Judy Blume Forever

As "Judy Blume Forever" )2023 release; 98 min) opens, today's Judy Blume is reading an excerpt from her 1973 children's book "Deenie", and we see Judy, now 85, running her "Books & Bools" store in Key West. We then go back in time to Judy's upbringing and youth as a Jewish girl, and her keen interest in imagining fictional characters. At this point we are less than 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: this documentary is co-directed (and co-produced) by Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok. Here they assess the life and times of Judy Blume. It's mostly Blume herself talking into the camera and recalling events (such as when she got her first book published and how it changed her life). There are also various talking heads, of which by far the most interesting ones are the women who wrote to Judy Blume to pour out their hearts and their insecurities all these decades ago, and how it affected them (one of them confesses "it literally saved my life". (We learn that Blume was receiving thousands of letter each month.) But this documentary is unintentionally also a very timely reminder that what we are currently witnessing in this country, where MAGA extremists are calling for book bans (among many other things) and defunding of public libraries, is not new. In fact in the early 80s we saw the same thing (and several of Blume's books were banned). What a sad state of affairs that it seems we didn't learn a thing from those events now 40 years later.

"Judy Blume Forever" premiered at this year's Sundance film festival to immediate critical acclaim. There is good reason why this documentary is currently rated 94% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie started streaming on Amazon Prime this past weekend. I had read a positive review in a recent New York Times, and couldn't wait to see it. If you have any interest in Judy Blume or in freedom of speech, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Thoroughly watchable documentary of a beloved author. Never met Judy before but I connected to her through her books. Tiger Eyes being my favorite. The documentary was interesting especially when focused on the backlash her books faced in the Regan era. Also interesting to see was the amount of fan mail she received and that she kept the letters! As usual the "gatekeepers" at Prime same as at Netflix, Hulu, etc made sure to insert their plight into the documentary about a 83 year old woman who writes books. A huge turn off for me, but thankfully I was able to fast forward through certain sections. A must watch if you are a Judy Blume fan.

As someone who grew up with Judy Blume books, this documentary was very important and very powerful. To hear Judy Blume speak so poignantly about her own life in terms of the messages she wanted to share was amazing.

Granted, as a former avid reader of her books, this documentary was very moving. To the uninitiated, it might come off as abrasive. She is honest and upfront with the challenges her life and family held for her.

At one point she discusses the value of the word fuck. Most parents would argue the word doesn't belong in a book meant for children. She provides not only explanation but honest justification for using the word.

Judy Blume changed the world for many young people when books were all we had.

As a teen, I read books like "Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret" and "Then Again, Maybe I Won't" and marveled at how matter-of-fact certain subjects not previously discussed in other fictional books I read were explored. I later read the more mature book "Forever..." and thought how author Judy Blume had grown as a writer. I also read another book about her that told how many of those of her novels were banned because of those certain subjects. So I was very interested in this documentary when I discovered it on a recent flight. As her fame grew, Ms. Blume gets interviewed by many of the famous talk show hosts of the time and also appeared in "Crossfire" where she debated with conservative figure Pat Buchanan who she didn't even know about previously. But the most touching parts is when she reads letters from many teen girls including a couple of those young women who wrote to her for years to the point that they both agreed to appear in this film talking of how much of an influence she had on them. Had she not decided to write for a living, Ms. Blume would be just another of those housewives just raising her kids and tending to her hubby when he gets home from work but that wasn't what she was comfortable with, that's for sure! She'd eventually leave her first spouse and after failing with her second, she'd eventually find true happiness with a third one who had a daughter who knew of his new wife's work. Ms. Blume herself had two offspring who eventually grew proud of her work. At 83, she seems happy now living in Key West, FL, running a book store where she proudly has on display inside the sign "We sell banned books" which I'm guessing includes her own! As a astute observer of adolescent life, Judy Blume Forever is aptly named.

"I sell banned books" is the sign in her Florida bookstore today.

This story of the arc of the life of a woman who broke the barriers to the topics in children's literature couldn't be more relevant today. Her trajectory from suburban mom, through her success in connecting with kids around the world, is a lovely and genuine story of a butterfly emerging from her cocoon.

Her run-ins with book banning moral panic in the 1980s has crucial parallels with today's same exact drama. And we can learn a lot from her response--nevertheless, she persisted.

Besides her life story, we get to see the impact she had on her readers and her touching responses to them.

Blume is a gem, and has been a quiet force for good for decades. Her timeless books will also be relevant for decades to come.