Before the year that was 2018 came to a close, America’s favorite friend Netlfix, brought one of the best feel-good movies of the year. Dumplin’ was released on December 7th and stars Danielle MacDonald as Willowdean ‘Dumplin’ Dickson and Jennifer Aniston as her beauty pageant mother, Rosie. Watching the movie, inspired by Dolly Parton’s music, taught a person a lot about life as someone who doesn’t fit into the status quo. So, here are 5 life lessons to take away from Dumplin’.
1. Every body is a swimsuit body!
In the finale of the movie, Willowdean and her best friend, Ellen, model in the swimsuit portion of the Miss Teen Bluebonnet pageant and teach everyone that every body is beautiful, “swimsuit ready” or not!
2. Figure out who you are and do it on purpose.
Pulled straight from the wisdom of Ms. Dolly Parton herself. Willowdean learns, with some help from her new drag queen family, that finding out who you are takes guts and putting yourself out in the open in order to find the real you.
3. Don’t take your true friends for granted.
Willowdean and Ellen start out the movie thick as thieves, but as the bodyposi revolution continues, their friendship becomes strained due to Willowdean’s own self-consciousness. Dumplin’ shows that real friends don’t care what you look like, who you love, etc. They care for you no matter what and love you for you, so don’t take them for granted.
4. Dolly Parton solves everything!
Willowdean’s aunt teaches her to love and appreciate Dolly Parton’s music at an early age and it is a constant throughout her struggles. When she’s sad, she listens to Dolly. When she’s happy, she listens to Dolly. When she’s eating, you guessed it. She listens to Dolly. Even the drag bar in their neighboring town has ‘Dolly Parton’ night. If you take nothing else away from this article, know that Dolly Parton is a literal queen.
5. Love who you are and don’t apologize for it.
The morale of the story that Willowdean learns is that everyone is beautiful in their own way. Don’t let anyone stop you from being you or make you feel like you shouldn’t be the person you were meant to be. No matter your race, gender, identity or orientation, be who you are and don’t say sorry for it.