The nominations for the Oscar was announced recently, Lady Bird won five nominations. The leading actress, Saoirse Ronan, was nominated Academy Award for Best Actress. Although the results were released that Lady Bird did not win any award, Saoirse Ronan left a deep impression on every audience.
When I first saw the name Lady Bird and the poster, I thought it would be a movie related to a royal member and how she grows up. After I finished watching it, at least I guessed half of it right. It tells a story about growth. The feminine lead, Christine is a high school girl who lives in Sacramento, CA. She feels like everything of hometown is terrible and is a constraint of her freedom. She is tired of mom’s chattering, dislikes her elder brother’s girlfriend and feels she is not pretty enough. So she called herself Lady Bird and dreamed of going to NYU and leaving this place forever.
Lady Bird relies on her friendship but in the meantime, thinks that her friends are not “cool”. Like most high school students, Lady Bird wants to be a part of the “cool kids” and wants to be the center of attention. She wants to be anyone except for herself. In her 18-year-old birthday, Lady Bird goes to buy cigarettes and a Playgirl. She feels like having the right to buy this kind of stuff finally labels her as an adult. But the true adultness comes from knowing the belongings and destinations and getting along well with yourself. There is not a thing existing can turn someone into a mature adult in seconds. She asked her mother, “Do you love me?” “Of course I do, I love you by default.” her mother answer. “But do you like me?” I don’t like me anyway.
The growth of Lady Bird comes from leaving home to New York and the letters that her mom wrote for her but never got the chance to send. At the end of the story, she calls father and mother and leaves a message, “It’s me, Christine. It’s the name you gave me. It’s a good one.” It doesn’t matter where you are. It is important that who you are. In the period of puberty, we all were Lady Bird once, being tried about normal life, willing to fly in the sky of freedom. We cannot understand life so we just call it bad. We say that we want to love and to be loved but we actually do not know how to love. Thanks to the selfless love of family and friendship, we are able to learn to love ourselves, to know that we are unique and the most special ones. There are many people looking like they are “cool” but it is really cool just to be ourselves. You don't need to be anyone. You are perfect.
