Questionable Things We Ignored In Lizzie McGuire

There is a lot to adore about Disney Channel's original series "Lizzie McGuire," but as a show that aired between 2001 and 2004, it also featured a plethora of situations that were improperly handled — many of which were easy for viewers to overlook, especially if they were teens themselves at the time. "Lizzie McGuire" follows its nominal character, played by Hilary Duff, as she navigates trying times in middle school alongside her best friends Miranda Sanchez (Lalaine) and David "Gordo" Gordon (Adam Lamberg), her parents (played by Hallie Todd and Robert Carradine), and her younger brother, Matt (Jake Thomas). As a prodigious success throughout its 65-episode run, the series concluded with a theatrically released film, "The Lizzie McGuire Movie."

Because "Lizzie McGuire" was written as a pre-teen TV show — and aired at a time when broader, more inclusive conversations weren't happening on social media — there are plenty of things writers were able to get away with when it came to plot holes, questionable remarks, and even glossing over certain situations that today would require ample research and sensitivity to execute more appropriately. Furthermore, unlike one of its known Disney Channel predecessors, "Boy Meets World," when it came to exploring heavier topics, "Lizzie McGuire" underperformed as a direct result of not having a chronological order in its episode air dates. Now that the series is streaming on Disney+, the order the episodes stream in contributes to the clunky storytelling that always had so much more potential.

In "Gordo and the Magic Dwarves," Lizzie, Miranda, and Matt perform aversion therapy to help Gordo snap out of his "Dwarflord: The Conquest" obsession. When it seems as though Gordo is neglecting everything but the game, and he refuses to listen to anyone, his friends take matters into their own hands. Aversion therapy isn't to be taken lightly — it's a serious (and controversial) physiological treatment that utilizes the concepts of classical conditioning by pairing the patient's undesirable behavior with discomfort, such as snapping a rubber band on the patient's wrist each time they repeat the unwanted behavior.

Addiction is a disease that many shows even in relatively mature genres tend to gloss over; thus, placing it front and center and letting pre-teens attempt to handle it like professionals isn't the kind of example "Lizzie McGuire" should've tried to set. Sure, the actual process of aversion therapy is more gruesome than the version depicted in this episode — but it still isn't a matter that should have been dealt with lightly ... or, arguably, at all.

Kids have obsessions all the time — frankly, if one looked at Lizzie and Miranda and their obsession with fashion, they could have been placed in the same category as Gordo and his obsession with the game. Yes, each is unhealthy in its own way, and boundaries are necessary, but toying with actual procedures that should be performed by professionals, while trivializing the experience of addiction, is deeply disturbing. 

If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

As was the case in many films and TV shows at the time, the cheer squad bullied everyone beneath them on the social ladder, and in "Lizzie McGuire," there's seldom any adult supervision when any of this harmful behavior occurs. Real middle and high schools (should) almost always have faculty present to supervise the underage students, but when the bullying happens on "Lizzie McGuire," none are ever around. 

With the cheer squad in particular, the cheerleaders have complete autonomy. While this is realistic to some degree, there's still the necessity for an adult coach or supervisor who's in charge of the entire department. As a result of the lack of oversight, the squad is able to completely belittle and kick out one of their own in "The Rise and the Fall of the Kate Empire." Kate Sanders is demoted as a captain and thrown out of the cheer squad when she injures her shoulder, and worst of all, this is done by another member of the squad without a single adult to intervene in the matter. It's a showcase of toxic friendship for starters; the lack of compassion and empathy makes the moment incredibly troublesome. But more than that, it exposes the fact that these kids have far more "power" than they should as pre-teens — especially over each other.

In almost every show from this era, there's always one student who is relentlessly bullied, and that student in "Lizzie McGuire" is Larry Tudgeman (Kyle Downes). Up until the episode "My Fair Larry," where he's given a physical makeover to sneak into a party he was purposely excluded from, everyone in the show mocks Larry for being an outsider — a "Trekkie," as he'd call it — at some point. And when he finally expresses that his feelings are actually hurt, it's the first time Lizzie actually takes into consideration that they've been unkind to him.

The fact of the matter is, the issues brought up around Larry are so stereotypical and toxic that they did too good a job of encouraging younger audiences to shun kids who were different from them. He even mentions once when she's running an advice column that he doesn't know to get the other kids to like him. As a show that is not very diverse, focuses quite heavily on traditional standards of beauty, and is set in middle school, "Lizzie McGuire" depicts a fair amount of bullying. It specifically targets Larry Tudgeman, but also affects other characters — including Gordo, who is at one point rejected for his height. These aren't exactly the kinds of messages you want to send to middle school audiences who are navigating their own insecurities.

In "The Greatest Crush of All," each of the girls develops a crush on their new substitute English teacher, Mr. Ewan Keith (Grant Thompson), even going as far as to fight for his attention. The teacher at one point invites them to his poetry reading, even singling out Lizzie because she seems to understand the material better than others. It's harmless on the surface, sure, but TV and film have often glossed over such scenarios as innocent when ultimately, it's quite detrimental in terms of the boundaries it overthrows in favor of plot.

A college professor inviting students to a poetry reading would be one thing, but when it's 13-year-old girls, it's a completely different story and a boundary that shouldn't be crossed. Additionally, to extrapolate from this storyline, many places such readings take place aren't suitable for pre-teens without supervision, like bars or even college campuses. The idea of Mr. Keith reading romantic poetry while the female students swooned and got tongue-tied over him echoes what grooming actually looks like when it goes unnoticed. But instead of addressing it, the sequence harped on the idea that it's harmless, innocent, and even funny. In short, it set the kind of example that could mislead younger students toward a skewed version of normal student-teacher relations. It isn't okay when it happens to any students, and certainly not in a storyline surrounding middle schoolers. 

It takes some adults with good credit scores years to be given a platinum credit card offer, but in "Gordo Shuffle," Lizzie's best friend Gordo is offered a platinum card — signed to his name and everything! Then, when his friends finally convince him to use it, he maxes it out trying to finance his own movie. This might be the most questionable episode of all, because ... How? Truly, how on earth and from where on earth does the offer even reach a 13-year-old? 

A pre-teen with no job getting a credit card is unrealistic, not to mention that pre-teen financing a film and working long hours every day without adult supervision. There's even a point when the pizza delivery driver takes the credit card and cuts it in half because it's been declined. This raises eyebrows for more reasons than one, primarily because no one would ever dare to do such a thing to someone else's property.

Leading up to Gordo maxing out the card, at no point does anyone even question the amount that's being used or whether or not making the film is a thoughtful plan at all. None of the adults explain responsible credit card use (even for the benefit of kids in the audience), and we never learn how many of his purchases Gordo was able to return. The consequences of his reckless behavior aren't addressed ever again, and audiences are simply meant to suspend disbelief and assume that it all turned out well in the end. If only real credit card debt were that easy to resolve. 

When Miranda Sanchez, Lizzie's best friend, suddenly disappears from multiple episodes, we're constantly told she's visiting her family in Mexico City. While speculation began stirring about whether or not it was the star Lalaine's choice to leave, whatever the case, the way the series handled her departure was incredibly unrealistic. At no point could a 13-year-old just leave school to go on vacation for a long period of time without falling too far behind.

Additionally, throughout multiple episodes that aren't even in chronological order, the narrative continually changes, creating a vexing plot hole no one at the time understood. The early 2000s had a habit of putting too much on a pre-teen character's plate, while never acknowledging legality issues or the fact that all their extracurriculars and shenanigans could prevent them from meeting the school's curriculum.

If Miranda wasn't meant to return (and she didn't in the film), the writers should have given her the kind of closure that would allow audiences to know she'd be moving elsewhere. (That way, they wouldn't have to come up with crazy fan theories, like the one that suggests Miranda was never even real.) The way the narrative bounced around was a disservice to both the character and the story. While spending time with family is important, it's certainly questionable that a teen, and Miranda Sanchez especially, would choose a family trip over a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel abroad with her friends.