History YMMV / HarrietTheSpy

* DiagnosedByTheAudience: A fair amount of reviewers and blog posts have noted that Harriet shows behaviors of being autistic, especially in the book. She has a strict self-imposed routine, such as her having cake and milk at 3:40 every day (with a note stating she "loved doing everything every day in the same way"), 'samefooding'[[labelnote:Note]] a tendency for people with sensory sensitivities, including autism, to resort to one or a few specific foods for a long time without getting tired of it, due to the familiarity or comfort [[/labelnote]] with tomato sandwiches, being very blunt, struggling to understand the social cues of her classmates, and interpreting things literally (when the other students start writing cruel notes for her to read, the first one saying that she stinks, she immediately tries to check if she really does smell bad). This has gone as far as a [[http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.24119.70561 scholarly thesis and analysis by the professor Lisa Krajecki]] arguing against the book's censorship.

** Remember all you little 11-year-olds, never anger your teacher. Or she'll use your fellow students to torment and abuse you!
*** Fitzhugh may well have been aware that bullying was sanctioned by many educators who felt it was beneficial to make children who were "different" conform to "social norms". There were actually articles in the NEA Journal encouraging teachers to do exactly what Miss Elson did.

** The animated series works around this by being an ''intentional'' period piece, albeit one with some mild modernized elements such as selfies, and the use of a pocket radio as if it were an [=iPod=]. [[note]]Pocket radios ''were'' the iPods of that generation. Tiny boxes with (usually) single earbuds, they were extremely affordable, and indispensable to Top 40 fans.[[/note]]

** The animated series works around this by being an ''intentional'' period piece, albeit one with some mild modernized elements such as selfies, and the use of a pocket radio as if it were an [=iPod=].

* TheWoobie: Beth Ellen Hansen, even more so in ''The Long Secret.'' Her mother flits around Europe, and when her grandmother announces that she's coming back, Beth Ellen doesn't know what to feel. She hasn't seen her mom since she was five and never knew her father, who left before she was born. Her mother's abandonment and her grandmother's stodgy (though well-meaning) care seem to have taught her that she should not feel or want anything, which [[ItsAllAboutMe causes Harriet continual frustration]] that Beth Ellen never seems to think of anything.
** The key word being ''[[HiddenDepths seems]]''.

** The animated series works around this by being an ''intentional'' period piece.

* HilariousInHindsight: Harriet having a specific journal dedicated to writing down things she dislikes about her classmates. [[Film/MeanGirls Sound familiar?]]

** The film focusing on Carrie Andrews's [[BuxomBeautyStandard ample bustline]] with her male classmates being interested in her physique would be harder to play in 2020 with social media and people being conscious of the dangers of sexualizing young women, especially girls who develop earlier than their peers.

** When Ole Golly manages to convince Harriet to take dancing lessons by telling her that dancing is a crucial skill for spies like UsefulNotes/MataHari, Harriet claims that spies are also required to learn skills like languages and martial arts, but Ole Golly dismissively responds, "That's '''boy spies''', Harriet. You're not thinking." Considering all the developments in feminism since 1964, the remark seems a bit less innocent today.
** Let alone the fact that she could have cited Film/JamesBond as a boy spy who was an accomplished dancer.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** There is a manipulative teenage girl antagonist who is skilled at ruining someone's life from the inside out. [[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations Her last name is Hawthorne.]]
** In the movie, Marion and Sport's actors would later play cops in the series ''Series/RookieBlue''.

** Likewise, Harriet lashes out when her parents confiscate the notebook after they learn she hasn't been doing any schoolwork. When she gets home after the frog prank, her mother suffers LaserGuidedKarma for showing NoSympathy about the fiasco; she had to spend her morning at school on finding out that Harriet probably got suspended for cutting Laura Peters's hair and putting the frog in Marion's desk, and then the cook threatens to quit after Harriet deliberately ruins her cake by making a lot of noise. Mrs. Welch seems to think that it's an inconvenience to ''her'' rather than her daughter hitting a RageBreakingPoint. Harriet refuses to speak to her. When Mr. Welch tries talking to Harriet, her response is to throw a shoe at his face for his NoSympathy. This gives them the memo that their heavy-handed ToughLove of confiscating the notebook didn't work; the next day, they take her to a child psychologist to actually figure out what the real problem is, and he says that he needs writing as her outlet. This convinces them to talk with the principal about a third option: making Harriet editor of the school newspaper.

** Sport would [[Film/SmallSoldiers fight sentient toy soldiers]] the next year, and be [[Film/ThePatriot Mel Gibson's son in the American War of Independence]].

** Despite the Welshes using "fink" when talking about the father's day job, they tell Harriet it's not a real word when she uses it in an argument. Sometimes after this novel came out, "fink" did indeed enter pop culture to refer to someone ratting another out. You can hear it in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' in the episode "Trial".

** The film focusing on Carrie Andrews's [[BuxomIsBetter ample bustline]] with her male classmates being interested in her physique would be harder to play in 2020 with social media and people being conscious of the dangers of sexualizing young women, especially girls who develop earlier than their peers.

** There is a manipulative teenage girl antagonist who is skilled at ruining someone's life from the inside out. [[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations Her last name is Hawthorne]].

* WhatAnIdiot: When Harriet's notebook is discovered by her classmates, they are unsurprisingly hurt by her less than flattering notes, and form a spy catchers club bent on making Harriet's life miserable.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Harriet would just apologize for her notes (which she later does as newspaper editor), and then maybe they would all forgive her (Sport and Janie would for sure.)\\
'''Instead:''' She decides to get back at them all by playing harmful pranks or embarrassing them. It makes them even angrier. It doesn't occur to Harriet because she is BrutallyHonest, and Ole Golly in a letter has to spell it out for her.
* {{Woobie}}: Beth Ellen Hansen, even more so in ''The Long Secret.'' Her mother flits around Europe, and when her grandmother announces that she's coming back, Beth Ellen doesn't know what to feel. She hasn't seen her mom since she was five and never knew her father, who left before she was born. Her mother's abandonment and her grandmother's stodgy (though well-meaning) care seem to have taught her that she should not feel or want anything, which [[ItsAllAboutMe causes Harriet continual frustration]] that Beth Ellen never seems to think of anything.

* UncannyValley: [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0e/Harriet_the_Spy_%281996_film%29_poster.jpg This]] [[TheFilmOfTheBook movie poster]] feels... off.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Harriet’s friends had every right to be mad at her for what she wrote about them, but waging a full on harassment war, consisting of an entire class against one child? That’s just plain cruelty.