Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Moviez

To me, the only qualification for a great movie is that it entertains me and that it's probably about girls. I find that movies about white boys have gotten really unoriginal because they're always the same types of conflicts. Good movies about women are so much more subversive because every type of woman has not been played out. Men in movies are so flawed and well written and diverse in personality. Women always fit specific archetypes that don't reflect real women at all, so when a good movie (one written by a woman generally) is about a woman it's so refreshing to see women that actually resemble women in real life. To me, a great movie, much like a great book, is one that introduces a premise or conflict that causes or allows you to think about something that you've never thought about before and leaves an impression on you that shapes your future worldview.
Examples of these types of great movies are Legally Blonde and the Bling Ring, which show feminine, flawed women who have all kinds of complicated relationships with other women, that really taught me things about what it means to be female facing conflicts such as the criminal justice system - a central theme in both movies that is generally not associated with "chick flicks" (a term I personally resent). Other films that beautifully represent complicated and diverse women learning from and influencing each other are Girl, Interrupted and Disney's Atlantis.
Badass/Role model/Personal hero

I also find that extremely bizarre movies that still manage to connect with accomplish best what movies are supposed to do; take you to another world in order to teach you about the one you're in. Examples of this include Moulin Rouge!, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Donnie Darko, and Being John Malkovich. All are highly unrealistic, dramatic, and exaggerated, yet I always walk away from them having gleaned a new message or something to think about that I can apply to reflection on my own life.
More like "Eternal Heartbreak of the Emotionally Unstable 15-year-old Who Was Not Ready for this Movie"

(P.S. Shout out to Slumdog Millionaire and Anchorman for being two of my favorite movies that don't fit into any of these categories).


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