i went this evening to watch 27 dresses as a compensation of sorts for sitting through the superbowl. for a quick review, the movie is 200% stereotypical chick flick (can you say how to loose a guy in 10 days?), but i enjoyed.
donald miller gave a sermon at mars hill once on the use of story. listen to it. then you’ll know that i’m going to steal some of his concepts and make them my own.
the key to a good story is that you identify with the character. thus, the correlation to me not really connecting to Rocky. but romantic comedies, though completely fake (if you notice they never have a boring day at work and always have time for elaborate breakfasts and late night “drinks” with friends), still have their charm in that they take a small spark of something you feel on the inside and they “fan the flame” if you will.
which, for a movie about “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” is very interesting to me. 3 of the 4 gals i was sitting with were married. yet we were all somehow emotionally tied to this movie. which goes to show, in Rob Bell’s words, “this is always about that.” (read SexGod for more).
so, back to characters and movies. i have this crazy feeling that every girl in the theater was envisioning themselves as the main character, Jane. no one in there really saw Tess, the beautiful, spoiled little sister who took the guy from Jane without knowing it, and thought “hey, that is so me!”
it’s amazing the emotion a chick flick can evoke. it’s like the movie takes that which you feel deepest (be it loneliness, anger, feeling overlooked and under appreciated… just to name a few that this particular movie centered in on), and highlights it. the movie takes it and becomes your voice because everyone in the theater knows that it’s not right.
the problem is, as much as i felt jane’s pain, as much as we all feel like her, we’re not her. there are pieces of us that ring true, and that’s why we feel that way. but there are pieces of each of the characters that are alive in us. i am also the loud-mouthed bff who says things she shouldn’t. and i’m the demanding sister who doesn’t think about other people’s feelings before she rips up an heirloom wedding dress.
i love movies because i can identify with the hero. i hate movies because i see the vileness of the villan in me. i love movies because when the heroine’s wrongs are righted, i feel justice. i hate movies because i must come to grips with the fact that i’m part of the problem in someone else’s wrongs.