Dear Lemon Lima turned out to be better then I expected-not saying that I didn't think it would be good, seeing as I picked out this movie in particular from the other options, but it was a great and heartfelt storyline with even a few shocking twists. From watching the preview of this movie in class, I thought it was going to be the typical chick flick/all around family film for most girls/pre-teens. Well, the main audience does in fact go towards more of that age group, but can connect with even some guys at certain parts of the movie.
One of the major topics this movie goes over and that we've discussed in class is masculinity. You have the typical "jock" character of Philip Georgey, who at the beginning of the movie broke up with the main character who's madly in love with him (Vanessa Lemor). Throughout the whole film, Philip feels as though winning is the most important thing and decides to be really cocky while competing in the Snowstorm Survivor competition. Also, another important character in the story, Hercules Howard, is the "nerd" who gets treated horribly from his family; the only people he can really turn to are his group of friends that he met in the weight room during gym. Being Vanessa's next door neighbor, Vanessa witnesses these events such as Hercules's parents freeing his pet rabbit because it's not "manly". His father later on makes him go hunting for deer in the forest, when obviously he doesn't enjoy it.
As for the femininity aspect of the film, Vanessa has a huge role for that because she's trying to win back Philip's heart by not being herself. When she sees that Philip has now moved on with another girl named Megan Kennedy, Vanessa tries to be like her by dying her hair blonde just like Megan's. She claims that her hair looks like dirt and thinks that it'll possitively grab the attention of Philip. After getting rejected even more with this new look, she then dyes her hair bright pink to make a statement that she doesn't care what Philip thinks anymore and is now focused on just her team.
There were some surprising events that happened towards the end, that I won't get into for those that might watch, but my take on the movie overall was that it very heart felt, had a good message of how infatuation can take over the really important things in life, and just moving on.
*Used wikipedia.com for back up info (remembering character's names, etc.)
Picture link:
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I saw this film too and loved it. I didn't even think of the different aspects of masculinity portrayed in the film, thanks for pointing that out!! There was also that blond kid, I can't remember his name, who sort of bridged the gap between Philip and less masculine Hercules.
ReplyDeleteNice job. You analyze the gender roles in the film nicely. I'd like to see some discussion of the internalized racism here, for example, the main character's desire to become more "white" to fit in and get the guy.
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