Tag Archives: movies

On “RBG,” Reverently

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As a child, my most common Halloween costumes were either witch or Supreme Court Justice. Perhaps it’s because I had easy access to the black graduation robe my mom had because she was a teacher. Perhaps it’s because I did firmly believe that I was going to be the first female president of the United States.

I have loved Ruth Bader Ginsburg for a long time. When her popularity grew significantly after the spread of the “Notorious RBG” meme, I loved her even more. To see such an accomplished woman be so idolized felt joyous to someone who spent years looking up to strong women in law and government.

Chances are very low (if not non-existent) that I will be a Supreme Court Justice or the first female president, given that I never did follow through with the law school plan. However, I very much enjoyed curling up on the couch to watch the documentary “RBG.”

It’s full of beautiful moments of RBG’s relationship with her husband, something that I think we can aspire to, and it brought me to crying very happy tears. She’s tenacious, and her life’s work to further women’s rights is beyond inspiring. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to stare down the innumerable challenges she’s faced with grace and aplomb, and her interviews in the documentary are delightful.

Given her recent health challenges, I cannot even begin to explain how much her dedication to her work is personally motivating to me.

If you haven’t had a chance yet, I highly recommend that you put it on your list of things to see.

On Kids’ Movies, Tearfully

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It’s no secret that I’m a cryer.

I have cried at Google commercials, movies, cute internet pictures, news articles….you name it. Sometimes it’s just a misty-eyed moment, and other times, it’s a full-on sob session. I can’t help it; I’m very empathetic and my weakness is adorable things.

A few weeks ago, I was babysitting my favorite 6-year old and we watched Brave. I had never seen it. It’s a lot of things, but it’s definitely a mother/daughter movie and I had reached near-Notebook levels of tears by the end. My 6-year old was very confused as to why I was sniffling on her couch watching the mom-turned-bear trying to become a human again but also survive and not lose herself to animal instincts while still being a mother.

“Why are you crying,” she asked.

Through my tears, I tried to summarize adolescence and especially parent stress, and how no matter what you do, even if you do something really stupid, they’ll still love you. I am pretty sure she thought I was completely crazy. She won’t remember that conversation, but she’ll grow up and be a teenager and it’ll all make sense.

Kids’ movies get to me. I cried at some ridiculous dolphin movie, and The Boxtrolls, and..I should just make a list, or better yet, maybe maybe a list of kids’ movies that I don’t cry while watching…that’d be so much easier.

Anyway – not the point – tonight we watched Despicable Me 2, which is such a fantastically wonderful movie. As we got to the end, and the main character (a lovely, reformed grump who adopted 3 adorable daughters and has a giant yellow entourage of incoherent helpers) is getting married to a woman with whom he’d worked on some spy work, I see my 6-year old’s head slide into my view from where she’d been behind me, brushing my hair.

She’d come to check to see if I was crying. “Not even a little bit!” I told her, slightly too proudly. She checked my face to make sure, and then giggled and went back to brushing my hair.

Wow. You know it’s bad when even the kids think that you’re probably crying.

🙂