Tonight I decided to take a night off from intense documentaries and dramas and chill out with a Friday night chick-flick, Post Grad. I picked Post Grad because, well, I am now a post grad, and the trailer seemed to sum up my life: out of school, out of work, in a general slump. And, until about halfway through it was doing a pretty good job of portraying life after school accurately. It was right at this depressing low-point that I decided to take a break and write my cover letter (being pathetic is such a motivator), and it's a good thing I did because after that the movie kinda just went downhill.
It was disappointing, because the film had several things going for it: Rodrigo Santoro, Jane Lynch, and a plot that one can identify with. However, Jane Lynch was fairly lackluster, the jokes weren't really funny, the dialogue was weak, and the little brother and the father (Kevin Costner - ewww) just annoyed me. So really it was just Rodrigo Santoro and a relate-able plot that it had going for it. Anyway, while I was watching, I got to thinking. I mean what's she complaining about? Her next door neighbour is a hot Brazilian who she gets to make out with sporadically! I certainly don't have that going for me. Is life really so bad? Hardly. Also, she has a friend who's not related to her. Which is also more than I can currently say, since all my friends are still in school (I'm really trying not to sound smug, I promise), so my best friend is my sister. And my cat. Who is psychotic and hates me.
But what bothered me most *spoiler alert* was at the end of the film. Alexis Bledel's character finally gets her dream job and is about to have the life she has always wanted. And then you know what she does? She GIVES UP her lifelong passion to move to effing New York to chase after jilted-friend guy. Just like that. Quits her job, leaves her family for a guy who she isn't even dating. What kind of message is that??? First of all, this guy is NOT Rodrigo Santoro, which as far as I'm concerned is Mistake Number 1. Second of all, this movie is communicating that your dream profession, your gateway to the life you have always wanted, is insignificant in comparison to a sudden and fleeting interest in your boring (and kind of pathetic) friend; that passion ultimately trumps professional and economic security. All I have to say is no. fucking. way. As IF a woman's life isn't complete without some man to share it with. Do I think that relationships are very important? Yes. Do I ultimately want one? Yes. But do I think that it's okay to drop a job that's all you ever wanted for some guy that you weren't even interested in until he moved across the country? No. Why? Because there are other guys, but no guarantees you can find an equally amazing job in another state. Especially after quitting your first super awesome job only a month after starting: no one will hire you with that commitment record. It was just so pathetically implausible. It's not like they built this amazing relationship throughout the film that was clearly the end-all and be-all of love. Nope, he left and she was like "Oh, hmm, I think I'm into him. Guess I'll drop my road to a high-powered career in an industry I love so I can go slum it in his dorm room while he plays beer pong." Post Grad FAIL.
