What goes into becoming a successful creative person? Like many, I find myself endlessly fascinated by that question. Prime Video’s Judy Blume Forever pulls back the curtain on the much-beloved young adult author to explore her life and her work.
The documentary opens up with a rapid montage of Judy Blume’s interviews over the decades, intercut with her taking viewers on a tour of the bookstore she owns in Key West, Florida. We see adults recognize her as she enjoys a lazy stroll across the beach. If you walked past her not knowing who she is, you’d probably be stunned that this friendly, petite woman has shaped the minds of countless young adults over several decades.
The shadow of World War II loomed heavily over Blume’s early years. A mere seven years old when the war ended, Judy grew up anxious and afraid that the Nazis would target her family because they were Jewish. Only two things helped soothe her anxiety: her father’s love and her vast imagination. Even as a child, Blume had a great dislike for the secrets adults kept from children. A need to know what these secrets were helped fuel her flights of fantasy and started her down the path of writing books for young people that explored the harsh realities of growing up and coming to terms with the fact that adults are fallible and imperfect.
Rarely do readers get to this level of vulnerability and honesty from their favorite authors. The documentary takes us from Blume’s adolescent years to her teenage years, where she describes herself as a good girl with a bad girl lurking right beneath the surface. She attended NYU and met her first husband, John, during her second year of college. Her father’s death five weeks before the wedding cast a dark shadow over the union, and the repression she experienced in her relationship inspired her to begin writing.
One of the most fascinating parts of the documentary is learning what inspired Blume’s famous novels: the bullying her daughter, Randy, suffered on the school bus helped give birth to the novel, Blubber; Her son Larry helped inspire her beloved Fudge series; Randy’s request for a novel that involved teenager characters losing their virginity without their being a tragic ending inspired her to write one of her most challenged and controversial young adult novels, Forever; Blume’s recollections as an adult of the way her mother pushed her to be perfect led to her novel, Deenie.
It’s impossible to walk away from this documentary without a great deal of admiration and reverence for Blume. There’s an ethereal quality to her that just draws you in and makes you want to listen to her. It’s easy to understand how this siren song has translated into her writing.
At one point, Blume sits in a large room packed full of boxes at Yale University. In 2017, the university acquired 50 years of the author’s writings and correspondence with her fans. We watch as Judy carefully and meticulously combs through the letters, handing them each of them delicately and respectfully. Blume spent years writing back and forth with her fans not only about her books but about their lives, their trauma, their triumphs, and their tragedies.
She has attended monumental events such as weddings and graduations to support many of her readers well into adulthood. The documentary captures her benevolent spirit and genuine love for people. It’s with startling clarity that viewers will realize that Blume has truly been a mother to many young people desperate for an adult who will listen to them without being patronizing and condescending.
Throughout the documentary, directors Leah Wolchok and Davina Pardowe expertly weave in interviews from authors, actors, screenwriters, fans, and friends whose lives have been touched by Blume’s influence. We get pictures from Blume’s life, media appearances, and home footage videos. This wealth of materials works together to perfectly illustrate the life of an illustrious author. The structure is also easy to follow and keeps viewers engaged and interested.
Judy Blume Forever is an enlightening and illuminating look into the life of a writer who has changed the lives of millions with her words and her passion.
Judy Blume Forever is now streaming on Prime Video.
Judy Blume Forever is an enlightening and illuminating look into the life of a writer who has changed the lives of millions with her words and her passion.
Writer. Video Essayist. Film/TV Critic. Pop Culture Enthusiast.
When he isn’t writing for Geek Vibes Nation or The Cinema Spot, Tristian can be found typing away at one of the novels or screenplays he’s been working on forever.
