'Jem' receives a social-media makeover
Jon M. Chu’s oldest memories of Jem and the Holograms are the cartoon’s catchy 1980s songs and neon-colored hair. His sisters loved the syndicated TV series about an outrageous singer with a secret identity, and the future director would patiently sit through it between afternoon episodes of G.I. Joe and Transformers.
As a kid, he found this fearless band of animated girls pretty weird. But 30 years later, he says, “weird is awesome and I respect it more now than I did at the time.”
Chu likes the concept so much that his modernized, live-action version of Jem hits movie screens Friday, starring Aubrey Peeples (Nashville) as Jerrica Benton and her Internet-famous alter ego Jem, and featuring a bunch of anthemic tunes.
There are references to the campy cartoon that aired 1985 to 1988 — Jerrica’s sister, Kimber (Stefanie Scott), rocks a vintage keytar, Synergy is a cute little robot instead of a helpful hologram, and their foster siblings and bandmates Aja (Hayley Kiyoko) and Shana (Aurora Perrineau) fill out the color-coordinated crew. Just like in the show, there’s lots of pink involved, but it’s “faded and scratched,” Chu says. “It’s more of an old throwback album cover that’s been sitting in your grandma’s closet rather than being saturated colors.”
It's a love letter to an era of little girls with Swatch watches and Trapper Keepers, but this Jem is aimed at a generation of kids raised on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat: Jerrica becomes a social-media phenomenon when Kimber leaks one of her songs on YouTube, and the girls get a crash course in glamour, glitter, fashion and fame.
The original Jem is “crazy if you watch it now. It almost makes no sense, which is a huge challenge in making a movie of it,” says Chu, the director of G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. “But the courage of it — they didn’t give a (hoot), and it was as fun as the boy cartoons. It represented that generation when MTV was just happening and to break into a music video was so of that time.
“We wanted to create that kind of spirit — Jem really is a spirit for young people today.”
Peeples wasn’t exposed to the Jem cult fandom until she signed on for the movie. Though Jerrica writes songs for herself and ultimately decides to be a star in part to help her family, the actress says she has always wanted to be a musician.
“It’s very different for me,” Peeples says. “But there’s always the struggle to find yourself and make sure that what you’re doing really, truly represents you if it’s going to be out in the world.”
Casting Peeples was integral for Chu in making this updated version of Jem work. Many who auditioned came in full '80s getups, dressing up as the cartoon rocker from yesteryear. Peeples, however, came across as a more relatable personality with her vintage wear, '70s hand-me-down guitar and a Volkswagen Beetle that was almost towed while she was meeting with Chu.
“We wanted to stay away from anything Disney plastic,” the director says. “She loved the old stuff but also could belt all the new stuff.
“She wasn’t quite comfortable with Twitter and YouTube and all this, which I thought was really charming and interesting. Then we could follow her understanding through the movie.”
Chu also wanted to tap into the deep Jem fandom and take advantage of real-life people who share their creativity online the way Jerrica does in the new movie, asking them to contribute in their own ways. For example, Jem posters seen hanging in the offices of music label Starlight Enterprises were created by those who answered Chu’s call. He also boosted his soundtrack by using everyone from a high school band to a 6-year-old girl playing violin in her backyard.
Talking with hardcore Jem fans helped Chu understand that the character was way more than just the outlandish girl on TV with the pink hair that his sisters adored.
“You remember that feeling of being young and having that in your life,” the filmmaker says. “I actually got to meet the fans and hear about what Jem did for them. Whether it’s because she was a strong female or there was an Asian- or African-American heroine (in the band), they got to see that in cartoon form and it really changed them.”