 | I have encountered a problem today and I dont know how to fix it. Donia has decided (as Jen G. did a looong time ago) to list the movies that I havent seen, that I apparently should have seen, as a child/teen in the 80's/early 90's. Nice gesture, yes, but herein lies my struggle: she doesnt realize (as I didnt, before this little experiment began) that the reason these movies are so "good" is because when she saw them 15-20 years ago, they were age and generation appropriate! Now, I dont know, I sit here and suffer through Goonies this morning, her with a big reminiscent grin on her face, me wondering what the hell Im watching! When she saw this at the age of 12, it was a fantastic kid adventure movie. Now, never having seen it at the age of almost...well, nevermind my age...all it is is a kiddie adventure movie! I dont have those feelings flooding back to me from when I first saw it as kid, having a crush on the main character, watching in wonderment as the story unfolded. I hear cheesy jokes and see bad fashion and cant help but think, "this would NEVER happen" at every turn of events! I do these things to make her happy, but now having seen 16 candles (couldnt stay with it), The Breakfast Club, Goonies, Dirty Dancing (ok), The Outsiders (not toooo bad), Stand By Me (maybe the best one), Lost Boys (come on youve got to be kidding me!), and Point Break (worst acting Ive ever seen!), I am done. No more, please! Indiana Jones bored me a month ago when we attempted to watch the trilogy (didnt even finish one) and now she has rented the Back to the Future trilogy! I know what youre saying, "but these are classics!" Yeah, classics, unless you missed the WINDOW in which they become classics in your head. I call it the "80's cheesy movie window" (80's-cmw for, well, kinda short). There is just no way Ill ever find most of these movies endearing at this point in life. I missed it. Remember seeing "Cant Hardly Wait" or "Clueless"? These to me are great cuz I was in high school and its about high school and you were in a time when it made sense for your adolescent brain. If I played those movies now for my mom, she'd think they were silly. She cant feel what I felt! So it is with Donia and her great movie viewing idea...little does she know, Im aborting the mission...
Ive got her library password, Ill cancel all the holds she has on the movies, and ill tell her they were reported lost or stolen. Yep, ALLLL the copies they had. Sorry...(but not really). Sometimes Ive gotta protect my sanity over making her happy by sitting thru another coming-of-age tale circa 1984.
And now my second problem. The other day Im next to this motor cycle rider. These three guys cross the street in front of us, and I see them checking this person out. I then realize that this is a woman. They are hooting and hollering at her, thinking she's so hot for riding a bike. So I start to wonder: where do we draw the line between wanting to be able to "do what the boys do" without a spectacle and still wanting to be noticed for being strong women stepping outside the gender-assigned box? (hold your jokes). I would like to say "Come on! Arent we at a place where it can be deemed normal for a girl to ride a motorcycle?" But then again, if everything is equal, if we do everything the boys do, then we are not holding on to our femininity either. If I can walk into a poker room and sit down at a table and no one notice Im a girl among 90% guys, then I lose that advantage, that attraction that I gain, which puts them at a disadvantage (some of the time. the dumb ones. and most are). So the feminist in me wants to preach "Hey! I can play poker and pool and ride a bike and pick up my own furniture to move it and dont need a guy to point out that these things are so manly!". Then again, the girl in me wants to say "Its still cool for some things to be noticed when a girl does them, but not all things! You dont have to point out you were just beat by a girl on the pool table or that a girl just got promoted over you." Having high-paying jobs or prestigious positions or being president or living on her own or being able to take care of herself are not out-of-the-ordinary, or at least they shouldnt be for women. Its hard for me to decipher whether we want to be women forever, or equals. Keep our femininity or give up most of the gender roles in exchange for the same rights men get all the time. We dont want to be men, and we dont wanna be "women performing roles of men" . I guess wejust wanna be cute and capable and strong humna beings running cirlces around the opposite sex in heels and a mini skirt...ok, thats what I want. I dont know what others want. Discuss amongst yourselves (but not in the presence of men, they get so cranky sometimes! Must be that time of...well...their whole lives?)
Questions, comments, or concerns may be sent to my Myspace Inbox. Rants and Raves on how I like to burn my bra and need to get a grip on reality, please send them to your own inbox, and promptly erase them.
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