Post 41:
“The Talking Machine”

Post 41: “The Talking Machine”

From 13-Year-Old Anne’s Journal —

December 21, 1982 – EXCELLENT

“Laura starts to like this scientific kid named Jason. Nellie likes him, too. To get his attention, she buys a talking machine. It doesn’t work, so she records Laura saying mushy stuff about Jason and plays it for the class. Jason writes on the bard “Jason loves Laura” and later they carve their names in the sweetheart tree.”

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From Tracy —

I agree with Young Anne. THIS EPISODE SERIOUSLY ROCKS.

It has everything. Let’s examine the checklist:

√ Great dialogue and use of old fashioned words like “passel” and “gullywhopper”

√ Heroic curly headed boy

√ Pa being even more wonderful than usual

√ Insanely cool props

√ Science and science fiction

√ Full-on Nellie treachery and hissy fit

This episode is also very pro-women. Pa channels Alan Alda. Not only does Pa tell Laura she is pretty enough but also that she could be a scientist or even a woman doctor. And he rushes to defend her honor in the end.

He even defends a female horse’s honor when the talking machine salesman wonders if his horse’s sex is to blame for its fear of lightning:

Salesman: “The onliest thing in the world that blows that mare up is lightning. Do you suppose it’s because she’s female? Their juices run different than ours.”

Pa: “Naw. I know plenty of male horses that spook at lightning too.”

There there’s Nellie acting like Rhoda from The Bad Seed. Watching her go from tantrum to hatching an diabolical plan is delicious.

Then finally there’s Jason. Swoon! I would have so crushed on him too if I’d been at that school. Those curls! Those blue eyes! That big beautiful brain! And all of his neat experiments and toys! Steampunkers take note. This episode is prop porn.

399px-Kyle-cassidy-steampunk

But wait . . . it gets better! At the end he also defends Laura honor and bravely claims he wrote “Jason loves Laura” on the blackboard “because it’s true.”

Rock on brainy romance. Rock on.

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From Anne —

OK, I’m going to be cynical for a minute. Are we sure that Jason actually wrote “Jason loves Laura” on the chalkboard? Maybe someone else did it. He’s a bit slow to claim the graffiti, don’t you think? But there at the end, when Laura and Jason are beaming moody smiles at each other across the tiny classroom, I expected a “wow-chicka-bow-wow” chord to slip out from the indomitable Little House Soundtrack Orchestra.

Yup, Tracy. Not only do we get full-on Nellie in tantrum-turned-plan-hatching mode (that’s the stuff  Confessions of a Prairie Bitch is made of). We also get some tension between Laura and Mary. Mary clearly thinks Laura is an idiot for running around after Jason. Mary’s suitors always came to her…

Great observation of the feminist-yet-romantic strain here.  It’s tough to do both. The female horse comment is quite subtle and gamely done.

Indeed, the actual 1870s-1880s were a hot time for inventors. Lightbulbs, phonographs, wind turbines, movie cameras were off the presses or in the works. Maybe Jason would have been the Elon Musk of his day.

Speaking of inventions, a contemporary inventor is coming to Indianapolis soon for the TEDxIndianapolis conference.  Can’t wait to meet this guy; invention is always sexy.

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