i’ve been babysitting overnight for the past few days which essentially means i’m being temporary mom for the weekend. it’s a pretty difficult job going to the pool all day in this beautiful weather and pretending to live in a fancy house… but aside from my main activities, one of my recent responsibilities was to take two 8 year-old girls to see the newly released katy perry: part of me (in 3D!) this morning. and you know what, i really enjoyed it. during the movie, i was genuinely curious about the details of katy’s 2011 tour and got emotionally involved to the point of tears multiple times [caveat: this happens during almost every movie i see so do not take this as a serious review of the film’s quality by any means].
in case you don’t venture out to the theater to catch the film, the gist is that katy perry is a pretty crazy girl with a very unique vision for her life and her music and even though the entertainment industry tried to mold her into “the next avril lavigne,” she wasn’t having it. she kept pushing her own ideas through the monotonous noise that is pop music and finally made it big in her own way. i thought she was just some cookie-cutter sing-songy floozie; but did you know that her first album was a gospel record when she was 15?
what i liked about the movie was the message it put out there for young girls to be who they are and to not let anyone squash their dreams or personalities just because they may seem a tad unusual or far-fetched. when other people repeatedly tried to mold katy’s ideas into something new, she asked, “who am i living for?” and stayed true to herself. now, i don’t know about you but i frequently find myself tempted to change pieces of myself in order to fit in with others or please different people with whom i am close. i believe in the good influences of other people and places on a person’s developing self but that is very different from letting another person mold you into their image for you.
one of the main components of katy’s persona that others frequently tried to change was her intense love for cartoony, fairy tale scenes. she referenced her obsession with fairy tales and their romantic ideals concerning all facets of life and said that “if you can believe in something great, you can achieve something great.” if kids/adolescents/adults/anyone gets a great idea planted in their brain, it’s there for a reason. and if they don’t achieve their “something great” then the world will be lacking in that great thing. it definitely couldn’t hurt to have more great things (or people) in the world.
it was clear that katy knew herself and had confidence in herself but also knew her limitations. near the end of the movie her marriage/divorce to/from russell brand was vaguely referenced. concurring with what i’ve seen on the cover of magazines in the checkout line of the grocery store, it seems that she wasn’t ready to start a family and he was; thus the “irreconcilable differences” on which their divorce was based. while katy was torn up over the heartbreak, she said, “a baby can’t have a baby and i’m still a baby.” she knew she wasn’t ready to be the parent she wanted to be and so she made a responsible decision to not have children yet. it seems that, for a baby, she made a very grown-up decision. so is she really still a baby?
katy has brought me back to my often asked (and always thought of) question: when do i have to grow up? and how will i know when i get there?
sigh….
my version of the real world 