I only picked up and finished a mere two books during the month of January, highly recommend both!
I love oral histories (see As If! The Oral History of Clueless and I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution) and both of my January books fall into the camp.
I started reading Welcome to the O.C.: The Oral History back in 2023. It was an enjoyable read that took me back to the halcyon days of the early-to-mid aughts. It also triggered memories, specifically about material culture of the time, which inspired me to lament about the original Dooney & Burke It Bag on the blog. Though The O.C. does not feel that old, what a reality check that it premiered over two decades ago! Reading this book made me reassess feeling about the actors and actresses who appeared on the iconic series.
Though only a mere three years older than The O.C., Bring It On actually does feel older. I think it may be that it feels nearly part of the 90s and because it was released while I was still in high school. Not to play favorites, but I enjoyed Bring It On: The Complete Story of the Cheerleading Movie that Changed, Like, Everything (No, Seriously) more than my other reading selection of the month. I will say that I think it was because I actually love the original topic. Moreover, the oral history exposed how the women-led picture languished in development hell much longer than the television series which was fast tracked and led by the young male wunderkind who would eventually be the showrunner for the O.G. Gossip Girl. I appreciate that kind of struggle of the former.
I enjoyed the perspective that perhaps the protagonists, Torrance Shipman and the Toros, were actually the antagonists and Isis and the Clovers were the rightful protagonists. They were, after all, the team who had their original material stolen. Doesn’t it remind you of when Addison Rae demoed a series of Tiktok dances as created by BIPOC dancers, on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon without even providing credit? Food for thought…