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osprey_archerI dragged my feet about watching Dumplin’, because I’m not a big fan of “everyone is beautiful!” stories; I think these stories are actually trying to say “everyone is lovable!”, but the framing ends up just strengthening the “lovable = beautiful” tie, and we’d be better served deemphasizing beauty altogether.
However, it turns out that this preconception did quite a disservice to Dumplin’.asakiyume and I watched it last Friday and we both ended up loving it. A few things I loved:
1. There’s a big Dolly Parton theme going through the movie, and I loved this because I have had a great love for Dolly Parton ever since I saw 9 to 5 - but also because it’s super thematically appropriate, because people look at Dolly Parton’s big hair and big boobs and think “trashy” (I know this because pre-9 to 5 this was my own unenlightened opinion) and the whole movie is about not knee-jerk judging people based on their looks.
2. Because the main character is a big girl named Willowdean, this theme mostly plays out in the way that society views big girls, but the movie also subtly pointed out that society also has negative stereotypes about your average thin ‘n’ pretty pageant girl (shallow! bitchy!) and undermines those, too.
3. I liked the fact that the boy who has a crush on Willowdean has a crush on her before any of the pageant stuff happens: when she shows up looking fabulous in her pageant dress, that’s not the moment when he falls for her, but a sign that she has accepted that she’s fabulous enough to be loved just the way that she is.
3a. I also liked the fact that he’s a super minor player in the movie, because that left more room for Willowdean’s friendships, and most importantly for her relationship with her mom.
4. Willowdean’s relationship with her mother, former pageant winner and current pageant runner, is the highlight of the film. I loved the way that it developed from the two of them not quite getting each other and not totally respecting each other (Willowdean scoffs at the pageant that is her mother’s career; Willowdean’s mother is tired of her attitude) to a place where they really understand each other, to the point that when Willowdean does something that disqualifies her from the pageant, her mother understands instantly that it is in fact an act of respect toward the pageant itself.
The pageant sequences in general are beautiful and dynamic. I looked up the director, Anne Fletcher, and discovered that she was a choreographer before she became a director, and you can super see that in the pageant, even the parts that aren’t specifically dance numbers. It’s all beautifully timed and staged.
I love movies about dance, so I’m super planning to delve into Fletcher’s backlog now. Step Up, here I come!
However, it turns out that this preconception did quite a disservice to Dumplin’.
asakiyume and I watched it last Friday and we both ended up loving it. A few things I loved: 1. There’s a big Dolly Parton theme going through the movie, and I loved this because I have had a great love for Dolly Parton ever since I saw 9 to 5 - but also because it’s super thematically appropriate, because people look at Dolly Parton’s big hair and big boobs and think “trashy” (I know this because pre-9 to 5 this was my own unenlightened opinion) and the whole movie is about not knee-jerk judging people based on their looks.
2. Because the main character is a big girl named Willowdean, this theme mostly plays out in the way that society views big girls, but the movie also subtly pointed out that society also has negative stereotypes about your average thin ‘n’ pretty pageant girl (shallow! bitchy!) and undermines those, too.
3. I liked the fact that the boy who has a crush on Willowdean has a crush on her before any of the pageant stuff happens: when she shows up looking fabulous in her pageant dress, that’s not the moment when he falls for her, but a sign that she has accepted that she’s fabulous enough to be loved just the way that she is.
3a. I also liked the fact that he’s a super minor player in the movie, because that left more room for Willowdean’s friendships, and most importantly for her relationship with her mom.
4. Willowdean’s relationship with her mother, former pageant winner and current pageant runner, is the highlight of the film. I loved the way that it developed from the two of them not quite getting each other and not totally respecting each other (Willowdean scoffs at the pageant that is her mother’s career; Willowdean’s mother is tired of her attitude) to a place where they really understand each other, to the point that when Willowdean does something that disqualifies her from the pageant, her mother understands instantly that it is in fact an act of respect toward the pageant itself.
The pageant sequences in general are beautiful and dynamic. I looked up the director, Anne Fletcher, and discovered that she was a choreographer before she became a director, and you can super see that in the pageant, even the parts that aren’t specifically dance numbers. It’s all beautifully timed and staged.
I love movies about dance, so I’m super planning to delve into Fletcher’s backlog now. Step Up, here I come!
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Date: 2019-06-03 11:01 am (UTC)I just appreciated so much how none of the wandering monsters I had been fearing actually appeared! And how there were nice things instead--like this movie was the opposite of "this is why we can't have nice things"--we *can* have them.
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Date: 2019-06-03 09:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-03 09:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-03 09:41 pm (UTC)