When I first heard about the Netflix series, I was SURE that it would be a period piece, set in the 80s or 90s – who would hire 12 or 13 year olds to sit for their kids these days, anyway (even if they knew them well, which seemed to be the case. Everyone knows EVERYONE in Stoneybrook!)? Nope, it’s definitely in the 21st century, pre-COVID days. They made some changes to the story. For example, Dawn is no longer a California blonde, but Latinx. And her parents divorced because her dad came out. I guess we won’t have a stepmom, but a stepdad! And Mary Anne is half Black, half Caucasian. I guess it makes sense – her dad, Richard, was extremely strict with her and forced her to wear her hair in braids until the fourth book. Perhaps he didn’t know how to talk to her about discrimination nor did he know how to care for Black hair. Claudia is still of Japanese heritage, but Mimi, Claudia’s grandmother, is no longer an immigrant. Instead, as a child, she was one of many Japanese Americans who were sent to internment camps during World War Two. Kristy is Kristy, Stacey from NYC is still Stacey (and has Type 1) and we barely met Mallory (no more glasses, though) and Jessi (still a dancer, of course). Oh, and spoiler alert…Jenny no longer exists. Instead, the character has been replaced by Bailey, a trans kid on episode 4 (Mary Anne Saves the Day)

Am I a fan of these changes? Mostly, yes. It did need to have some updating. However, I would have preferred that they changed Stacey’s ethnic background rather than Dawn’s. Dawn will forever be the California blonde for me. I didn’t mind the gay dad part nor did I care that Mimi was born in the US. In fact, NOT making her an immigrant was a welcome change. It shows that Asian immigration goes way back, and it isn’t more of a recent, post 1960s kind of thing (especially when one is of Japanese heritage).

The diversity of the show’s cast (Dr. Johannsen is now Black and her daughter, Charlotte is Asian (was Charlotte adopted? I don’t think I recall that)) is further enhanced in the series, but it doesn’t deter from the original spirit of the books. The original books were fairly diverse for its time, and unlike other books, shows or movies, it never REALLY affected how readers related to the characters. Their ethnicities were just part of THEM. You didn’t have to be Asian to relate to Claudia nor did you have to be a redhead to understand Mallory. If you were a horse girl, you probably liked Mallory. Strict parents? Definitely Mary Anne (yep!). Chronic illness? Stacey (same). As someone on a message board I post on said, “You either related to them or wanted to be like them, and you wanted to be friends with them. You could feel like you’d be accepted in their group, no matter who you were.” There were no strict guidelines nor did people look at you funny because you didn’t “look” like a character, yet wanted to be her. You don’t get much of that these days, with cancel culture and all that.

I loved how the books dove into more serious topics that other YA books never did. They looked into grandparents getting ill (Claudia and Mean Janine), looking after kids with special needs (Jessi’s Secret Language and Kristy and the Secret of Susan), a parent’s job loss (Poor, Mallory) as well as racism (Keep Out, Claudia!). It was real life, yet still a fantasy world. And yeah, it was very much a part of my childhood. Normally, it takes me a week to go through an entire series on Netflix or Prime. BSC? I was done by Monday.

I hope there’s a season two. But who knows, now that shooting has been postponed due to COVID? And these kids are going to age out of the characters they’re playing – the girls stayed 13 after the first few books in the series. Which books do I want to see turned into shows? Claudia and the Bad Joke, The Ghost at Dawn’s House, Mary Anne and the Great Romance and Logan Likes Mary Anne!. I DO NOT want to see Claudia and the Sad Goodbye. And Karen is SO ADORABLE that she needs a spin-off series!!

I’m seriously not going to be surprised if people who binged on the series were NOT kids, but Xennials! Who DIDN’T want her BFF to be at least one of the seven? And did anyone want to have a boyfriend like Bart or Logan? Even though Kristy and Mary Anne were both way, way too young to have one? Stoneybrook was our fantasy world when we weren’t doing homework, playing piano, going to Brownies, etc, etc…I mean, that was what things were like for me!

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These kids (the school is co-ed, but the documentary only follows girls) attend Shanti Bhavan, a school founded by Abraham George, an American man of Indian descent who felt that he needed to give back to the country of his birth.  Only one child per family is allowed to attend the school and they are sent at the age of four and expected to stay until they graduate from high school.  From there, they are taught a very challenging curriculum and are prepared to take India-wide exit exams similar to GCSEs and A-levels in the UK.  The point of the school is to alleviate poverty – that a good education would lead to a well-paying, white-collar job.  From that point, alumni of Shanti Bhavan would be able to earn higher wages and help their families.  It’s A LOT of responsibility to carry.  And these kids know from a very young age.

In many ways, I feel badly for the kids.  Not only are they sent to boarding school at such a young age, and thus, only see their parents during holidays, but their upbringing by the school makes them, culturally speaking, different from their parents.  They have a more worldly outlook, and for the girls especially, culture clash awaits at home, not to mention, jealousy.  There are those who still criticize the family and the girls themselves for being more “worldly,” and question why they are not yet married, despite only being 16 or 17.  Of course, that kind of life is all they know, and thus, don’t know that things could be very different – and life-changing.  There’s a reason why these parents sent their children to boarding school at FOUR and not FOURTEEN.

Most of the girls featured in the movie graduated from the school and went to pursue post-secondary studies (another one was very young and was still at the school when filming ended).  While, yes, there were culture clashes there too – the class divisions between classmates and the alumnae from Shanti Bhavan finally hit – most of them seemed to be able to pull through.  One alumna, however, wanted to do more than what she was destined to do.  On one hand, she knew that she had to get a “real” job in the professional/corporate sector – something which would allow her to help family – she was also a budding musician and wanted to sing.  When come from poverty, becoming a singer is just to high a risk to gamble on, and thus, not encouraged by the school.  Of course, it doesn’t mean she can’t sing for fun!

While it was certainly a great documentary – especially with a focus on girls, as Indian culture itself is still so divided – I would have liked to see more about the boys.  It would be interesting to find out how their views on women differ from their families, and whether there’s a cultural disparity between them and their families when it comes to how they view women’s roles.  Right now, the oldest Shanti Bhavan alumni – male AND female – are still too young to make a real impact  on change since they’re only in their 30s, but you never know.  Only time will tell.

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