Booksmart


Today, I watched the movie Booksmart. It's the story of two teenage girls who want to make the most of their last night before they graduate from high school. I enjoyed this movie because I felt that it defied so many of the stereotypes Hollywood has established for the typical teen chick-flick.

This movie showed a healthier (though still exaggerated) view into teenage life than most. For example, in a lot of high school-centered movies, there are mean girls who are portrayed as dumb and shallow. Thankfully, that cliche doesn't really exist in this movie. The female characters in the movie actually support and guide each other. While many elements of the film are dramatized, it portrays friendship in a realistic way. The two main characters, Amy and Molly, don't have the perfect friendship, but they fight about real emotional issues, instead of over boys or popularity or the stupid stuff we see so often in teen movies. The girls aren't dumbed down for our entertainment and they're not given any stupid Tropes.

After watching MissRepresentation in class, I was slapped in the face realizing how many of my favorite movies were subject to the mistreatment and stereotyping of their female characters. Watching Booksmart was refreshing, as I feel it did everything that typical teen comedies don't: Allowed their female characters to have emotional layers and depth, while still making the movie comedic and lighthearted. It's a great combination of both of those things.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 29, 2019 at 2:48 PM

    It’s movies like this in which they need to make more of. Once they are able to make more movies like his then it will help for female teens to feel more accepted and comfortable in their own body.

    ReplyDelete
  2. nikkie leeMay 29, 2019 at 7:40 PM

    this movie sounds pretty good.... i agree that it is important to stop portraying high school girls as dumb and shallow. because even people like that have feelings and emotions too (more than just being dumb). i think it's also important to have good representations of what friendships should be like instead of the stereotypical boy drama.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Relationship With Media

Image
I would honestly say that I'm kind of addicted to media. More specifically, my phone. Apple recently added a new feature to their phones where it shows you how many hours per day you spend on your phone. And it shocked me to find that I use my phone for up to six hours a day. That's a whole quarter of my day behind a screen. And that doesn't even account for the time that I use to watch Netflix or YouTube on my laptop. This made me think about how essential media has become to my life. I use it every day to stay connected to the world around me. Whether that be talking to friends or family that I don't get to see on a daily basis or looking at the news online to stay informed.  I feel like the internet (which is definitely the most prominent form of media in my life) is often viewed negatively by older generations, and I definitely understand that aspect. Social media can be very harmful to teens, especially ones who star
Read more

MissRepresentation in Film

Image
Most films in existence are dominated by men, whether that be onscreen, acting as the protagonist, or behind the scenes, directing and holding power. While it is true that conditions for female representation in film has improved over the last few decades, we could still be doing much better. And the film MissRepresentation  reminded me of that. I have definitely noticed a lack of female leads in most Hollywood blockbusters. According to the Women and Hollywood organization, only 28 percent of films were led or co-led by women in the top grossing films from 2007 to 2018. Most of the time, women serve as background characters or, as  MissRepresentation  reminded us, they are just there as something pretty for men to look at. This is especially true for many action movies. Even when these films have a powerful female lead (Wonder Woman, Lara Croft, etc.), they are often still painted in the image of what an "ideal" woman should look like: skinny, hair and makeup done perfe
Read more