No, sadly this will not be a story about my youth mistakes and old days as a wild child. I was never really wild actually – unless you count my drunken mishaps in St Andrews, but that was just St Andrews!
This post is about my unconditional love for the movie ‘Wild Child’ starring now-turned-badass-covent-witch Emma Roberts. It is my guilty pleasure. The one cute/funny/light movie I watch whenever I want to feel better. I just LOVE this movie! I just feel like I can’t repeat myself enough to make you understand how much I like it! That’s how deep this love is rooted in me!
In a nutshell, this movie is about a spoiled Malibu brat sent to boarding school in England by her dad. She fights it and *SPOILER ALERT* ends up loving it there and finding herself. Oh what a shocker, right?
I can already hear the comments about how terrible this movie is with its average 4.8/10 on rotten tomatoes, it’s oh slightly weak acting and absolutely outrageous british/americans stereotypes. What can I say, for me the positives outweigh the negatives!
The positives:
1. The 17 year old girl in me finds it hilarious. Okay I have watched it countless times and still laugh like a hyena at some of the jokes. I also personally like the writing. It was written by Roald Dahl’s daughter after all and it has some of the funny and tiny bit caricatural aspects of his stories.
2. Poppy is basically me…if I was a rich and overly spoiled Malibu barbie who was sent to boarding school….
3. The literature references. There aren’t many, but they are there! If you quote literature to me, I’ll probably be charmed.
4. It shows the truth of how it is to move from a North American school to a British school. Unlike her, I would be a lot more excited about it…
5. The stereotypes. However outrageous they are, they are hilarious and well-played! Stuck up British girls, check! Spoiled american who only reads gossip magazines, check! They play on the stereotypes before challenging them.
6. Despite the problems mentioned above with the stereotypes, I like that they show some of the ways Britain is different from North America. Some customs and expressions are different and that needs some getting used to. What’s with driving on the wrong left side of the street? Why is this store called “Cancer Research”? What does snog mean? (because it DOES sound gross!)
7. The romance. Okay the romance is pretty terrible, but it’s still cute and I can relate to being courted by a coy Brit.
8. The cast! Despite some of the pretty terrible acting going on in this movie, the cast is still very interesting!
Rising star, as voted by the BAFTA last year, Juno Temple plays a hilarious Drippy in this movie (I adore her and we share a middle name and astrological sign). It also was one of Georgia King’s first movie, the star of the hilarious The New Normal who then played a crackpot head girl. The late Natasha Richardson plays the headmistress and just for her it’s worth seeing this movie, which I believe was also her last sadly. Nick Frost, Simon Pegg’s sidekick, also plays and directs this movie! If that’s not enough to convince you to watch it, I don’t know what will!
9. MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL: The serious female empowerment message.
This picture below should say it all. They are all beautiful girls yes, but they all could also be my friends, they look normal! I’ve had enough of the CW’s picture perfect ‘teenagers’! I like this group of girls because I can relate to them.
Also, this is one of my favourite quotes: ” -What do you want to get out of this school, Poppy? … You know, this school has produced absolutely nobody of notice. Our leading light was the girl who was Princess Diana’s foot doctor. So if your aim is to make the pages of US weekly, then this isn’t the place for you. We produce smart, independent, free-thinking, goodhearted girls who remain friends for life.” While the movie doesn’t fully achieve that message, it tries and has very good intentions!
10. Which leads me to my last and favourite positive aspect of this movie: The memories it brings back to me.
I attended all-girls school for five years and they were some seriously awesome years. I will always defend the advantages of single-sex institutions because, even though it made me pretty awkward in my early college years, it also made me the driven woman that I am now. I am also still friend with a group of girls I met back when I was 11-12. That’s pretty precious! This movie brings me back to those years. Years of sharing secrets, homework, shopping, and dancing in the middle of a group of girls.
So this is my light chick flick recommendation of the day! Happy Thursday!xx
{all pictures and gifs taken from somewhere on google. warning: don’t google ‘wild child’..there’s seriously disturbing stuff out there.}
