Let’s Talk Chick Lit: Pretty Little Liars

Disclaimer: As of today, I have read every Pretty Little Liars book (although it was many years ago) and have watched seasons 1-6. I am a season behind, because that season is not on Netflix yet.

Disclaimer Pt. II: I’ll do my best to avoid spoilers wherever possible in case you wanna read/watch, but it’s difficult, so. I’ll try. Some spoilers are in strikeout.

My name is three, and I can’t stop watching Pretty Little Liars.

Normally I’m one of those tiresome the book was better people, but I tentatively have two exceptions to that rule: Lord of the Rings, and Pretty Little Liars. Interestingly, my reasoning for both is the same: the writers responsible muddled up the story with excessive detail no one ever cares about. In LOTR, it was everyone and his brother’s family tree. In PLL, it was what brand of dress/shoe/bag any character at any given moment had. I have never heard of any of these brands please stop. It kind of felt like reading My Immortal, which is never a thing I look for in a book. “SHE WAS WEARING A BLACK CORSET THINGY WITH BLOOD RED LACE ON IT, BLACK STILTON BOOTS, AND BLACK FISHNETS.”

Anyway, even though I was bored to death of all the brand-name-dropping and wondering why these girls dress up so much just to go to high school, I tore through this entire series in about a month (I started late. Sue me.) The reason why was that damn it, Sara Shepard knows how to write a gripping mystery.

The thing about the mystery genre is that it often tells mystery stories that I cannot and will not relate to because they are unrelateable and/or boring. High school girl mysteries are way more interesting to me than middle aged man mysteries, because I was once a high school girl (in fact, when I read the series I was in grade 12, so there you go.) I care about these plot lines. I want to know the answers. I can relate to their problems and when A messes with them in the context of their high school lives, it hits home. Having an A in high school is something I can imagine, because even though I was still a little early for this, cyberbullying was already becoming a thing when I was in school, so these are conflicts I can 100% invest myself in.

Thus I begin my examination of PLL as a whole – the books, the show, and the reason why I inexplicably forgive it all its sins.

Representation, and Lack Thereof, in Pretty Little Liars

It’s kind of sad that Pretty Little Liars was the most diverse fiction I read in my entire adolescence, but there you go. Of course, if I could go back in time and widen my horizons, I would obviously do that, but alas, that’s not a thing that one can do – so let’s see what we have to work with here.

Emily Fields, the Keeper of the Diversity

Emily was white in the books, but she was cast multiracial – and Canadian Shay Mitchell, whose father is Scottish/Irish and mother is Filipina, portrays the character beautifully. Her acting is half in her eyes and her quiet demeanor, and I challenge anyone not to fall in love with Mitchell’s portrayal of the character. She’s also a lesbian woman of colour who does not die, which should not be a rarity but apparently that’s the world we live in, so hey, points for that.

One thing I love about Emily’s portrayal is her deep connection with her parents, and her complicated relationship with her mother. Although her coming out story is very much a trope, it is also realistically in keeping with the experiences of most people I know who have been through this, in which their parents had difficulty accepting the truth and never seemed to say the right thing. The best part about this is that once it’s over, she carries on – she gets as many romance plot lines as the rest of the girls, and her sexuality ceases to be a plot conflict and becomes as integral a part of her character as her swimming, her doe-eyes, and her devotion to her family.

Mona Vanderwaal/Loser Mona

Mona was also white in the books. (Both characters were blonde. I honestly forgot all about that.) In the show, she’s portrayed as multiracial as well (half Chinese, half “European” according to Wikipedia), by Hawaii-born Janel Parrish. She’s a main player, reformed villain, and her complicated friendship with Hanna makes her one of the most dynamic characters in the series. When she and Spencer are in the same space, the dialogue is like something out of a teen version of Sherlock Holmes.

Also Mona fake-dies on us at one point, which is not so progressive. (You could consider this a “no one is safe” story if you want, but I still argue that women of colour need to stop dying more often than white women. That’s all.) Despite that, she is easily (in my opinion) the best character and she should have a spinoff series. Okay, no. But she’s awesome. Mona FTW except when she’s emotionally abusing everyone at the beginning there.

Spencer Hastings, Overachiever

I’m out of my lane again (I’ve been out of my lane the whole time), but I felt that Spencer’s prescription drug addiction was treated exactly as seriously as it needed to be. Her friends and parents were concerned, she began to lose her relationships with them as a result, and eventually received treatment.

One complaint I will make is… Radley Sanitarium. The very existence of Radley. (Of course there’s a sanitarium in this story because there’s always a sanitarium). When Spencer had a nervous breakdown and decided to check into Radley, her seeking of treatment was actually just an opportunity to get the smartest character into the place with all the clues (aside from Mona who was also there and also had all the clues). I get it, and I enjoyed it, but the mentally ill part of me rolled its eyes and said “sanitariums are messed up and you’re kind of using it as a gimmick and an easy way to create atmosphere, I’m not sure if I’m cool with this.”

Spencer probably needed actual therapy, is all I’m saying.

Hefty Hanna Marin

I know I just said that Mona was my favourite character, but Hanna is actually also my favourite character. She’s the one who says what everyone is thinking, and those characters belong in all stories.

Hanna’s struggle with bulimia stayed with me when I read these books, although maybe it’s just because I’m emetophobic. But I’m pretty sure it was given much more attention in the books than in the show, and although I understand not wanting to trigger people with eating disorders, it was hard to take Ashley Benson’s portrayal of body image issues to heart in the show, since (a) she was never fat and (b) not much time was spent on it, except the odd taunt from A.

I don’t care about Aria so I’m skipping her.

Bury Your Gays: An End Note

The “Bury your gays” trope in its purest form involves a lesbian woman of colour who is in tune with her sexuality helping another queer character come to terms with her own sexuality, and then she gets murdered.

Literally that exact thing happens in PLL, in the form of Maya St. Germain. Maya was an awesome character and she deserved better. BOO.

Charlotte DiLaurentis: An End Note

This reveal caught me way off guard. I don’t really want to “count” it as rep because a trans character can do more than just be discriminated against by her father/tormented in a sanitarium for being trans. However, Charlotte was, most of the time, a fully rounded read-as-female character who was a semi-regular part of the story and her transition wasn’t her plot, it was just her backstory, so points for that.

(She dies later. That’s an issue. Unless she’s fake dead? I haven’t gotten that far yet I’m sorry)

Women in Pretty Little Liars

PLL is a story almost entirely about women, and it includes women of colour, queer women, a trans woman (sorta), and even older women. Although we can (and should) always call for more diversity than what’s presented here, this isn’t half bad.

In terms of writing the girls’ stories, I am continually impressed by the balance of school-related stress, girlfriend-related stress, boyfriend-related stress, platonic-friend-related stress, and family stress. Aria worries about her brother’s safety when she notices he’s been acting different since their parents’ divorce, and spends many episodes trying to get through to him. Hanna goes to great lengths to protect her mom from A, consistently putting herself second in their relationship. Spencer’s complicated relationship with Melissa and Mrs. Hastings are always compelling, and I have to admit that seeing Melissa’s video confession – when she admits what lengths she went to when she thought she was protecting her little sister – hit home in a way I won’t soon forget, especially since the two of them had such a cold and competitive relationship. The efforts Emily puts into her swimming career, and her fear of disappointing her dad, who is away at war for most of the series, are consistently every bit as compelling as any romantic story arc in the show.

Speaking of romance, I want to comment on the guys in particular later, but for now I’ll say that although I never forgave Paige for trying to drown Emily, nor do I believe that the whole “I’m secretly gay so imma bully this lesbian” story arc is compelling, once they started writing Paige as an actual human being she was a decent girlfriend (although not as good as Maya, may she rest in peace. BOO.) Emily actually had pretty terrible taste in women other than Maya,  now that I’m thinking about it. I mean, she was in love with Ali, who is just the worst. And she dated Sara Harvey. Yikes. Considering the most healthy relationship Emily has is sort of a tie between the one who was murdered and the one who once tried to drown her, it seems to me that romance is lacking in this respect. Do better, PLL.

The final thing we should discuss is the moms, because the moms are the best. Each one of them is rounded, flawed, has a career, and would give anything for her family. Not only that, but the moms are shown as having balanced relationships and being unafraid to leave their husbands due to any sort of dependence (Mrs. Hastings won’t leave her husband, but I think we can all agree that she’s made of steel and doesn’t need any man, she would just prefer that no one know her business. Fair enough. Not everyone has to get divorced, eh?) Their feelings about their love lives, their kids’ struggles, and whatever hell A is putting them through belong to them, and are not just a foil to the girls’ stories. The moms are the one thing I have no complaint about – they’re allowed to be human characters, they’re allowed to have romance and drama, and they make mistakes and are redeemed over and over. That’s good writing.

Men in Pretty Little Liars

While it seems that this doesn’t apply to the female love interests in the story, the writers at Pretty Little Liars know how to write an attractive male love interest.

I don’t really notice this until I compare it against other teen dramas, and since I don’t read/watch enough teen dramas to properly comment, I’ll work with the ones I have watched:

Scream (Netflix). Kieran Wilcox is supposed to be this brooding, sexy (I’m assuming) love interest dude guy who is like, there, and brooding, and sexy, and love interestey. He’s not. He’s a total weird creep guy who is CLEARLY a sociopath of some kind. I spent the entire second season screaming “KIERAN IS THE KILLER OBVIOUSLY IT’S KIERAN HE’S HORRIBLE LOOK AT HIS STUPID FACE HE’S CLEARLY MURDERING EVERYONE” at the computer. Not an attractive love interest. Other young men – Will, Jake, Seth, Gustavo – are all hella creepy.

Look, I know that the show is trying to be all “oooooh which one’s the murderer it could be any of them”, but they somehow manage to make the girls sexy-mysterious and the guys are all creepy-mysterious. The only guy on this show who I wouldn’t cover my drink around is Noah, and he’s supposed to be the unattractive one. Well done, makers of Scream. Well done.

Gossip Girl. There are two obvious candidates to have a crush on in Gossip Girl: Nate Archibald, Golden Boy, and Chuck Bass, Bad Boy. Neither of their characters worked for me, partly because I could never buy into the Golden Boy arc, and partly because Chuck was way too over the top in his badness. (I say this knowing that the entire premise of the show is over-the-top-itude).

The only character who I could make an argument for being sort of attractive is Dan Humphrey, but I’m really not that enthusiastic about that idea. He’s not written attractively, he’s written as the sidelines artist character who you’re supposed to see the world through. He’s more accessible than the other two, and also a little more… human, let’s say, than Nate and Chuck. But he’s meant to be a sidelines guy.

Pretty Little Liars does it better. Here they are, in order from least compelling to most:

Ezra Fitz, high school teacher who falls for one of his students, brooding artist, and troubled son of a wealthy family and also has apparently been stalking Ali for years. Moving past the whole ‘Professor McNailsHisStudents’ thing, he actually manages to pull off the brooding artist thing, with help from a few redemption plot lines, occasionally owning up to his mistakes, and being put in his place on the regular by feisty Aria. All of this is… okay, in my books.

Toby Cavanaugh, brooding loner who was sexually abused by his stepsister (the show never laughs at him for this. Ali does. I hate Ali so much omg) and then wrongly accused of lighting her on fire when it was actually Ali. It takes a little while for us to trust him, but when we do, we trust him wholeheartedly, and he becomes one of the most devoted and wonderful boyfriends in teen fiction. Toby is awesome. The girls also routinely comment on how wonderful he is when he makes big gestures for Spence, which is something that I don’t think happens enough anywhere. Too often it’s enforced that boys will be boys, but Toby is a too-good-to-be-true boyfriend, and he is rightfully rewarded for that by the plot. Yay!

And Caleb Rivers, finally. My favourite. I can’t explain exactly why Caleb is my favourite, but it may have something to do with the fact that he dates Hanna, who is my other favourite? Caleb was originally hired to spy on Hanna by Jenna Cavanaugh (the aforementioned stepsister), but he owns up to his mistake, is eventually forgiven, and then becomes Hanna’s long-term boyfriend for the duration of high school. He’s unfailingly supportive of her and all of her friends, probably coming up second in devotedness after Toby.

Both Toby and Caleb are given opportunities to stand up for themselves, and occasionally put their needs first, which is a must for me to take a male love interest seriously – if he’s simply there to either ignore or totally submit to the will of a female character, he’s no better than the women we complain so much about in other fiction. They also have their own flaws and occasionally a side-plot, and, my personal favourite, they occasionally do little favours for the other girls, like Caleb helping Aria hack into the college admission results, or Toby lending an ear to Emily on multiple occasions as she was the first one of the girls to trust him.

The other thing to consider is that none of these guys are nothing but eye candy – they make themselves useful. Each has a special skill or resource to contribute to the war against A. Caleb is an expert hacker, which is helpful because so is A, and so much of the A warfare happens via the internet. Happily, Caleb is portrayed sort of realistically as a hacking geek, who starts off making money by breaking into people’s phones, and eventually goes legit into a website business, followed by working in politics to manage social media, instead of just “He’s a podcaster and therefore knows how to hack military software”. (Sorry, I’ll stop making fun of Scream.)

Toby contributes as the girls’ eyes and ears inside of the Rosewood PD, for the later part of the series. Also, since he has a gun and a badge, he’s useful to have around when they’re getting into situations that may end in someone dying/being kidnapped/being thrown off a clock tower or whatever.

Ezra helps too, with his notes from his years of stalking Ali. Sort of. I’m beginning to think I was too hard on Paige.

Basically, my point about the guys is this: It’s refreshing to see decent guys taking up space in a show for women. Too often men are horrible and we’re asked to like them anyway, but Toby and Caleb are genuinely pretty great.

Pretty Little Liars: Wrap Up

There is one elephant in the room, and it is the same elephant that haunts all rooms belonging to teen dramas (at least, all the ones that I’m aware of.) That is the fact that the writing begins as being pretty tight, and then gets looser, and looser, until we lose all sense of reality and suddenly these high school girls are fighting off attempted murder at least once a week while somehow also passing their classes.

It happened to Glee, it happened to Switched at Birth, it happened to Gossip Girl… eventually, the original premise gets used up and everything goes to hell. It even happened to Community, even though that is not a teen drama, I just take every possible opportunity to complain about what happened to Community.

Having said that, I still keep watching, and I will watch season 7 if it ever makes it to Netflix. Mainly for Emily, Hanna, Mona, Spencer, Toby, and Caleb. If Aria and Ezra elope and are written out of the show, I won’t really care.