A Refreshing Teen Triumph

GEEK GIRL based on the book by Harriet Smale

The 10-part Netflix series Geek Girl is a breath of fresh air. It may have all the usual teen tropes, mean girls, ugly ducklings becoming swans, cute guy falling for geeky girl, but they are handled in such a positive and light-hearted manner that the whole thing is just fun to watch. The main character is coltishly adorable, and I found her earnestness and focus inspiring. Her love interest is believably heart-throbish without the usual self-absorption, and the mean girls are malicious but so ridiculous that you know even if the big confrontation hadn’t gone her way, people would still eventually pull for Harriet.

There is a great deal of discussion over whether Harriet’s character should be called autistic or neurodivergent, but I think it was smart to let the audience figure that out without the label. Anyone who teaches, reads, or knows more than a dozen kids, has seen someone with these traits and recognizes how much harder they make life. The movie doesn’t focus on Harriet’s problems, it focuses on the problem so-called normal people have fitting her into their boxes. It encourages us to see the individual, not the stereotype, and respect the whole person, not fixate on their surface traits. It even portrays Harriet’s parents as doing their best to accommodate, support, and teach Harriet while dealing with their own quirks.

In this sparkling screen adaptation of Geek Girl, every character is well cast, and credible. Most of the players are people you’d love to spend time with (except the mean girls and the rude agent, obviously). The misunderstandings and disasters that propel the story are handled with a clever twist and the hope of redemption. Whenever I spend precious time watching something that’s well crafted, positive, and funny, while encouraging us to be true to our best selves, I can’t help but be encouraged.

All is not lost when decency and quality are triumphing in some small way over mediocrity and rubbish.