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Dumplin' and Netflix
Dec. 8th, 2018 10:04 pmDespite being deeply entrenched in the YA community, somehow I missed that there was a movie for DUMPLIN'. Thank you, Netflix, for suggesting it immediately when I logged in today. This is probably because I watched To All the Boys I've Loved Before, which was great, highly recommended if you're in the mood for some lighthearted high school romcom with an Asian lead.
So I immediately started playing Dumplin' even though I'd been intending to watch tGBBS. I read the book several years ago when it came out and only vaguely remembered the plot--I liked it okay enough, but it was a outside my normal wheelhouse.
The movie was delightful. It centers on Willowdean Dickson, who has a deep abiding love for Dolly Parton thanks to her late Aunt Lucy. Will is struggling without her confident, outspoken aunt--particularly in figuring out how to relate to her own mother, who is skinny and pretty (which Will considers herself the opposite of), and still riding the success of winning the Miss Teen Bluebonnet pageant years and years ago. Will eschews all things pageant and looks down on the girls who care about what she thinks of as a superficial world.
When Will discovers her aunt's application to the pageant in a box of her old things, she realizes Lucy wanted to be part of that world and wasn't confident enough to do so. So Willowdean joins in order to stage a revolution.
We make delightful pit stops along the way, picking up a Very Hot Boy (Bo) that she works with at the local diner, as well as a darling and naive new friend who has always wanted to be part of the pageant since she was eight years old but always thought she was too fat to do it (Millie), and a host of Dollie drag queens who end up being one of the best things about the movie.
But what really sucked me in was the conflict between Will and her mom Rosie. You can see just how much the pageant means to Rosie, and she knows Will isn't taking it seriously. She doesn't know how to support her daughter, but gosh, she's trying so hard. And the way they start to bond at the end brought tears to my eyes many many times. It's clear that she wants the best for her daughter, while Will has always worried that her mother is ashamed of her.
I should probably put a vague disclaimer in here that there's some fat shaming at the beginning and a lot of Willowdean's insecurities come from that, and probably I'm not the best person to say whether the topic is treated well. But I think it is? It's refreshing to see a big girl protagonist growing into herself and owning it.
I really feel like Netflix is rocking the whole YA-to-series/movie genre right now, and I love it a lot. I'm down for whatever else they've got to show me. And I hope I haven't missed any other good watches, but if I have, do let me know!
So I immediately started playing Dumplin' even though I'd been intending to watch tGBBS. I read the book several years ago when it came out and only vaguely remembered the plot--I liked it okay enough, but it was a outside my normal wheelhouse.
The movie was delightful. It centers on Willowdean Dickson, who has a deep abiding love for Dolly Parton thanks to her late Aunt Lucy. Will is struggling without her confident, outspoken aunt--particularly in figuring out how to relate to her own mother, who is skinny and pretty (which Will considers herself the opposite of), and still riding the success of winning the Miss Teen Bluebonnet pageant years and years ago. Will eschews all things pageant and looks down on the girls who care about what she thinks of as a superficial world.
When Will discovers her aunt's application to the pageant in a box of her old things, she realizes Lucy wanted to be part of that world and wasn't confident enough to do so. So Willowdean joins in order to stage a revolution.
We make delightful pit stops along the way, picking up a Very Hot Boy (Bo) that she works with at the local diner, as well as a darling and naive new friend who has always wanted to be part of the pageant since she was eight years old but always thought she was too fat to do it (Millie), and a host of Dollie drag queens who end up being one of the best things about the movie.
But what really sucked me in was the conflict between Will and her mom Rosie. You can see just how much the pageant means to Rosie, and she knows Will isn't taking it seriously. She doesn't know how to support her daughter, but gosh, she's trying so hard. And the way they start to bond at the end brought tears to my eyes many many times. It's clear that she wants the best for her daughter, while Will has always worried that her mother is ashamed of her.
I should probably put a vague disclaimer in here that there's some fat shaming at the beginning and a lot of Willowdean's insecurities come from that, and probably I'm not the best person to say whether the topic is treated well. But I think it is? It's refreshing to see a big girl protagonist growing into herself and owning it.
I really feel like Netflix is rocking the whole YA-to-series/movie genre right now, and I love it a lot. I'm down for whatever else they've got to show me. And I hope I haven't missed any other good watches, but if I have, do let me know!
