Doesn't it always seem that in romantic comedies the main heroine has a spinsterly sidekick friend that never gets the guy? She is witty and funny, smart and loyal and always gives her friend good advice, which is seldom taken. Oh sometimes she flirts with and maybe gets the hapless slob that is the hero’s, usually perverted, best friend. That is if she’s “lucky”. But more often than not she is unlucky in love for some reason or other, usually it is that her appearance is lacking in someway, or she is very nerdy, or that she is bitter towards the opposite sex. Regardless she is a perfect foil for her gorgeous, glamorous friend whose love life she vicariously lives through.
The only example that comes to me now is Gidget's sidekick in the old TV reruns I used to watch as a kid. Gidget, as played by a young Sally Field, would always head to the beach in her bikini and she'd drag along her mopey, freckle-faced friend who was allergic to the sun and would wear a big floppy straw hat and be covered head to toe in a big mumu. Her friend was always good for some witty zingers, but eventually Gidget would leave her all by herself and go surfing with hot guys. (Ah, that was quite a show, I never realized until now how much it influenced me as a kid, I should go buy the DVD and see if it holds up to the test of time, anyway).
After the hero and heroine get together and the story ends, what happens to the sidekick best friend? Does she stick with the guy’s loser friend, remain alone forever or strike off and become the heroine of her own story?
I think that in life my role thus far has been that of sidekick. I have married off many friends and roommates, but obviously not myself, hence the reason for this blog. So why is it that I have not been the heroine, is it one of the reasons above or is it just that life is not like a movie? Life IS way more complex, but I think I'd like to write a novel or screenplay wherein the sidekick gets the guy and her gorgeous friend doesn't. Wouldn't that be refreshing? I'd eat up a movie or book like that. Doesn't even a sidekick deserve her Prince Charming?
Do you have a favorite movie sidekick? And are you a perma sidekick like me? I'd like to hear what you think.
6 comments:
Most romantic comedies only insult my intelligence. I have no desire to watch a single one for the rest of my life.
If I'm not mistaken, this actress is typecast as a sidekick, in the disgusting, "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days": http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1063517/
Having our friends find a man before us, hardly makes us a sidekick. I've always been the main character of my own life.
Perhaps it's another reason I love Jane Eyre so much -plain Jane is never anyone's sidekick. She holds her own.
One of my coworkers has a lovely young family, and she quite often says that she likes hearing about my weekends so she can live vicariously through me. I guess we both have social perks in our different lives that the other envies, and it seems we are each other's sidekicks as well.
I actually like a good rom com now and then. They can be a lot of fun when they are done well. And I actually like the sidekicks in those movies. They usually have more interesting personalities than the heroines. It's not bad to be a sidekick. I like what you said Jenn, sometimes we are each other as sidekicks, we all need support.
I wish I was as confident as you ii eee, and could say I've always felt like the main character of my life. Oh course I am, but I don't always feel like a heroine. I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels like this at times.
Sometimes I am the antagonist in my life. ;)
I think I just get annoyed with the sidekick stereotype sometimes.
And sure it's good to support one another, but I'd hate to feel like I'm just here as a supporting actress to someone else's life.
If a movie is done well, it shouldn't matter what genre it's in. But goodness gracious... like that new movie with Patrick Dempsey? "Made of Honor," or something like that. Helllooo Hollywood, thanks for making "My Best Friend's Wedding" all over again. Beh. I mean, I'm all for recycling, but not these movies where I'm supposed to be sympathetic to a character that's a total man slut or something. Le gish.
The funnies comment I heard about being a "sidekick" is in the movie called "The Holiday". Iris (Kate Winslet) is sitting at a table from Arthur Abbott (Eli Wallach) talking about her misfortunes of the man she loved - who doesn't love her. I found the quote and I think all of us has at one moment fallen into this blackhole of being a side-kick/best friend.
"Arthur Abbott: Iris, in the movies we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you are behaving like the best friend.
Iris: You're so right. You're supposed to be the leading lady of your own life, for god's sake! Arthur, I've been going to a therapist for three years, and she's never explained things to me that well. That was brilliant. Brutal, but brilliant."
Kudos to those that got out and became their own leading ladies!! - but for those of us still stuck as the best friend - you really are a leading lady of your own life. Take courage and keep trying to take charge of it :)
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