Lately, every coming-of-age movie that I’ve watched has paved the way for an immense amount of uncontrollable eye rolling.
More often than not, they seem to go something like this: a shy, intelligent girl goes about her days, unnoticed. She has one or two true friends, but everyone else is unaware that she’s even in existence. Then, one day, out of the blue, she gets contacts and lets her hair down, and OMG. Get ready for this.
She walks through the doors of the school, that she’s walked through 500 times before. Everyone stares uncontrollably as she makes her way to her locker. Guys hit each other and point, looking winded. All of this usually takes place while an overrated pop song plays in the background.
Within a matter of minutes, she’s invited to her FIRST party, ever.
The “popular girls” want her to sit with them at lunch.
The self-absorbed quarterback falls in love with her.
“You’re different than the other girls.”
Newsflash, something is wrong here. Basically, nobody cared about the nerdy girl who studied hard, preparing for the future. They only cared when her looks changed to fit society’s standard of what it means to be “pretty.” This coming-of-age trend is sending a negative message to girls, making them feel like in order to be something in this world, they need to alter their appearances.
Here’s a thought: What if, instead of this cliche, demeaning content, we make it go a little something like this:
A girl. She’s smart. She works hard in high school, and she has big plans for the future. She turns down the guy whose contact list has hearts next to the names of six different girls. She graduates with honors, goes to a great school and keeps her girl gang close. Fast forward 25 years. She tightens her ponytail and glances through her glasses, as she reviews an important document. Someone knocks on the door.
“Madam President?”