Bad movies, good lessons

There are movies on my movie shelf that I'm a little hesitant to talk about. They're mainly videotapes, and they're a little embarrassing. They're not technically dazzling, and their good reviews likely came from a writer at the Idaho Herald Tribune. But I thought about it, and they're some of the most important in my collection. The movies are trashy teenage blockbusters, and they taught me more than most of the other films in my collections. I'm not dumb and I don't have bad taste in movies -- I'll take a sweeping epic or a clever dark comedy any day -- but these films came into my life when I was impressionable, and as bad as they are, they taught me some good lessons.\nI learned from the Freddie Prinze Jr. smash "She's All That" that you can't buy into the Pygmalion fantasy. Betraying yourself, even in the name of self-improvement, never turns out well, no matter what the movies tell you. Sure, Rachael Leigh Cook's character ended up with the hottie on her arm, but only after she changes dramatically and morphs into a smaller, less busty version of Taylor Vaughn, the high school social terrorist. It's just like in "My Fair Lady." Eliza gets with the Professor, but only after she's transformed sufficiently. You can get the guy, but you have to change. A new attitude may get you a happier outlook, but a change of wardrobe will get you laid. Lesson learned: Stay true to yourself. It's cheesy, I know, but we're talking about teenage blockbusters here.\nFrom the movie "10 Thing I Hate About You," I learned that hostility will get you someplace, but it may not be where you want to end up. The lesson here isn't to be nice, it's to realize that there is a time and place for everything. Katrina Stratford was my near-idol, and who wouldn't have loved her? Great hair, cool car, smart, bitchy in a cool way and she ends up with Heath Ledger. Her little sister, Bianca, is everything I wasn't in high school -- cute, fashionable and irritatingly coy. It was clear, even to my 15-year-old brain, that the two sisters were opposite ends of the spectrum. I just wasn't sure where on that spectrum I wanted to be. I wanted to be Kat, but frankly, everyone hated her and her only friend was a weirdo. I didn't want to be Bianca, but I wanted her social skills. Lesson learned: There's a time and place for everything, and being openly hostile is usually a bad idea.\nI also saw "Cruel Intentions" when I was 15. I was sweet, I was innocent and I couldn't conceive of a world where people would be anything other than nice. (Stop laughing. I was sweet once.) From this movie, I learned lessons that will undoubtedly serve me well. I learned that manipulation, as malevolent as it sounds, is a force to be reckoned with. It made me never want to be manipulative, but it also made me realize that most people are at some point. I learned how to duck and roll, and that being the good girl sometimes means you'll win. Your boyfriend will die, but you'll get his car. It was like "10 Things I Hate About You," because Kathryn and Annette were on opposite ends of the same spectrum. They personified the virgin/whore dichotomy, but there was more to these two characters. They each held sway, but used different means. Lesson learned: Being the good girl means you win in the end, but you may have to stray into dark territory along the way.\nThe last movie holds a special place in my heart. As a 17 year old living in a small town in Indiana, "Legally Blonde" told me that it was fine to want to be both girly and smart. It taught me to pursue my dreams. I know, I know. It's a silly movie about a silly blonde who chases a silly boy all the way to Harvard -- and I loved it. The sequel was a waste of film, but the original, in all its shining glory, made me happy to be a girl. I learned that dumbing myself down never pays off. I learned that one of the best things to have is one good girlfriend to stand by you. I learned that it's OK if I like pink. I learned that confidence is better than any lipstick ever made. This movie didn't offer validation, necessarily, but it refuted the social constraints that said I could either be pretty or smart, but not both. Lesson learned: Don't dumb yourself down, and that confidence can get you anywhere.\nMovies are entertainment, and often, they offer up grandiose life lessons. Sometimes, though, we need kindergarten-level lessons repeated to us. It never hurts to be reminded to be nice.