The Movie I Watched!

The movie I decided on watching was A Cinderella Story with Hillary Duff. A female student in the 8th grade recommended it to me a while back and I had never taken the time to actually watch it. So, this last weekend I decided to watch it and see why she thought it was so darn interesting.

It is a cute story; your typical Cinderella story involving the Cinderella figure, a father that dies, step mother, and two step sisters. "Cinderella" is treated poorly and is made to do all of the chores and work.

I can see why adolescent students, especially female students, would really like this movie. It is set in today's time period (cell phones, ipods,computers, instant messaging, etc. are all included) and an adolescent student can completely relate to the variety of technology that is being used. It is always based around high school students and their day to day lives. There are some realistic parts; such as, the different social groups, students trying to fit in, other students getting bullied, relationships with parents, etc. All of these issues our adolescents are dealing with constantly.

And, of course, there is the love story part which most teenage girls are curious about and interested in. Hillary Duff who plays Sam, the "Cinderella" figure falls in love with Chad Michael Murray who plays Austin, the "prince charming" figure. Sam and Austin start IMing each other on the computer, but use only their screen names so they do not know who each other are. They find that they really get along and can build a meaningful relationship, one that is not as superficial as all of the others around them. This is very important since Austin is realizing that his friends, who are part of the popular crowd, are not all that inspiring or really kind people. He really starts questioning those relationships and who he is and wants to be. And, Sam, who is not so popular, finds a friend that she can share her feelings with without having her guard up.

Adolescent students find all of these aspects of the movie relatable and hopeful. Most every adolescent girl hopes to find her prince charming, and a good looking one at that! Most student have felt the sting of being teased and made fun of out of other people's pleasures. And, most kids have parental problems, or some kind of problems in the home. All of this adds up to adolescents really being able to connect and relate to the different elements of the movie. All of these make it very interesting to them.

I thought that the movie was really quite cute for an adolescent. It isn't one I would watch a lot now, but I can guarantee that if I had been an adolescent when it came out, I most definitely would have been watching it. Some parts were a little too cheesy for me and I now find it not realistic enough. I have changed that way in my thinking. Not so long ago I too was hoping to find my "prince charming" and now that I have my husband, stories like this don't quite interest me as much as they use to. I guess you can say that in my life I don't relate as much as I use to with this type of movie. I found myself reflecting more on the girl I once was. This also shows that it is true that adults like to watch and read things that do relate to their lives also.