What Happened To Jenny?

I watched the movie Dumb Money, about the short squeeze of GameStop stock that changed the way…something, something about hedge funds and small investors…bailouts…rich people suck. Spoilers don’t really apply because it’s based on a true story, but even so, if you’re weird about at sort of thing, skip ahead.

The movie follows the main character at home during the pandemic, and a handful of people across the country who are following his lead by online investing.  We get to know a little about the characters in their own lives and how they struggle, and how a huge gain in the stock market would help them.  As is the style in these movies, at the end, we get a little text over the screen that tells us how much they made, including Jenny, a nurse who worked through the pandemic at a Pittsburgh hospital.  Jenny is played by America Ferrara (Whom I have always loved) and her update is that she was still in the red after being up half a million dollars.  The movie explained that she could still sell when the stock went back up. But we don’t know. 

Also, we love Jenny.  Jenny works hard, raises her kids on her own, is respected, and is very likeable. (Re: America Ferrara) Being in the hole, unlike the rest of our random characters, is all we get of her story.

After the movie was over, I Googled her because I wanted to know!  What happened? It’s been a couple years since the events of the movie. As I (kind of) suspected, there was no Jenny.  Jenny was an amalgam of other investors, just like the rest of our gallery of regular people.

But shit, I still want to know what happened!

I realized very early on the difference between my wife and I when it came to our relationship with media.  She can pick up and drop anything.  She enjoys it or doesn’t, then moves on.  I feel that method is healthy and normal.

My way of engaging with a story is a product of having my heart firmly attached to my sleeve.  When I watch something, I WATCH it.  I’m in the world, I play favorites, I have wishes for the characters, and I am usually vested in the outcome. Man, I want shit to work out for the good guys.

I have looked up the ending of movies and series to see how it works out before I finish.  Many, many times.  I still enjoy the show, but my anxiety is tempered when I know how it all plays out.

I have peeked ahead in books.  Not ashamed.

I truly don’t care about spoilers.  If a twist or surprise is integral for you to enjoy something, then it probably isn’t that great to begin with.  I don’t share that information with others.  It’s just for me.

My behavior is not predicated on having a satisfying ending.  I’ve liked plenty of stories with vague or bummer endings.  When I’m in, I’m in.  I feel the feelings if it is an effective show.  I’ll wake up in the morning and it has stuck with me.  I carry it around until I see another episode, or I can talk to someone about it.  I only watch stuff at night with no distractions.  Sometimes I wish I had a private theater in basement with a door that locked. Let me get sucked in.

I don’t really watch game shows or reality shows or trash you can just passively have on in the background. Not interested.

Not surprisingly, this emotional attachment paved the way for me to write books.  I think I have more believable characters because of it.  Either you have this tendency, or you are a normal person able to switch gears. In a shady little corner deep inside my brain, I’ll always wonder what happened to Jenny. I bet it’s something cool, though.