in "smithereens", set in the early 1980s, the trope of the plucky heroine trying to make it in the music world is upended by teenaged wren's goal to become famous despite having no applicable creative talents. plastering fliers of her face around the city, wren's a precursor of the "famous for being famous" personalities of the internet age. seidelman says that wren's story "is about something broader: the fragmented nature of life in the 80's. it could have taken place in other settings."