"Welcome to Hollywood! What's your dream? Everybody comes here; this is Hollywood, land of dreams. Some dreams come true, some don't; but keep on dreamin' - this is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin'."
my movie: pretty woman.
ahhh, chick flick, you may say. yeah. big time. i know.
to me, it is much more. i see the person i strive to be--who gets what she wants by being herself.
nahhhh, not cinder-fuckin-rella, as Kit would say.
i see a much bigger and different message. the outside of the movie is cinderella. bad girl makes good. prince whisks her off to the chartered plane bliss.
that's not what i see and it isn't what i want.
i had a conversation the other day that got me thinking about what i do want from a relationship and i thought about Julia Roberts using a safety pin to hook up her boots and offering a buffet of various condoms. that's me. "I'm a safety girl." :) i could quote this movie till i drive you crazy. so, i'll stop now.
back to the conversation and my connection to hollywood. i dig chick flicks. i'm a pathetic, hopeless romantic. utterly lost to it. i get weepy over everything, and if a man can't tear up at the end of breakfast at tiffany's well, hell, that's just cold.
but, this is about about miss vivian and edward. what i love about their story is that she wasn't looking for him. he was work. she had her own thing. it was bedraggled and dangerous and one rent payment away from falling apart, but it was hers. he wasn't looking for her either, but together, they were a little better for knowing each other--a real give and take. and let's face it, that scene on the piano? that's just stupid hot.
she had dreams of her own. she'd seen them fall apart. she knew her weaknesses and strengths. she had a bit of a plan. she hadn't given up. she was strong and smart and sexy. and, damn it, she wasn't crying in her vodka over her losses.
i want to be her. i am my own personal version of her. my crazy, quilt work life is like hers... minus the pimps and johns. but, dude, i've been right there on the edge. i haven't and i won't give up.
i also like that despite her line of work and what the ladies in the clothes shop thought of her, she had class. she could do anything and she was willing to work to get it--but she NEVER stopped being vivian. i love the character's flexibility and how she embraces change and growth. dress her any way you like, giveth and taketh away... she is still vivian.
and she tells edward what she wants. no games. she is always honest with him. she allows herself to get hurt.
and most importantly, she doesn't settle or compromise her values. she walks away.she takes what she has learned and earned and walks away.
i'm sorry, but that is a valuable lesson.
and what about edward? well, he's all that and a bag of chips. we are talking about richard gere here... but he listens to her and opens up to her. he doesn't judge her or dismiss her. instead, he gives her some guide posts to his new and different world. he's broken, just like her--just like all of us. he's a force to be reckoned with, a man who knows himself, but who knows there is more and is willing to try... still willing to take risks.
imagine that, two adults.
of course, it's hollywood, so there is a happy ending. i'm okay with it though because there is one more little lesson that i think sealed the deal for me.
edward climbs that fire escape to "rescue" the princess, and when he does, he asks what happens now?
she says, "she rescues him right back."
amen, sister! everybody deserves to be rescued and it feels just as good to do the rescuing as it does to be rescued.
so, is it a chick flick? oh def, and i'm crying like a baby at the end.. every single time.
but, it's not a fairy tale to be a strong, independent woman who is caring, beautiful and willing to take risks to get what she wants.
dude, that's me.
http://youtu.be/LGPbvOirz8I
