Parents must have been in a tizzy when Ferris Bueller’s Day Off came out. I was in the 6th grade. Watching a young Matthew Broderick do whatever the hell he wanted was not only amusing but awe-inspiring. What middle or high schooler didn’t want to feel as confident or in-control as Ferris Bueller? All a...
Category: Lessons from Pop Culture
That Time I Wore a Cape and (Almost) Flew
Who doesn’t love a good cape? It all depends on the situation, I suppose. The Time I Wore a Cape When I had the privilege of being a drum major in college (go, Boston University!), I got to wear a cape. It was silver and shiny and oh so long, on me at least. That’s what a...
Be Divergent and Show Off Your Best Qualities
Most people would be hard-pressed to describe themselves in a single word. Now imagine living in a society that does it for you. In Divergent, civil war leads to a broken society, one that rebuilds by dividing its people into different groups based on their personality traits. These groups are called factions and these are...
13 Movies with Female Leads That Fail the Bechdel Test
Women haven’t always been given a fair shake in the movie industry. From acting to directing to producing, men have historically dominated the field. It’s about time that women are better represented. That’s where the Bechdel test comes into play. Women in Film The goal of the Bechdel Test is to look for gender equality in...
Why Money Can’t Buy Happiness
You would be hard-pressed to find someone more self-absorbed than Cher Horowitz from Clueless. She’s a rich kid who drains daddy’s pockets at every turn. She lives in a house as big as a mansion, wears only brand-name clothes, drives (or attempts to drive) luxury cars, and bribes her teachers for good grades. She’s one...
Know the Difference Between Enabling and Helping
Every family has some level of dysfunction. At the very least, they have a family member that finds their way into trouble. Then, there are the people who enable them. Acknowledging the Problem For the Buchman family in Rachel Getting Married, that person is Kym, sister of bride-to-be Rachel Buchman. Let’s say it complicates things...