Since it's Women’s History Month, I’ve been thinking about what movies actually make me feel joyful and affirmed about being a woman. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is an easy one, but I didn’t grow up with it. One that came to mind from my past that I admittedly didn’t quite remember was 2003’s Uptown Girls. So, I decided to give it a rewatch for the first time as an adult.
Dakota Fanning’s Ray Reminded Me About What It's Like To Be A Kid
I was around Dakota Fanning’s age in the film when the movie came out. I remember thinking she was kind of an odd character, but I know the story left a mark on me when I watched it as a kid. I felt differently about Ray this time around as she deals with her father being in a coma and her mom leaving her alone most of the time.
As someone who was dealing with my own childhood stressors at her age – the separation of my parents – I now look at Ray with a new understanding and appreciation of her as a young character. I wasn’t like Ray, but watching her gave me a chance to reflect on how serious it sometimes felt to be a kid dealing with family issues. I tend to look back at my girlhood with rose-colored glasses, but then a character like Ray comes along and I’m reminded that I wasn’t insusceptible to big feelings then, I just kind of pushed through the best I could. There was a part of me that wanted to be an adult when I was younger, so I could better deal with and understand adult problems – Ray is just the extreme of that feeling.
And, I Could Really Relate To Brittany Murphy’s Molly
Then, there’s Molly. She goes through a riches to rags story when she finds out her rock star father’s accountant embezzled her money, and suddenly she finds herself babysitting (seemingly her first job ever). Throughout the film, she’s seen as an immature character who doesn’t know how to be an adult. While Ray wants to hurry up and grow up, Molly revels in the fun parts of life… to a fault. (And, I have to give a shoutout to Donald Faison, her Clueless castmate being in it with her!)
Again, I’m not really like Molly at face value. My life is nothing like hers. But, her journey as a character, in relation to Ray, really spoke to me. When we're kids, we want to be more grown up, and often it's vice versa when adulthood hits us. Molly is naive in a lot of ways, sure, but I also appreciated how she’s very true to her feelings and wears her heart on her sleeve throughout the film. Uptown Girls made me want to hug and nurture the girl I was, who didn’t know how to deal with the “adult” stuff about life, and be kinder to the playful “girly” side of myself that is still very much alive now that I'm a grownup. The movie really reminds you that we need to hold on to both these sides of being a girl/woman, and I’m so grateful I revisited it for that reason.
Now, I think Uptown Girls actually kind of a perfect movie, and such a good pick to watch this month. No wonder it went TikTok viral recently! I cannot wait to return to it over and over again when I need a pick-me-up from the 2000s era.
