WHAT WOMEN WANT? : FINDING THE ANSWERS THROUGH FILMS

Hey Everybody,

How have you been? Trust all's going fine with you all!

In this month's post I just thought I'd write something different...Oh and by the way if you thought that it had nothing to do with films...well then it's all sigh for you and smiles for me of course! It's the question which no one has ever found the answers to...neither have I! And it's not that I have the perfect answer to it, but at least I'm going to make an attempt at answering a fraction of it or let's say a miniscule of it..let's see if I'm successful at it, your comments would give me that insight.

Alright...the big question is "WHAT WOMEN WANT?" Ah...that's the question even Mel Gibson couldn't get it right until the end! And likewise, not that I'm a guru..but I'm intrigued when I oft read articles on the internet or even discussed so often etc...so I'm going to make an attempt at answering this question vis-a-vis when it comes to finding that special someone! And, it's not I who found these answers...it was when I was watching these films that I found some of the answers to it...now it's time you read on to corroborate my 'so-called' findings and tell me if it 'some what' answers the big question!

Being a movie buff, lately I've been revisitng a lot of rom-coms, love stories, classics etc and one thing I found common to most of the films I've watched so far was that it was an instant 'attraction' vis-a-vis the beauty, 'hotness' quotient, sex appeal or for that matter the charm of the leading lady that bowled the hero in the film. Now you pick the genres I just mentioned above, match the attributes of the leading lady and decipher for yourself on why the hero fell in love with the heroine in the first meeting! Well, of course I know that as the story progresses, the priorities do change I mean the hero does look at the larger picture and the realization dawns upon him that she could be his soulmate as she so understands him etc and so forth.

Now, I'm writing this one not because I'm a feminist out here, but there were two films that broke the archetype stereotyped mould that made me fall in love with their characters! Of course...it so happens that both the films I am about to make a mention of has been adapted from two bestsellers. The films in question are Bridget Jones's Diary & A Walk to Remember!



To Bridget Jones...just the way she is!

I found the character of Bridget very real and relatable. I mean she's in her thirties, single (and her mother especially is all the time trying to fix her up with probables!), she has been frequenting in and out of some bad relationships, plump and fat (but she's cute...I'd say instead!), a poor dresser and a bad public speaker too (even though she works in the publishing industry!), speaks her mind  fearless of the repercussions (ah...but that's honesty and I like it!) and does not quite make the right impression at work or otherwise! Remember her botched up assignment in her new found job as a reporter at the fire station? The mess she makes in the kitchen when she's cooking and her inedible 'blue soup' birthday dinner? Or even at the book launch? And yes even in the last scene when she runs in the snowing streets of London with her undies and cardigan on to apologise to Mark Darcy? And of course there are many such incidents in the film!

The charming Daniel Cleaver....but charms can be deceptive!

Then you have a Daniel Cleaver a compulsive flirt and womanizer. And as Bridget aptly sums him up as someone who has quite nice manners outside the bedroom! Ahhh...honest to the core!

Word of caution for both Bridget & Mark - First impression is not always the lasting one!

And then you have a stark contrast with the stiff upper lip arrogant (at first!), snobbish attorney Mark Darcy who disdains Bridget in his very first meeting but later realizes that he is fond of her for the very same reasons he disliked her!

Do you remember the first meeting when Mark unknowingly humiliates Bridget in front of his mother when he says- "Mother, I do not need a blind date. Particularly not with some verbally incontinent spinster who smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish and dresses like her mother."

Ohhh...so when you are first introduced to both Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy,you realize that Bridget had just two choices! One of them was clearly not interested in committing from the word go and the other already had an opinion of her from the start!

All by myself....but knock-knock! There's someone out there Bridget...just hold on!!

In the real world, this could be anyone's story...you'd find many Bridget's around and a dime a dozen of Daniel Cleavers', but the search for a Mark Darcy never ceases...I wonder why! Where do you find a man as him who likes you just the way you are? Or for that matter puts up with all the embarassment you create? Or gets you out of trouble each time? (Remember Mark Darcy's frantic efforts to get Bridget out of prison in Bridget Jones's Diary -II?) After all, why do you like a Mark Darcy? Isn't he the man any woman would want? Isn't 'acceptance' fundamental to any relationship? Could that be one of the answers on that list of what women want? Well, you answer that for me through your comments! 

Landon is falling for her...Jamie's beauty lies in her simplicity & innocence! 

Okay...now if a Mark Darcy was not good enough for you then how 'bout a Landon Carter in A Walk to Remember? You have just the same situation to begin with. The cool heart-throb and the leader of the bratpack at school, Landon Carter shares an instant dislike with Jamie Sullivan, the 'virgin Mary' (a nickname she earns in school!),only when later he realizes that he's fallen madly in love with the very same girl till her death and ever after.

If some of you didn't relate with Bridget Jones then you could with Jamie Sullivan. She is just the opposite of Bridget and yet the irony is that she too doesn't find acceptance as readily in today's fast paced world...else wouldn't it have been love at first sight for Landon? Am I right? Jamie is the quintessential plain Jane, shy and God fearing girl next door....and I don't see anything wrong in that! In fact I love Jamie Sullivan for all that she stands for!

But, what I like best about both Mark Darcy and Landon Carter is that they accept the women they love just the way they are! Not once did Mark ever tell Bridget that she had to mend her ways to find a place in his life and the elitist circles he moves around in neither did Landon tell Jamie to doll herself up so that he could still maintain that cool dude image at school!

In fact here's one conversation in Bridget Jones's Diary that I so loved and elucidates the above.

Ah...that moment in the film that defines it all... 'I like you just the way you are...'

Mark Darcy: I like you, very much.

Bridget: Ah, apart from the smoking and the drinking, the vulgar mother and... ah, the verbal diarrhea.
Mark Darcy: No, I like you very much. Just as you are.
Mark Darcy: I don't think you're an idiot at all. I mean, there are elements of the ridiculous about you. Your mother's pretty interesting. And you really are an appallingly bad public speaker. And, um, you tend to let whatever's in your head come out of your mouth without much consideration of the consequences... But the thing is, um, what I'm trying to say, very inarticulately, is that, um, in fact, perhaps despite appearances, I like you, very much. Just as you are.

Landon is so rude! Poor Jamie...she was only trying to make friends!

And here's another from A Walk to Remember when Landon insults Jamie as she tries to strike a gentle conversation with him.
Landon: You don't care what people think about you?

Jamie : No...

Perhaps, while writing this blog I found some more answers...I guess the best thing about both Bridget and Jamie is that they love themselves for who and what they are...both these women inspire us because they know their 'self worth', hence it was not they who had to change but it was men who loved them had to change their perspectives and thinking when they came to knowing and loving these two lovely women!

I hope you liked my this month's blog post...then do I need to add more? Looking forward to your precious comments!

Love,
Sonyaa