YMMV / Thirteen (2003)

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Most viewers tend to think that this is a straightforward story about the bad girl, Evie, corrupting the good girl, Tracy, and that Evie's guardian, Brooke, is just completely clueless when she claims that it is Tracy who is having the bad influence on Evie. But while Evie definitely seems to have problems at the beginning of the film, she still seems to become much less functional as her friendship with Tracy progresses, and it must be noticed that she and Tracy increasingly exclude Evie's other friends almost as much as they exclude Tracy's former friends. So it may be that the two are having a bad influence on each other, and that it's not all a one-way street.
  • Tracy's scream at the end. Was it a frustrated scream from realizing how she had behaved, or was it a "relieved" scream, symbolizing that she was letting all the bad stuff go?
  • How much of Evie's escalating actions with Tracy were motivated by Evie's jealousy over Javi seemingly choosing Tracy over her? Evie is clearly put out by Javi asking Tracy out, and tries to keep them close to her by giving him her number instead and having him come over to Brooke's house to essentially have a borderline-orgy. After that, Evie coerces Tracy into making out with and potentially having sex with Luke, something she's clearly intensely uncomfortable with, because then both of them will be guilty of cheating on their boyfriends. The night out at the movies with things start to really go wrong for Tracy, Evie starts out the night by getting flirty with Javi right away, and then asks Tracy to go get them drinks. Then Evie and Javi sneak off, making Tracy extremely late and disoriented thanks to the creepy guy she's with. Not to mention that when Tracy did find them, it was heavily implied that Evie had just finished giving Javi oral sex. From there on, Evie's behavior with Tracy is even more reckless, and she then sets up Tracy to get her ass kicked thanks to a rumor, squeals on Tracy for having a fake ID and pins most of her behavior on Tracy. Was it motivated purely by Evie's own instability, or was a lot of it jealousy over Javi's choice?
• Crosses the Line Twice: Brooke pulls back Tracy's sleeve and exposes her self-harm scars to Mel, very clearly traumatizing her... and then calls her a "cunt."
• Designated Villain: Evie. While we're clearly meant to side with the Freelands, both Evie and Tracy have bad influences on each other, making it unclear who the real toxic friend is. It's possible this is intentional, considering Evie is played by the actress who was Tracy in real life — and may have wanted her to seem somewhat sympathetic.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Halfway through the film, Tracy seems to be borderline psychotic, most notably during her famous mantra of "No bra, no panties," which she says to her mother, after Melanie tells Tracy that she's "really starting to lose it". She also shows signs of being troubled far before Evie enters the picture.
• Les Yay: Between Tracy and Evie.
• Memetic Mutation: "No bra, no panties!"
• Misaimed Fandom:
  • Over the years, some have come to see Evie, who is undeniably a Broken Bird and not a straight-up villain, as possibly just as much on the receiving end of Tracy's Toxic Friend Influence as the other way around — and possibly even more. While it's true that Evie is sympathetic and not a straight-up villain, many overcompensate by viewing Evie as a victim of Tracy's influence. Evie is still generally the one pushing Tracy into behavior she isn't comfortable with — for example, the near-threesome with Luke. Tracy is standing in the corner with her arms crossed and visibly uncomfortable until Evie practically forces her into it. Evie also begins acting far more toxic toward Tracy when she becomes jealous that Javi is interested in Tracy and not her, and her taking Javi aside to (likely) fool around when the girls sneak away from the movies is part of why Tracy gets so messed up and they're super-late that night. She also squealed to Tracy's teacher, turning in her fake ID, and started a possible rumor about her and a guy to a girl who could have easily kicked Tracy's butt if not for the school security guard. She later reveals, during the intervention scene, that the reason she turned Tracy's stuff into Brooke was because someone "found her stash" and she had to, but she's essentially blamed it all on Tracy. Finally, she screams at Mel about her house is a "shithole" that "fucking stinks" after months of mooching off her, eating her food, manipulating her, stealing from her friends and begging her to adopt her.
  • Notably, it's also subtly implied that Evie and Tracy's former Girl Posse member Astrid is doing a bit better after the two ditch her — she's significantly perkier and would rather participate in her class project than ditch to sell drugs with Tracy. It's also implied that Evie is opportunistic with her friends. She starts gravitating away from Astrid and toward Tracy when she sees that Tracy's on an upward trajectory socially, and that she and her family are more easily manipulated.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • This was the film debut of Vanessa Hudgens; Working Title wound up casting her and co-star Brady Corbet the next year in the infamous live-action adaptation of Thunderbirds.
  • Nikki Reed would be more recognisable these days for Lords of Dogtown, The Twilight Saga, The O.C. and Sleepy Hollow.
• The Scrappy: Brooke is unpleasant and rude at the best of times, and is also relatively responsible for placing her little cousin Evie in a physically abusive situation with her ex. Also, even if she was easily fooled by Evie and was simply standing up for her at the end of the movie, one could argue that there are few excuses for exposing a pre-teen's self-harm scars to her mother as a sort of "gotcha" — and then, seconds later, calling her a "cunt."
• Squick: The threesome that almost happened between Tracy, Evie, and Luke. Especially with the fact that the two girls are minors.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Despite the fact that the film is about teenage rebellion and the poster could be misinterpreted as something much tamer, it is not actually aimed at teenagers. Roger Ebert even noted this in his review, saying it earned its R-rating.
• The Woobie:
  • Tracy. Before middle school even starts, she's already witnessed her parents splitting up, her mother struggle with her own addictions and struggle with basic adult functions like knowing how to pay bills. She's witnessed at least one overdose on the part of Brady, and there's possible implications that even more chaotic or dark stuff has happened with him around. It's also heavily implied that her older brother gets to have a bit more freedom, going surfing and getting stoned every night while Tracy has to be a little adult. It's implied that she's already been smoking and self-harming for some time. And that's before Evie's influence creeps in.
  • That said, Mason can be seen as a woobie as well; he's not a particularly mean sibling to Tracy and has gone through the same things Tracy has, but deals differently. He also does appear to have a good heart and a good head on his shoulders, as he becomes highly concerned about Tracy's safety after he sees how far she's gone under Evie's influence.
  • Evie for sure. Whether there are some lies or inconsistencies about her past, she's clearly endured some physical abuse at the hands of people who were supposed to take care of her, and all Brooke has done is let her run wild. Despite being beautiful, she also clearly doesn't have a lot of money and has had to rely on stealing and mooching to get everything she has. She's also profoundly insecure and seems to seek out affection from everyone around her — Tracy, Mel and, of course, men. Can be seen as a bit of a Jerkass Woobie depending on how responsible or malicious you view her as for her part in Tracy's Downward Spiral.
  • Mel is the ultimate woobie. She has made it through addiction to actually see the other side, but the damage done to her life up to that point is hard to repair. She has to work long hours and do a dozen haircuts a day just to afford her and her kids' very modest lifestyle, and because of everything she's been through she has difficulty saying no to anyone — she lets her hairdressing clients run wild eating her food even though they barely tip her, lets Birdie and her daughter crash at their house whenever they want and will give people haircuts on the house if they don't have cash to pay. You could say she brings some of it on herself, but it's clear with the way she tries to take care of Tracy and Mason — and Evie — that she just wants others to be safe and happy. Too bad she does a kind of crappy job.