So, I have been thinking a lot lately about what my kids watch on TV. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot to choose from. Shows you think would be ok have content that is totally inappropriate for young kids. You have to watch with them every second or you will miss something you wish you hadn't.

Thus, this leads me to think about the movies I watched when I was a kid. I've always been a girlie girl so growing up I loved stories about Princesses and Grand Romance and the Knight on a White Horse and all of that. However, I'm not going to lie and say that didn't skew my view of the world and love and romance and all that. Because they did. I'm not the only one. I can think of a few women I know who have sat around waiting for the White Knight to come. It makes me sad to think of people waiting around not only for someone who isn't coming, but someone who does not exist.

See, in addition to the Fairy Tales, I also saw a few movies that offered a different perspective on love and life. I like to call it my "Anti Fairy Tale" list. First on the list is Gone With the Wind. Here's Scarlett O'Hara: The prettiest girl in the county, can have any man she wants and the only man she wants is Ashley Wilkes. Why does she want Ashley? Because she can't have him (Lesson One - We always want what we can't have). I kind of rooted for Scarlett to end up with Ashley when I first saw the movie (when I was ten at the Alabama Theatre - I still remember). Then my Mother (wisest of all the wise women in the world) said something that changed my mind. She said, "Ashley is a wimp. Why would she want him?". You know what? She was so right. Ashley was a poo. Scarlett was ten times the man he was. When the chips were down, she did what she had to do to keep her family going, to keep her head above water - the ultimate survivor. Of course, Scarlett was also kind of an idiot. She had her ultimate man in smoking hot Rhett Butler (who reminds me of PK, btw. I am a very lucky woman!) and she threw happiness away with both hands due to some idiotic childhood fantasy about Ashley Wilkes. By the time she grew up and realized that yes, Ashley is a poo, Rhett did not give a damn and she was left all alone in her big Atlanta mansion. I haven't read the GWTW fake sequel (not written by Margaret Mitchell = fake), but from what I know of Scarlett, she got him back. I mean, the woman kept Tara through the freaking Civil War, and still looked great doing it. She got her man back.

Another good movie on my Anti Fairy Tale list is Splendor in the Grass. The quintessential tale of shallow High School romance. Wealthy Bud loves Poor Deanie. Poor Deanie loves Wealthy Bud. Bud wants to get some. Deanie is a good girl. Bud cheats on Deanie with a "certain kind of girl" at the behest of his father. Deanie goes coo coo (because those intense HS relationships mess with your mind) and has to go to a mental institution. To send her to the mental hospital, her parents have to sell all their stock to pay for it. Luckily for them, it was RIGHT BEFORE the big stock market crash in '29 that ushered in the Great Depression. Bud's family lost all their money in the crash (and "go hook up with an easy chick" Daddy shoots himself in the head) and Deanie's family is rich. Bud marries some random girl and Deanie gets engaged to a Doctor from Chicago (I think its Chicago). In the last scene of the movie, fresh home from the mental hospital, Deanie's friends take her out to see Bud. She sees Bud (who, in all honesty, was good looking, but dumb as a rock) and his random wife and couple of kids. You can kind of see it on her face that she is shocked that all this time she was thinking of Bud as some kind of "ideal", and now that she's faced with reality, she knows he's not. Hence, the whole theme of the movie - the moment of the Splendor in the Grass is gone and it ain't coming back. So, Deanie (bc she is a good girl) goes off to happiness with the doctor (or whatever he was - it was something good).

I know there are more out there but its 4:43 am and I can't remember them at the moment. Does anyone else out there have any? Think Strong, Resilient Heroines who persevere and make it through all difficulties to come out stronger on the other side.

Can't wait to see what you have to say!