No More Miss Nice Girl

     This weekend I had the wonderful privilege to see the film "Matilda," which is based on one of my favorite childhood books by Roald Dahl. There are many reasons I love this movie so much. The humorous, unique scenes are one reason why (like one of my favorite scenes of all time where the entire school is chanting "BRUCE! BRUCE! BRUCE! BRUCE!" to a chubby boy eating a giant cake onstage. You look confused. Go watch the movie.). But I think the biggest reason is that the theme of this movie is one of my favorites: the underdog defeats The Man. Only in this case The Man is a woman. And the underdog is a little girl named Matilda. Much of the film is about revenge, and the clever ways Matilda seeks (and achieves) it. Since this is a children's film, of course Matilda conquers all the "bad guys" in her life. But "Matilda" is more than just a two-hour flick that will make you grin at all of this precocious child's clever antics. I might not have realized this at the age of six, but "Matilda" is all about empowering women.
     To start with, when we are introduced to Matilda, we learn that she is a remarkably gifted child. She can write her name in baby-food spinach at the age of six months, cook perfect pancakes by the age of three, and locate books in the public library all by herself at the age of five. Unfortunately, her talents go unrecognized by her family. In fact, her parents and older brother constantly abuse and neglect her. This changes when she goes to school and her sweet and gentle teacher, Miss Honey, recognizes Matilda's potential and begins to nurture her talents. It is not long before Matilda recognizes that she has special powers! She can make things move just by looking at them! This comes in handy when she seeks revenge against her family, and her equally awful principal, Miss Trunchbull. At the end of the movie, Matilda leaves her home, gets adopted by Miss Honey, throws Miss Trunchbull  out of her school forever, and lives happily ever after.
     Matilda uses her brains, not her brawn, to achieve her goals. What's more, she hones her specific talents and uses them to the best of her ability. "Matilda" teaches its audience, and especially young girls, that it is possible to achieve one's dreams without muscle power. One can look at a problem and use one's specific strengths to fix it.