There are some amazing answers to this post below.
On top of all that, and one of the posters alluded to this - even IF there were no legal problems that could affect the 'business' of Starlight Music itself, there was a mailing list called TRULY OUTRAGEOUS (of which Christy Marx, Britta Phillips and Samantha Newark were also members) where some fans discussed the possibility that Jerrica may have had stage fright, and totally lacked the confidence and the ability to go on stage and perform , except as a DIFFERENT PERSON ALTOGETHER. This makes perfect sense to me because there is absolutely no evidence that Jerrica ever sang/performed in the past - unlike Kimber, who made her musical talents known from a very young age. Even Rio and Eric Raymond seem to be under the impression that Jerrica has no singing skills of her own, suggesting that only her FAMILY was aware of her capabilities.
It's like an author who wishes to use a pseudonym, rather than be identified with a particular book themselves. Even famous authors and writers often use pen names when they write books that are somewhat at odds with their personal image.
Now apart from what I went into above, I have ANOTHER, unsavoury, theory - ON TOP OF THE FIRST ONE - as to why Jerrica chooses to have a dual identity. She refers to her true self as "plain". We can see that she clearly enjoys the attention she gets from GUYS as Jem - whether or not she chooses to get involved with them (although sometimes she does, as with Riot). We never encounter any men hitting on her as JERRICA - except for the time Riot tried to use 'Jerrica' to get to 'Jem' - but when she's Jem, the list of male admirers she has goes on and on......I daresay there is a bit of a Madonna/Whore complex going on with Jerrica.
As Jerrica, she can be the "plain", simple, steady businesswoman who is faithful and devoted to her "boyfriend" Rio. The paragon of virtue in the eyes of the public - who also takes care of all the foster children. As Jem, however, she can not only be glamorous and sexy, but "truly outrageous", to the point where she can explore her femininity and sexuality in ways she would never DARE as Jerrica......especially when it comes to the opposite sex. Even aside from Rio and Riot, she has kissed at least 2 other guys as Jem - Nick Mann from the 'Starbright' episodes, and the British actor from 'Beauty and the Rock Promoter', while performing with them onscreen and onstage.....but her own "image" of herself as Jerrica would not have allowed her to do this.
Other male admirers of Jem include Svenson the ski instructor in 'Last Resorts', the 'Indy 500' race car driver, Fritz from 'Culture Clash', the magician in 'Music is Magic', the British aristocrat from 'Britrock', and so on. Even if she chooses to rebuff the advances of some of these guys, as JEM, she doesn't have the same moral obligations that Jerrica has - she is sort of above reproach, since anything goes in the world of show business - and she can explore all her options with different guys in a way that Jerrica can't bring herself to. (And once again, most of these guys - if not all of them - would not be interested in 'Jerrica'! They wouldn't be interested in 'Jem' either, if they KNEW that Jem was fake).
It's a very complex psychological dynamic, and one that is frankly beyond the scope of a cartoon, but basically, as you can see, there are PLENTY OF COMPLICATED REASONS as to why Jerrica was determined to keep the Jem identity entirely separate.
reply
share