Truly , Truly , Truly Outrageous ?

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Growing up as a flamboyant gay child, I loved all things sparkly. Anything with gleam and glitz always caught my eye. Although I missed the 80s by four months, I inherited 80s toys, dolls and video tapes from my older brother and female cousin. They were ready to totally leave the 80's behind and set their sights on the 90s. With the passing of the 80s torch, I was introduced to My Little Pony, He-man & the Masters of the Universe , She-ra Princess of Power , Thundercats, and lastly Jem & the Holograms . For anyone who has never seen the gem that is Jem (cough ) the plot is pretty outrageous . In short the story is about a young woman named Jerrica Benton who runs a foster home with her sister Kimber and friends Shana and Aja and inherits half of a major record label named Starlight from her father. The other half is owned by a greedy villain named Eric Raymond who sees the all female punk band The Misfits ( you read that correctly ) as the next big thing . Jerrica opposed this as her father was a kind, decent man and The Misfits would go against everything he instilled in her and Starlight. Jerrica, Kimber , Shana and Aja are determined to stop Eric and The Misfits and regain control of Starlight Music and continue the positive legacy of Jerrica and Kimber's father. In the midnight hour, a mysterious gift containing starburst earrings arrive for Jerrica which leads her to a super computer named Synergy . Synergy tells Jerrica that her father left her tools to become the next rock music sensation Jem. With the help of Synergy's holographic projections,  Jerrica became Jem , a  glamorous pink haired  rock star and her sister and friends became her bandmates fittingly named the Holograms . Jerrica ( as Jem ) and the Holograms vow to stop Eric and The Misfits and spread a message of female power , positivity and kindness. All while remaining totally fabulous. The series featured original music, 80s inspired music videos, melodrama , sci-fi , romance , time travel , battle of the bands , every 80s trope imaginable,  and most importantly glamour , glitter , fashion and fame . As ridiculous as the series was , it worked . It caught on and gained a massive cult following. Jem dolls , tapes and cassettes were stocked on shelves and quickly flew off . Jem became an icon of the 80s not only because she represented all of the fabulous garishness of the decade, but also because she was the anti-Barbie. Of course Jem was a marketing ploy by Hasbro to sell millions of Jem inspired dolls , but Jem was truly a feminist icon . She ran her own record label, spread goodwill and cheer to girls , and remained positively glamorous . As the 80s faded , so did Jem's popularity . Since I was born in the 90s, I was introduced to Jem later than others. I inherited my cousin's Jem dolls and videos and quickly fell in love with this truly outrageous force of nature . Jem's cult following remained strong and inevitably Hollywood sensed an opportunity to turn a beloved children's property into a film franchise .When I first heard about plans from Universal to turn Jem & the Holograms into a live action film I was excited to say the least . The film's production was notoriously secretive. In my mind , the producers secretly got Madonna to play Synergy and were trying to keep Madge's casting under wraps. My mind was about to explode with the possibility of a Madonna Jem film. With announcements that 80's queens Molly Ringwald and Juliette Lewis were cast added to my further speculation that the Jem film would be a full blown nostalgic 80s trip . But alas, things took a truly floprageous turn .  The film's trailer was released sometime in May of 2015 and a thunderstorm erupted on social media.  The film ( at least according to the trailer ) bared little to no resemblance to the iconic animated show it was based upon . The trailer accumulated a record amount of ridicule and "dislikes" in a very short period . Fans took to Facebook , Twitter and YouTube to voice their disarray over this new Jem. Cast members and the film's director Jon M Chu tried to reassure fans that the film held many Easter eggs that were a nod to the original Jem and that the film was a  " Postcard to Jem & the Holograms" rather than a direct adaption of the cartoon. Universal gave the film a limited amount of promotion and if you didn't already know that there was a Jem film being released , you wouldn't even know there was a Jem film was in existence. The film was released on October 23rd 2015 to mix to negative reviews and set a new record: lowest gross for a wide release film. The Jem film was pulled from most theaters in about two weeks and failed to recoup its 5 million dollar budget. The film was a truly, truly, truly outrageous flop.  The film itself does bear little resemblance to the animated series and deviates far from its source material. For instance , Jerrica is now a shy teen who secretly writes songs but is too scared to sing them herself , The Misfits are nowhere to be seen ( except a brief cameo in the credits) , and Synergy is now a small robot that speaks through chirps and beeps. The film was poorly made and its script is on the level of a high school creative writing class assignment. Jon M Chu played it safe with the film and removed most over the top eccentricities that made the original 80s gold. One can argue that dated ideas such as a massive super computer (Synergy in the original) wouldn't work in this day in age, but there were other ways to merge the 80s Jem with the Jem of today. As ridiculous as it sounds, the world needed a Jem movie. Jem's female empowered message was something that made girls in the 80s worship her then and a new, redesigned Jem who kept the qualities that made her an icon was what was needed now. Unfortunately, Jem's message was told through the wrong mouths in the new film. Jem's essence was there, but the film had the wrong director, producers and creative team. Jem's outrageousness and the series' ridiculous is what make her the icon that she is. The film had plenty of heart and the music is carefully constructed, but it wasn't Jem. The film's colossal failure did indeed sadden me. I hoped that despite its many flaws, that this Jem would empower children the way the Jem I grew up with empowered me . The Jem film may have faded into oblivion and obscurity, but the spirit of Jem was there. The Jem of the 80s maintains a loyal and devout following and continues to attract new, younger fans , and possibly in time the Jem film will become viewed as a flawed but well intended tribute the pink haired songstress that continues to act as a muse to  her countless fans .