I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost...

Let me tell you a story:

Once upon a time in the year 2003, there was a young girl named Beth. Beth was a very fun kid to be around, always enjoying attention and ready to talk about anything (until you made her stop). Sometimes though, Beth had a bit of a hard time connecting with her fellow third graders because Beth was very smart and (unfortunately) she knew that. 

 This is Little Beth.

In Beth's opinion, it was much easier to talk to grown-ups. The other kids didn't really like the same things she liked, like space or reading books far past her grade level.

Then along came a cartoon called Scooby-Doo. 

Scooby-doo was a classic even way back in 2003, but it was around that time that Scooby-Doo had been rebooted. Cartoon Network had "What's New Scooby-Doo?" with what is arguably the best Scooby-Doo theme song of them all, and in theatres around the country played the live-action remakes Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.

Little Beth fell deeply in love with Scooby-Doo. She read the books, watched the movies and cartoons endlessly, and made up stories to play whenever she could.

Scooby-Doo changed Beth. She finally found something that she could talk about with other kids, because everyone knows Scooby-Doo. But something deeper was happening too: Beth had finally found a character she could identify with by the name of Velma Dinkley.

Velma was the smart girl of the Mystery Incorporated team. She often solved the mysteries, built gadgets, and was a critical part of the team. Beth saw some of herself in Velma and wanted to be like her. (So much in fact that when Beth complained that she couldn't see the chalkboard at school, her mother hesitated to take her to the eye doctor because she thought Beth wanted glasses to look like Velma).

Skip ahead to 2016. Little Beth has grown into Big Beth.

Big Beth still loves Scooby-Doo and the character Velma. In fact, she considers it even better now because she has true Velma glasses (and true Velma eyesight) as well as all the stories on Fanfiction.net, Archive of Our Own, and Tumblr to entertain herself with.

This is Big Beth.

A few days ago, Beth went to go see the new Ghostbusters movie. Twice. In one weekend. (That hasn't happened since the last Harry Potter  movie came out). Like she was with Scooby-Doo all those years ago, Beth is in love. 


Okay. Enough third person.

Yes. I've seen Ghostbusters twice this past weekend when it opened. And you know what? I'm gonna see it again. I liked it that much. Whether or not it's well-written, funny, or possibly has a lot in common with Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed is besides the point. 

Though I think all of the aforementioned points are indeed true, I really like it because I can't help but think of Little Beth.

When I say "fell deeply in love" with something, I mean "became utterly obsessed to the point of no return". No really. I consumed all that Scooby-Doo media because I just couldn't get enough. I still maintain that the Scooby-Doo franchise is one of my favorites. I still really love the character of Velma Dinkley, all because I could identify with the smart girl character and could talk about it with the other kids.

I cannot imagine what Little Beth would have done if she saw a movie with FOUR smart girls.

It's very likely she would have exploded. 

But really.

FOUR girls who are smart? FOUR girls who are funny? FOUR girls who can kick butt? FOUR girls who all look different?

I was lucky enough to be raised by a mother who always pushed my sister and I to be more. She told us "'they' will tell you girls can't do math and science. You have to prove 'them' wrong."

If one smart girl character could make Little Beth proud of being smart and learning all she could, what could four do?

That's why I choke up a bit when I see pictures or videos of little girls dressed up as Ghostbusters meeting the Ghostbusters. Because when we say "this movie is for little girls" I know exactly what they mean. I was that little girl. And I am now the woman who recognizes how important that is. 

So I'm gonna see it again. I'm gonna giggle and laugh at the four brilliant ladies to bring the story to life on screen. And I'm probably gonna cry a little when I those pictures of the little girls seeing themselves onscreen. And I'm gonna think about Little Beth because Little Beth would have been all over that... probably a little too much.

Image source: AP, retrieved from popsugar.com

Disjointed Thoughts: Day One

• I have never known a time without hardcore airport security. 
• So much for millennials and their technology. The two 20-somethings sitting here are the only ones reading paper books.
• This flight is probably only the third time I've ever used airplane mode on an airplane.
• Do not cry on the plane. Do not cry on the plane. Do not cry on th
• God be with me. God is with me. God be with me. God is with me.
• I swear I just peed twenty minutes ago.
• Don't drink Starbucks before a flight.
• I almost lost an earbud thingy already? What the hell I just put them down for like two minutes.
• "Uptown Funk" is a good song to listen to when trying to regulate rhythm to relieve stress.
• Stomach, why didn't you tell me you were hungry before we got on the airplane.
• "And in that moment, I couldn't tell what was vibrating faster- the plane or my heart." - an excerpt from a longer piece of Revolutionary Young Adult Fiction I wrote while the plane taxied. 
• [Peter Pan voice] Here we gooooo!
• Isn't east the other way?
• Holy shit
• I don't care what they say. The Greater Columbus Convention Center does not look like train cars even from the air.
• Clouds
• I can see all of Pennsylvania
• I have to pee
• Mini pretzels have never tasted so good
• Wow. Pepsi and Coke products?
• Conspicuously watching the lavatory door...
• Oh thank goodness
• Is that fracking or strip mining? Well whatever it is it ain't good.
• NEW YORK CITY
• There's a sign for a dog run but I don't see any dogs. What lies.
• I'm in the greatest city in the world and I want to take a nap.
• A firetruck stopped by Times Square traffic
• 30 Rock. 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Good. I remembered the address this time.
• I have taken 15,000+ steps today. Standing for 8 hours every day at Walgreens has trained me well. 
• Just keep walking and show no expression. They'll never know.
• Trains! Trains are exciting! Trains smell weird!
• Dogs! Dogs are exciting! And they smell weird too!
• I feel weird that the waiter assumes I'm 21 and offers me a drink menu even though he'll be right in less than three months. 

This Post Starts Out Fun, but You'll Never Guess What Happens Next

Yesterday my boyfriend and I were discussing Star Wars. Recently he, as well as my mother, roommate, friends, and a probably a significant portion of Americans, are disappointed in me because I, a self-proclaimed nerd, have not seen all of the movies.

Commence groaning.

In the month since the seventh installment was released, I have been exposed to more Star Wars than I have been in years.  And through this exposure, I'm starting to think I have seen them. Or at least I know what I need to know: use the Schwartz and the one guy is the other guy's dad.

See? I got it. 

But as we talked about the movies, I mentioned how, despite seemingly universal dislike, I wanted to watch the prequels because 1) I am required to and 2) Natalie Portman.

And as I explained this to him, I found myself saying something like this:  "If you haven't noticed by now, all of my favorite characters as a kid were the women. And they still are. Mostly girls who kick ass or girls who are nerds. Preferably girls who are nerds who kick ass, because that is who I am."

He laughed and said this:  "Of course. I mean, how dare you like characters that you identify with and want to be like?"

I don't think he knows how much I have been thinking about this comment. 

I mean yes. Identity has a lot to do with it. 

I like the character Velma from Scooby-Doo because she was a smart female character who was loved by her friends and was necessary in solving mysteries. I felt a similar thing with Hermione Granger. 

Over and over I identified with female characters because of things like this.

So when he said this out loud, it struck me as to just how much I have perceived this as a bad thing. As in, I have trained myself to think that enjoying these characters (and sometimes real people) to the extent I do is embarrassing. 


But as I've thought about it further, I have found myself thinking more and more that it's not just about identity. It's about simply liking the character.