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[Long lead in provided for context; the
part I wanted to point out
is highlighted.] Scene: Alexis Castle is shopping for a dress, with her father and her grandmother ...] | ||
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Alexis Castle: [played by Molly C. Quinn] |
[enters, wearing prom dress] What do you think? | |
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Rick Castle: (Alexis' father) [played by Nathan Fillion] |
You look beautiful. | |
| Alexis Castle: | Dad, you say that about every dress. Don't you think this makes my skin look pasty? | |
| Rick Castle: | Sweetheart, I want you to know that no matter how you think you look, you are perfect -- exactly the way you are. | |
| Alexis Castle: | You're not helping. | |
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Martha Rodgers: (Alexis' grandmother) [played by Susan Sullivan] |
[enters carying another dress] Oh! God, no. Hideous. | |
| Alexis Castle: | [whispers] Thank you. | |
| Martha Rodgers: | Here, try this -- good colour for you. [Alexis exits carrying second dress] | |
| Rick Castle: | What are you doing? | |
| Martha Rodgers: | What? | |
| Rick Castle: | "You look hideous"? Are you trying to give her body-image issues? | |
| Martha Rodgers: | News flash: she already has body-image issues. It's an intrinsic part of being a woman. Every woman in the world has some part of herself that she absolutely hates -- her hands are too small, her feet are too big, her hair is too straight, too curly, her ears stick out, her ... [turns to look in a mirror] ... oh God, her butt's too flat, her nose is too big ... And you know, nothing you can say will change how we feel. What men don't understand is, the right clothes, the right shoes, the right makeup, just, it hides the flaws ... we think we have. They make us look beautiful. To ourselves. That's what makes us look beautiful, to others. | |
| Rick Castle: | Used to be, all she needed to feel beautiful was a pink tutu and a plastic tiara. | |
| Martha Rodgers: | We spend our whole lives trying to feel that way again. | |
| Alexis Castle: | [enters wearing second dress; Rick and Martha stand; Martha smiles, Rick looks awestruck] What do you think? | |
| Rick Castle: | I think it's you. | |
-- from the ABC television program, Castle ( ABC, IMDB ); episode, "A Death in the Family", written by Andrew W. Marlowe and Barry Schindel, directed by Bryan Spicer, aired 2009-05-11
Thanks
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--Zach Kessin
(zachkessin.livejournal.com)
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I wanted to see the severed head, though...
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(I thought the quote sounded pretty accurate, at least in US culture, but part of the reason I posted it was to see whether I'd get any responses telling me it's wrong. One exception doesn't make it wrong, but several more would at least indicate that it's not safe to take for granted just because it sounds right.)
Universality?
I love the show, but this conversation may have more to do with Martha's issues than being any revelation of Truth, or even Truth as Women perceive it.
A lot of modern American women probably feel like Martha, with an exaggeration of self-doubt focusing on (mostly minor) physical flaws, where "flaws" may mean characteristics not currently promoted as "beautiful" in mainstream ads, TV and movies.
But that doesn't mean every woman in the world feels this way, and it doesn't mean they have felt that way across the ages, either.
To be fair to Martha, however, she could have just meant that the first dress was hideous. It was Castle who interpreted her comment to mean that Alexis looked hideous (in that dress, anyway).
I appreciate that Castle's unconditional approval is meant to boost Alexis' self-confidence, but he is not helping her with her stated desire of choosing the right dress!
--squishydish