Napolean Dynamite, Part 2

I recently read a book called When People are Big and God is Small. Started out I was being lame and was just asking someone if they had the book just so I could say "I found your blog -- ha ha" It backfired but there was a reason I read it and was to discuss it. It has given me a LOT to think about, I am amazed at how much this book has impacted me.



I remember being stuck on Chapter 5 ... the title is "The World Wants Me to Fear People". While processing the movie Napolean Dynamite, I realized that there is an underlying theme to the movie. I'm not sure if other people over analyze things as I do, or if they saw the movie and just saw the slapstick parts in it and laughed or if the theme I found from it was realized by many in addition to the slapstick parts (because I was laughing too).



One thing I noticed from the movie is how many instances of popular kids vs the unpopular kids there were. I cringed the first few times, but I enjoyed seeing an unpopular kid end up becoming class president over this stuck up cheerleader. :) The world teaches us in high school to "fear" the popular folk. That if someone does not have the right clothes or right appearance, that person is not worthy of being in the popular circle.



There was one gal who never overcome the unpopular title, but her attitude and appearance changed. The best line in the movie, for me, was when she said to Napolean "I don't need to take herbal supplements to feel good about myself." I liked was Deb and watching her transformation through the movie. Not just her appearance, though that was a great change too. As for her appearance, she started out with the typical 80s hair do with the one ponytail on the side of her head but by the end she had it down rather than wearing it in a ponytail. She reminded me of Tula from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" or Mia in "The Princess Diaries".

Though all three of these characters are fictional, it gives me the challenge to overcome all the labels I've been given, especially recently. I won't even get into those, that is a major tangent. But, I couldn't help but find the comparison to those three movies and the book.. filled with symbolism about how one should look on the outside as opposed to how one should look on the inside.