When I watch chick flicks and am sucked into the story line, I am not just enthralled with the actual romance or drama. I often take on the emotion and the personality of one of the characters. Obviously for the redundant romantic comedies, I am the goofy girl who tries to manipulate the boy into falling in love with her or who shyly avoids the awkwardness of the inevitable intimacy ensuing. Yes, I LOVED (AND STILL DO LOVE) DIRTY DANCING and I would watch that movie over and over again until I actually learned the entire final dance between Baby and Johnny...and all of their other dances too including that horrible Carlton looking think at the Sheldrake. (Psst - I see you grinning as you picture that scene) I choked to death in the movie Somersby when she discovered who this returned soldier truly was and was caught in this incredible climax of emotions. Who doesn't love When Harry Met Sally or You've Got Mail or Casablanca or The Notebook or goodness knows, The Titanic? I know that there are guys groaning right now, but I also know there are a few that understand the strategy of taking your lady to see a good chick flick.
I can even play the missing role. You know this critical person. They are the important figure remembered or vaguely mentioned in the storyline in order to tug at your heart all the more as you watch this absentee's loved ones try to manage life without them. I have felt the pain of the missing mom in the Patriot watching my husband grieve and try to raise my children to be upstanding respectable adults and I wanted him to love again. I wanted my children to have a mom. Or in Return to Me when the donor wants for her widowed husband to find love again.
But let's go to those chick flicks that are really just for CHICKS. When the movie is a celebration of the friendship of women, you tend to see more women line up to view this piece of cinematography in the theaters over men. When you see inside jokes best understood by those who have dramatically more estrogen (or at least have had at one time in their lives) you tend to see a different connection. So in these movies, I find myself sizing up the cast of characters and deciphering which one is the best representation of me - the me that I see. I am a leader. I always have been. I have been known to be bold and brass in the past, but not so much at this stage in my life. I have fluctuated in my "size" and I have fluctuated in my fashion knowledge and ability. I am emotional and can go from extremely frustrated to extremely sympathetic within a 30 minute period. You just have to pull the right heart string. And yes friends from the past, I am a tad more quiet than I once was. I am sure it will fade like the wind and in my elderly state, my aggressive demeanor will return only to humiliate my children and grandchildren.
In these chick flicks, there is always a certain amount of characters, each to portray a certain personality in a little clique. There is always the beautiful leader who has just enough intelligence to maintain her role as leader. There is the sidekick who varies in her characteristics. Sometimes sidekick #1 is ditzy and clueless ready to be conned into whatever the leader devises. Sometimes sidekick #1 is a willing follower, but is begrudging as she follows her great leader secretly griping about poor choices the entire time and yet doing nothing to question the leader. Sometimes sidekick #1 is a replica of the great alpha female and can easily take command if there is an absence because of an unfortunate scheduled deviated septum surgery.
The rest of the girls usually have some sort of comic relief. This person is depicted in different ways in each film, but more often than not, the comic relief does not possess the same physique as the alpha female. Then there is the quiet and reserved and often submissive member of the posse. This character is often portrayed as homely only to later emerge as a bombshell. Sometimes there is a tomboy. Sometimes there is a transient. Sometimes there is a guy who is a friend of the gals with some sort of backstory. Sometimes there is an older member of the crowd serving as the great owl for them.
Think about it...Steel Magnolias, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Mean Girls, even now, there is a movie out entitled The Single Moms Club. Think about all the characters. If you have watched these movies, than you have connected with one of the characters. Some of you are confident enough to connect with the leader, but there are many of us that fall into one of the other members of the motley crew. Why is that? Why can't we all connect with the leader?
Well Jodi, we can't all be bold and beautiful. Why not? If you are reading a book or engaging in a story that is captivating your thoughts, why do you not allow yourself the pride to be the leader? I will tell you that often I do not. It isn't because I do not feel capable of leading. Quite frankly, it is how they are portrayed in the story - the beautiful "me" monster. I want to be a leader, but I do not see myself in either of the other categories.
Hmmm. Is that right? Sorta, but not really. We get stuck on just the appearance and the questionable uncomfortable confidence. It is NOT WRONG to take care of your appearance. It is wrong to obsess with your appearance so much that it robs you of time doing God's work and it causes you to think and say things that poorly influence others. And it is not wrong to have your own kind of beautiful. Not everyone is blonde. Not everyone is 5'10". Not everyone can run in stilettos. Not everyone looks good in red lipstick. Not everyone is tan. Not everyone is 115 lbs. Not everyone is driving a convertible like Christy Brinkley in all the National Lampoon movies. Be you. Be - YOU -tiful. Enjoy the movies, but don't drag them into your life. They are merely a story.
Proverbs tell us in Chapter 11, verse 22, "Like a gold ring in a pig's snout, is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion."
This verse is referring to allocation of time. Although it is not wrong to want to care for your temple and make it presentable in God's eyes, it is wrong to spend so much time on it that it you lead others to find insecurity in their temple appearance...that you lead others to question the structure of their temple...that you lead others to begin to use their time for self-improvement when it could be used for devotion to callings God has placed on them requiring that time spent in the mirror.
Do take care of yourself. Do give proper maintenance of this body with which you have been blessed. Do exercise...not to fit in skinny jeans, to keep your muscles from getting stiff and to maintain blood flow so that all areas of your body are being properly nourished. Do eat right...not so you reach a certain number on a scale, but rather to help your digestive system not have to work so hard to sort the good and the bad and the ugly. Do tend to your skin, but it doesn't have to be exhaustive. Just keep it moisturized and protected from the sun so it will last you until you no longer need it.
Be You. You are covered with His fingerprints. See them?
No comments:
Post a Comment