The Ivy and Bean film series is a series of film adaptations based on the children's books of the same name with the title characters. The films were released in 2022 on Netflix. This article will go in-depth about the films in the series and their strong representation of women and people of color.
The first movie in the film series is where the title characters' friendship begins. The two girls start out as strangers who eventually become friends and discover that opposite personalities attract. This article goes further in detail on how Ivy and Bean form a new friendship. The setting takes place at Pancake Court, a dead-end street in a suburban town, where lots of neighboring kids like to play. It is also home to the mean neighbor, Mrs. Noble. Viewers first see a strong representation of women and people of color by looking at Bean's family. In the end, Ivy and Bean become best friends; they couldn't wait to see each other again. But, this is only the beginning, as their story had only just begun.
The title characters return in the sequel, The Ghost That Had to Go. Ivy and Bean go to elementary school together and are in the same class. They get into trouble for being too chatty thanks to Mrs. Noble, the mean neighbor from the first movie who is now serving as a monitor for the students. On the playground during recess, Ivy notices a white mist coming out from the air vent miles away. She first felt that mist when she and Bean enter the lonely bathroom for the first time. These serve as foreshadowing elements. Ivy tells Bean that there is a ghost in the bathroom, as she concludes from what she heard and felt that the bathroom is haunted.
