure in question is a school trip to Rome that changes when Lizzie meets a snake called Baloo she discovers that there's an Italian pop star named Isabella who looks exactly like her but more email Paolo who isabella has recently dumped convinces Lizzie to take the stage with him and pretend to be Isabella while the real Isabella is off somewhere sunbathing where there's no internet paparazzi or people lizzie frequently sneaks away from her chaperone to do italian pop star things and slowly falls for a snake eventually the real Isabella returned and Gordo's like Lizzie as the snake Isabella and Lizzie take the stage together this happened oh and lizzy realizes she has feelings for her best friend who's not really her best friend because LaLanne was busy filming you wish but whatever we'll let the short King have this one they fall in love as much as to middle school graduates can and the movie ends happily ever after Lizzy is so Lizzy this is one of the many interpretations of one of the many Cinderella stories as made clear in the spot-on title it's a modern-day take on the tale with Grant terming being Austin Ames and Cinderella being Sam they meet in a Princeton chat room they become pen pals and chat on the regular but they still don't know exactly who the other person is only that they attend the same school Sam's evil stepmother is Jennifer Coolidge and that's just perfect the owner runs the diner left to her after Sam's father passes away without leaving a will and Fiona and her daughters treat Sam like well Cinderella when a Halloween homecoming dance comes up Austin and Sam agreed to meet there in real life they meet Sam has half a mask on but it's enough apparently for Austin to have no idea who she is later they have a magical night together until the clock strikes midnight I'm sorry until a cellphone alarm goes off after finding out prince charming as Austin Ames the most popular guy in school Sam doesn't want to reveal her true identity but she eventually gets found out Austin dips out on her like a little [ __ ] and she confronts him in the locker room they get together it's found out that Sam's dad did leave a will and everything went to Sam Sam goes to college takes back ownership of the diner and lives happily ever after and this movie Sam is hard-working honest kind innocent and caring sounds kind of familiar next [Music] Terry is Hilary Duff but blonder she is also according to her brother Paul the best and most talented singer he's ever heard from this we can deduce that Paul has not heard a lot of music Terry wants to go to this music thing in LA and it's not just a music thing in LA it's Bristol Hillman music conservatory only the best summer music program on the west coast maybe even in the whole country okay whatever it still sounds like some music thing in LA but her overprotective father um Matt Murdock's dead dad doesn't want her going out there because he doesn't want anything bad to happen to her Paul fights with his dad about this very minor thing he tries to burn his face off gets grounded voluntary sneak out to go enjoy Paul's graduation gift which is on the way back from the concert Paul dies in a car accident set to three days grace and the family mourns her two scenes before Terry gets word that she has gotten into that music thing in LA she and her mom and her aunt decided they need to get her there no matter what her dad thinks after all life is too short which Paul proved the night he saw three days grace no correlation Terry goes to LA meets hashtag cool John Corbett her talented roommate Denise amanda bynes boyfriend from what a girl wants and my girlfriend kat dennings she slowly learns to love singing again falls in love and well yeah I think you can figure the rest out this movie starts with the quote from Beethoven then segues into a high school choir singing joy to the world so we're already off to a bit of a rough start this video wouldn't have gotten anyone into any music school anywhere let alone some music thing it's not even about the singing itself as much as it is that she never sings a song to completion since it's a bunch of clips cut together so she could easily be cutting together her best moments and omitting all the notes that she doesn't hit people in this movie keep lying for no [ __ ] reason a montage of sadness I guess I know we have to make time for the real meat of the story which is Terry going to some music thing in LA but honestly it would have been interesting to at least see a little of the family navigating each other and their grief after such a tragedy not looking for ordinary people per se just give me more you no no no no [Music] [Music] yeah this isn't a case of Drew Seeley Zac Efron where the voices are combined at some point so it seems almost seamless almost this is a totally different voice and it's distracting as hell I like Hilary Duff but she isn't the strongest singer so why didn't they just get this part to someone who could actually hit those notes like I don't know Kelly Clarkson oh wait the Heritage I bet [Music] that's literally what he just said why are you repeating it let me unpack this real quick so Denise says that Jays game is that he likes to hit on nice girls as in goody two-shoe girls who are innocent etc she and unseen it's on this by comparing Terry to the Brady Bunch wholesome and they eat Terry's response to that is not to say something along the lines of hey I'm not that innocent my dad doesn't even know that I'm living here it is instead to take on this voice and say okay Denise is very talented Terry is not why are they both in this school did you see Thanks I hate it everyone in this school except maybe Denise and kiwi are doing things that are basic as hell well at least he knows it there's a lot of montages because this story wants to progress fast but it also wants to include a bunch of things that aren't all that important as a result the actual important things are forced into these 30-second montages when those are in arguably the most interesting part of the story because the movie wastes its time with scenes like beads and contrived conflicts like these it feels really sprawling and unfocused and annoying has she known this the whole time why is she still here Albans only character trait is being a spoiled competitive daddy's girl she's not me terry has sparkly human syndrome which is something similar to what Bella Swan has it's when a plain person with no distinctive personality or likable character traits is beloved by almost everyone for no real apparent reason the only reason people like her so much and walk to her as they do is because she's the main character and people are supposed to like her no Paul I don't [Music] hilary is joined by Heather Locklear in this hodgepodge of familial manipulation and sadness Heather is Sheen a mom who's more interested in finding the right man than ensuring some form of stability for her children every time her relationship fails she moves away and frankly her kids are getting [ __ ] tired of it Hilary is Hollie jeans daughter she has a blog called girl on the move where she vents out her frustrations Hilary Holly sorry decides to catfish Heather Locklear by creating the perfect man who is secretly mr. big who is infamously a gaping [ __ ] her plan works for a while her mom falls for a man she's never seen or spoken to it's kind of weird Holly almost gets found out come to clean and her mom decides not to move happily ever after Holly is kind innocent quirky and ultimately honest as she's the one who decides to come clean in the first place Oh use a second thank you and afford this apartment chic lines or sad music wait no this is very happy music so he figured out she listens to Patsy Cline when she's sad and decided that this this sound here would make her happy your uncle does crossword puzzles in pen his kitchen is it's perfect you know even though he didn't say it out loud I know that he knows that the moon isn't just a rock there is such a thing as the perfect man I'm confused isn't he engaged did I miss something I missed something didn't I dear friends I'm catering her wedding so Ben and amber aren't getting married but Holly didn't know that when she said this also she's insane her plan is to break apart a wedding because she thinks her mom has been soul mate and what in a name thing to think oh this guy does crossword puzzles in pen my mom does crossword puzzles in pen they're perfect together I should break up a wedding between two people who might just be madly in love with each other because these two people over here do crossword puzzles in pen gene has an arc but Holly doesn't which is strange because I think she's the main character but this movie is so much of a mess that I honestly can't tell or maybe Holly's arc is that she starts off not wanting to be like her mom and staunchly isn't like her mom for like 90% of the movie but then she decides to be like her mom for like six percent of the movie and then decides not to be like her mom for the last four percent in that case yes she has nark but it [ __ ] at last Holly properly sets up bin and gene but gene isn't rushing into another relationship which is the smartest thing she's done the entire movie also it's good they don't end up together because oh nevermind [Music] let me tell you I rewatched all of these and this one is the only one that I was absolutely dreading so this movies about these two socialite sisters whose wealth comes from their father's line of Cosmetology products their father who passed away long before the movie begins left them the business but they're totally incompetent kind of like the movie they're in their business comes crashing down when it's revealed that their products are causing horrible skin damage and so their stock takes a swan dive if they end up losing their money in their house and they have to crawl back into good graces learn how to take responsibility and take care of their father's business the way he would have wanted [Applause] this whole thing started simple enough the original idea was that I was going to rewatch Olive Hilary Duff's most notable homes at the height of teen idol them not a word specifically for the films wherein she was the main character so no Cheaper by the Dozen or agent Cody Banks I was going to rank them free rewatch as I remembered them being and then view them again and see if anything about my opinion had changed though by my third viewing I was kind of exhausted in the midst of noting firsthand thoughts I realized that I had stopped referring to any character by their name and started calling them Lizzie McGuire and that ended up being the thing that bothered me the most don't get me wrong material girls is a hot mess that history has kindly forgotten and I should probably be condemned for even bringing it up now but it's problems don't start and end with a bad screenplay throughout each of these movies even cadet Kelly which ended up topping my list from best to worst I know I didn't expect that either each Hilary Duff character is synonymous with all the others I've watched the perfect man twice now three times if you're counting when I was a child and I still struggle to remember that the name of Hilary Duff's character is Halle I can't even remember her name from material girls see I would have never guessed that part of the reason is that all these characters are interchangeable with another you could exchange Terry for Holly and nothing would change you could exchange Sam for Lizzy and nothing would change you could exchange this one for Kelly and nothing would change I think watching the films back-to-back this turned out to be the hardest thing to get through because every film ended up becoming one and it felt like I was watching one long-ass movie following one character trying out different lives and trying to see which one it wants to settle into going back to that sparkly human syndrome thing and erst I thought nothing of it but then I realized that this was likely just the role that Hilary Duff was typecasted into she was the it girl of the 2000 and so her characters didn't have to have much and wave of personality because the actress playing them was cute and blonde and popular and that was enough what would be the point of casting one of the most bankable teen stars in your movie if she was just going to be different from what her fan base knew her ass they were paying to see Lizzie McGuire or Hilary Duff or both so I gave them anyone other than that and in 2003 article by Richard Huff written and published just before the premiere of the long-awaited Lizzie McGuire movie Huff stated being on a hit series has created a dual world for duff her public image is tied to the character of Lizzie you could say the same was the case for other teen stars and many of them did and do have difficulty transitioning to more serious roles but I think Hillary situation was unique the full Richard huff quote is being in a hit series has created a dual world heard of her public image is tied to the character blizzy in a way that say teenagers mary-kate and Ashley have avoided mary-kate and Ashley were like the child stars to end child stars they were superstars but unlike with Hilary it wasn't one single role that catapulted them to where we were sure everyone loves Michelle but Michelle wasn't a twin they wanted the package deal not mary-kate or Ashley and throughout all the films and TV shows the Olsen twins starred in it wasn't their characters that stood at the forefront you think people were standing Riley and Chloe the way they stand Lizzie McGuire the same goes for someone like Lindsay Lohan Hilary Duff's arrival in mm because of Aaron Carter Jesus half times changed Lindsay Lohan was a child star and a teen idol but her olds and films like Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen Freaky Friday get a clue or a Mean Girls for vastly different from the other they're all teenagers but I can't quite imagine Lola from Teenage Drama Queen getting along well with ana from Freaky Friday because Ana has no chill and probably needs anger management Lindsay didn't have this problem because once again she never had a role that was so extensively tied to her celebrity that it was impossible to differentiate the two the massive and unexpected popularity of lizzie mcguire gave hilary duff her first record deal her first album metamorphosis went number one and one of the tracks this one [Music] became the theme song for both Laguna Beach and my sad hours where I look out the window and lip-sync dramatically it got her a movie deals it helped start her fashion line and eventually her young adult trilogy which and you have to remember that apart from moles and movies like when Dean Casper and minor characters and TV shows Lizzie McGuire was her first big role it was the world's first introduction to her and for a long time it was the only way people saw her lots of people know me as characters and stuff that I played on TV and it's really personal and it's a good way for everybody to get to know more about Hillary after her teen idol done died down her fans growing up and mostly and going out of their dedication to her she was able to take on roles that she couldn't before her first child star image shedding one was with war ink in this movie she plays a russian pop star named Annika baby yeah so it's so great she has this song that she sings to John Keats that called I want to blow you up after that she produced and starred in according to Greta a somewhat dark comedy coming-of-age story about a girl who carries a notebook full of elaborate ways to die as movies nowhere near perfect but Hilary Duff proved with it that her acting went beyond playing the same character over and over and over again one reviewer for the film called her wanting to shed her child image kind of off-putting and like I don't know man I to jump for the role of a violent killer if I had to play the same character for six years when she started a recurring role on the show younger she said that it was a relief to be able to play someone who's flawed and messy unlike the role she played when she was younger looking at her career now it's hard not to look at her older movies with more of a critical eye sure I love a Cinderella story I grew up on that [ __ ] but I would have loved it more if Sam was different from teri or Halle or Lizzie were this one and I'm glad that Hilary Duff has been able to find that in recent years even with the more questionable ones sure we have that Lizzie McGuire reboot but it's a different time Hilary is a different person and I'm sure Lizzie won't be too seeing as Terry Minsky has dipped the [ __ ] out I'm not saying the show will be bad just that Terry Minsky kind of made the whole thing work the way it'll be fine probably whatever with that said I'll leave you with a quote from one of Hilary Duff's many musical masterpieces if the light is off then it isn't off Patsy Cline's our sad music wait now this is very happy music [Music]

Channel: Yhara zayd

Views: 290,915

Rating: 4.9343891 out of 5

Keywords: pop culture, 2000s, movie commentary, movies

Id: QfaXcf9Ox7o

Length: 21min 58sec (1318 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 22 2020