Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Guest Post: The train wreck that is TRAINWRECK


Okay, let's have a real chat about this movie that critics say is "taking over the summer". The movie with a very fitting title, "Trainwreck". The movie is about Amy, a woman whose parents divorced when she was young. Ever since her parents' separation, she has the idea in her mind that "monogamy isn't realistic". She, in her adult life, has had casual sex with many partners and hasn't really tried to be in a committed relationship. She meets this doctor and she finds herself falling for him. However, she has a difficult time deciding if a loving relationship is worth leaving her a life of casual sex.

After watching the trailer and some previews for the movie, I felt really grossed out. One of the more, for lack of a better word, memorable moments of the videos was the day after Amy had sex with the doctor. She is sitting with her friend, and when he calls her for some reason, Amy and her friend are weirded out. Because, apparently, when you have sex with someone, it's totally not okay for him, or her, to call you the next day and ask to see you again. Weird. That's so weird. Amy's friend even tells her that she should call the police.

Another moment that stands out is when Amy is talking to someone else about her new love interest, and she says that she's not really sure about him. Not because of his interests, or personality, but because the sex isn't the best she's ever had. Because that's what really matters in a relationship.

Watching the previews for Trainwreck has actually made me feel really sad about our society, and how comfortable we are with a warped view of sex and intimacy. It's not just sex, but sex with whomever, whenever, and for whatever reason, commitment not required. Ladies, I think that society tells us that we can do whatever we want with our bodies, because it's empowering to feel sexy and have all these sexual partners and be experienced. There is this need and pressure to erase the double standard that sexually active men are studs and so great, but sexually active women are sluts, or trashy. While there is undeniably a double standard regarding the sexual habits of men and women,  this isn't the way to eliminate it. Both men and women need to exercise modesty and chastity. That's the best way to create equality between men and women.

Personally, I don't like the message that this movie is putting out there. There is this message that you can just sleep with whomever you want without there being any negative consequences. This frivolity harms more people than you may think. First, let's talk about your responsibility to yourself. You don't need to have sex with a bunch of other people to be wanted. There's already a really awesome guy who wants you: Jesus (and you can't go wrong with Him). Make that relationship work, and I guarantee that you won't feel the need to fill that void with anything the world has to offer, including multiple sexual partners. The second responsibility you have is to your future spouse. There will come a time when you'll have to have the talk. The talk about your experience. Do you really want to say, "Oh, I've slept with fifteen different men, and it never meant a thing"? Would you want to hear the man you hope to marry say that to you? Ladies and gents, as a communal people, we have a responsibility to care for and love one another. Use by means of "no-strings-attached" sex is neither caring nor loving, and though it may seem like a victim-less act, there is more to the world than just ourselves.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that movies like this, movies like Magic Mike and Fifty Shades of Grey have really distorted sex. Sex is supposed to be a union that happens between two people who love each other so much that they literally want to give up their sense of self and become one with the other. These "romance" movies have tainted that. Chastity is not simply abstaining from sex, rather it is an appropriate expression of the sexual desires that are natural for humanity. Chastity is ultimately an expression of true, real love. These movies have destroyed that, and we have to take it back.
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Alexis Watson is a sophomore at Mount Saint Mary's University. She has a blogs at Beautifully Biracial where she talks about not only fashion and makeup, but life and what her childhood was like growing up as a biracial girl. She is very excited to be sharing one of her posts of Cloudy with a Chance of Catholic and hopes you like what she has to say! Thank you!



Friday, April 17, 2015

Have Courage and Be Kind


On Easter Sunday, my family and I went to see Cinderella. I'm a big fan of fairy tales, and Kenneth Branagh's directing (Much Ado About Nothing, anyone?), so I knew I'd love it, but what really struck me was how Ella dealt with the suffering and pain she experienced throughout her life.

I'm a big believer that we have a choice on how we react to bad things that happen to us: 1) we can become bitter and angry, and let our struggles become our identity or 2) allow our suffering to become something greater and allow a phoenix to rise from our ashes.

As her beloved mother lies on her death bed, she gives Ella some invaluable advice: Have courage and be kind. It's simple, basic advice, but it's the advice that keeps Ella going. After the death of both her parents, Ella could have turned to anger, to bitterness, but instead, she chose to be courageous and kind. As seen in the movie, it's not an easy path. She is treated as a slave by her cruel stepmother and sisters, but instead of retaliation or revenge, she continues to face her problems head on.

That's what makes her so beautiful. Think about it. The stepmother, played by the flawless Cate Blanchett, is beautiful, absolutely gorgeous... on the outside. But her cruelty towards Ella makes her despicable. When the audience gets a taste of Lady Tremaine's back story, things make a little more sense. She is twice widowed, and was deeply in love with her first husband. She, too, has suffered. She was always the second choice of her second husband, and lived in the shadow of his first wife and beloved daughter. She is not cruel for cruelness' sake, but because she has been hurt.

But so has Ella. And she rises above it. In fact, at the end of the movie, she is able to face her tormentor and tell her: I forgive you. It couldn't have been easy for Ella to say that, but she chose to. She looked at her stepmother and saw her humanity. This is what we are called to. Our struggles should not break us down and cripple us, rather they should lift us to be Christlike, to love.

In the credits, a beautiful song, Strong sung by Sonna Rele, played, and the lyrics really stuck out to me. I think they summed up Ella's character, and who we are all called to be;

Let your smile light up the sky, keep your spirit soaring high 
Trust in your heart and your sun shines forever and ever. Hold fast to kindness, your light shines forever and ever. I believe in you and me. We are strong 
A bird all alone on the wind can still be strong and sing

May we act with courage and kindness, not allowing our struggles to define us, but our dignity. We are strong.

"I can do all things in Him who strengthens me" - Philippians 4:13

Saturday, November 30, 2013

An Ice Curse and Depression

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So... maybe I just read into everything too much... but I'm an English major, so it's bound to happen anyway :P

Tonight I saw Frozen, and I saw a bunch of similarities between Elsa's ice curse and my depression. Elsa locked herself up because if she didn't, she could hurt people. She hid what was holding her back. I've done similar things because of my depression. 

Elsa locked herself away from her sister and everyone else, to protect them from her curse. Anna, her younger sister, would knock at her door and ask her to come out, to play with her, to be her friend. But Elsa hid. I've had countless of experiences similar to that, where my sister would tell me she loved me, that she wanted to talk to me, and I would lock myself away. 

At the end, Elsa realizes that love overpowers her curse, not a romantic love, but the love that she has for her sister, Anna. The love I feel for my family and friends, and the love they feel for me in return, is the only thing that helps me get through the day when I'm struggling with depression. 

Like Elsa, I can either choose to let my depression hold me back and control me, or I can use it to my advantage and make a difference. 

Stupid Disney. Making me cry and look at my life and actions differently. Isn't this supposed to be a cute kids movie?!