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6. Chick Flicks

I really love movies.  You all know of a lot of my hobbies, but I almost never mention movies in class.  This is because for the most part we can’t have a conversation about movies.  Take for example The Hunger Games.  A bunch of you are reading the book in class.  Several of you were excited and told me you went to the midnight premiere.  All I could say was “Cool!  Try not to drop your instrument when you fall asleep in class.”  But what I really wanted to say was “That’s awesome!  Any conversation about The Hunger Games requires direct comparison to [movie title redacted – Rated R] since they are parallel explorations of post-apocalyptic societal pedo-masochism!”  For obvious reasons we cannot have that conversation.  You might have even seen the other movie.  It doesn’t matter.  Every great movie operates on multiple levels.  If one of those levels is inappropriate, we can’t talk about it.  The threshold set by our society is movies rated R.

So I dug deep.  I’ve probably watched a thousand movies in my life.  I went through my favorites.  If you love Catniss, if you’re too old for Ariel and Jasmine and Mulan, here is a list of six action/adventure movies with formidable female characters. Pretty amazing – all of these movies are rated PG-13! They might be hard to find, so ask a parent to help you, or better yet, if you are being roped into family time you can watch them together.

Whale Rider

Realistic, Girl vs Boys

This movie is a great window into a culture on the other side of the globe.  It takes place in New Zealand and is beautiful in so many ways.  The main character lives and breathes strength in such an internal way.  She wasn’t taught girl power.  She just has it.

 

Princess Mononoke

Epic Battles, Nature

Classic cartoon about a girl raised by wolves and involves some spiritual and earthy elements.  One of the main conflicts is between two women, and both sides have valid points.  This movie tells a great story from Japan.

 

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Martial Arts, Girl Defiance

Sometimes society says you have to be certain things.  CTHD is about a girl who doesn’t know what she is.  All she knows is that she doesn’t want to be what she’s supposed to be.  Hormones I guess.  Plus the soundtrack is beautiful with cello solos performed by Yo-Yo Ma.

 

Hanna

Spy, Survival

Hanna is an expert assassin and this could’ve been just another violent movie with a girl in it but it is juxtaposed with her young naivety of the world in a very jarring way.  It is also a contrast in styles because it has a techno feel clashing with an indie feel.

 

True Grit

Wild West, Revenge

What I love about this story is Mattie is 14 and all the other  main characters are old crabby men, but she is smarter than all of them and has to be to get the job done.  This movie is hilarious if you can keep up with the dialogue.  I had to rewind a lot and listen again.

 

Million Dollar Baby

Modern America, Boxing

The main character is older than the others on this list but this is still a coming-of-age story, about someone who has to figure out who she is.

 

Bonus Recommendation: Chocolat

Romance, Chocolate

Not really an action/adventure like the others.  On the surface Chocolat is some kind of foreign romantic dramedy, but Chocolat is really about a mother/daughter team that triumphs over insurmountable odds.  Her weapon is chocolate!

5. Beyblades and the Human Condition

What is life? What are beyblades?

I recently saw Beyblades on sale at the store. I was curious and bought a starter pack. Needless to say I was hooked immediately! Beyblades are a brand of spinning tops that two or more players battle in an arena. You can knock out the other top or it might be a duel of endurance but the bottom line fact is that whichever top spins the longest wins. What intrigues me about Beyblades is that the goal is so simple, and yet playing the game is so complex. There are hundreds of different Beys, each with its own unique properties, and they can be taken apart and rebuilt with different pieces from different Beys. Every Bey has its own personality that it brings to the arena and it has a name that sheds some insight on its character. Some are designed to Attack, some are Defense, some are Stamina, and others are Balance. Every Bey has a different strategy but the goal is the same – outlast your opponent.

I gaze into a spinning beyblade, its colors violently colliding into itself over and over again. It is beautiful in its own way. A beyblade must be seen twice. Once in your hand where you can study its contours, its weight, its layers. And once in motion where all these things become a blur, yet you realize its true value. Am I a Beyblade, spinning in circles until I fall over? Or am I something else, moving on my own volition toward my own goals?