MovieChat Forums > Harriet the Spy (1996) Discussion > Anyone think she kind of deserved it?

Anyone think she kind of deserved it?

posted 15 years ago by blue-eyes-kit
16 replies | jump to latest

Yeah, no one really likes being bullied and we all come across our Marion Hawthornes in our lives and we all keep our journal.

But I mean...Harriet does do a lot of stuff that people really shouldn't do. Like sneaking into houses. And the stuff that she wrote in her notebook was pretty mean, especially at that age.

So is it possible she's just the more nerdy version of Marion? When the other students attacked her by chasing her and bullying her, she just bullied back.

I think it's this that kind of pushed me to not liking the movie so much. Yeah, I understand that it explores the mind of a child who is misunderstood and not loved by her parents and how she is just trying to find her place. But isn't it possible you could find your place by not being so mean to the other students?

And why is the teacher aiding in the bullying? Shouldn't teachers stop the bullying?

[–] Sunflower64 14 years ago

The point of the movie is that she's a writer. She wrote down the truth. Yes, some of it was mean, but it was the truth--her unfiltered opinions. I mean hell, if you can't write down your true feelings in your Private Notebook where can you? The only thing she shouldn't have done was bring her notebook to the park. She did not "deserve" the bullying that followed any more than Marion deserved to be told her father didn't love her. You can't blame Sport and Janie for being mad, but Harriet had to be true to Harriet and accept the cost, as 'Ol Golly says. The conflict between telling the truth and pleasing the people you care about is a huge part of every writer's life, and that's what Harriet learns here.

A young girl passes / in a hurry. Hair uncombed. / Full of black devils. --Kelly Link

[–] cheedo 14 years ago

Opinions =/= truth

"I never confuse gentleness with weakness."

[–] JoanTheVampireSlayer 14 years ago

Part of being a writer is standing behind your words and accepting any negative feedback you get from others. There's also a major difference between an opinion and the actual truth. What Harriet wrote in her journal wasn't necessarily the truth, it was her own view of her classmates based on the little information she had of them and from the select moments she was able to witness their everyday lives by spying on them.

PUPPY! PUPPY! PUPPY WITH A TUTU!

[–] hamster_on_a_wheel 14 years ago

Well obviously Harriet was no angel, but she defiantly didn't deserve it. What she wrote in her notebook was kind of harsh, however it was her private notebook, and like the poster above me said, if you can't write down your true feelings in your notebook, where can you? Marion should never have picked her notebook up and read it out loud in front of everyone -- now that was harsh and uncalled for. I mean, reading it was bad enough itself, but she read it to everyone and turned the whole class against her.

I can understand exactly why her class and especially Sport and Genie since they were her best friends were mad at her and most likely upset at the things she wrote, but I still think they defiantly went way over the top in the whole getting revenge thing. Harriet didn't deserve that. I would understand if they were just mad at her for a while, but what they did was just uncalled for.

[–] m_a_n_d_i 14 years ago

EASY: She shouldn't have brought her notebook to school. Private and confidential things should not be brought out into the public. She should have left it at home.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] MoonPurinsesu 13 years ago

Harriet wrote down what she thought was true, and it was undeserved. Sure, maybe a slap on the wrist was acceptable punishment, but the bullying that came after it was unjust. I used to curse her at the end of the movie for forgiving them all and making up - after how she was treated, deservingly or not - was still unfair and just milking the crap out of how mad they were.

It was like a mob-like situation. Everyone joined in, because mocking her was the cool thing to do. I can't help but feel the movie had some sort of dark adult theme to it when Harriet got bullied; the scene where she's in the shower room and they mock her for smelling bad, is just something they should have expected. It's kind of like when my sweat started smelling womanly when I was 12, and hit puberty. They were coming up with too many immature reasons why she should be teased; it wasn't fair anymore.

The teacher aiding in it, was probably because for once in her life it was not about her. She probably was teased as a kid.

[–] Laina1312 13 years ago

Their feelings wouldn't have been hurt if they hadn't STOLEN her private property and read her DIARY.

And think about it. They started following her around screaming, "Get her." Wouldn't you fight back?

[–] snoho 13 years ago

The point of the story is that all kids are cruel and honesty can be brutal for children that young. Harriet wrote down her thoughts and feelings which is what a Notebook/Diary is for. If you read something so personal of thoughts and feelings that change from day to day then that's up to you to take on that burden.
Harriet is admirable because she doesn't stand down and take it. She stands by her words and takes responsibility. She doesn't go around bullying people because she doesn't like what people say about her. They attacked her and she defended herself.

[–] freemanmensa 12 years ago

Yeah, I had the same thought: she deserved it. Plain and simple.

And saying she's a writer and writers express "truth" is kind of a cop-out answer. I'm a writer, too, but if I talked crap about my friends, they found out and kicked my ass, I wouldn't wonder why.

[–] novastar_6 12 years ago

How about she's a kid and kids don't always get the idea of tact, especially when nobody teaches them about it in the first place? Kids are brutally honest, even about each other, but at the same time she wrote it all down in a notebook that was supposed to be for her eyes only. It's not like today if somebody posts something on MySpace or Facebook and THEN gets mad because sabes que 'that's supposed to be private'.

[–] freemanmensa 12 years ago

I realize she's a kid, but the question was whether she deserved to be shunned after talking badly about literally EVERYONE in her class, and I don't sympathize with her.

In fact, after a while, she acts downright nasty towards everyone, humiliating them even further. First time it was just her class. This time, the entire school (bra on the flag pole, telling people their parents don't love them, etc).

She might have earned my sympathies before, but in the end, no, kid or not, she deserved to be shunned. That's not nearly as bad as public humiliation.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] novastar_6 11 years ago

Thank God this movie and the book that started it go back before those extremes were the epidemic they are now.

[–] WaterlooBridge 11 years ago

No. All she did was write her thoughts about people. She wasn't a bad person. She didn't bully anyone.

[–] novastar_6 11 years ago

Exactly. Everybody has those kinds of thoughts about everybody else, it's human nature.