What a Girl Wants(2003)

This is the movie directed by Dennie Gordon.The main character is played by Amanda Bynes and she is one of my favorite actress!!!The movie begins with a American girl,Daphne,who is raised by her mother,Libby.Her mother is both an artist and wedding singer and Daphne herself is a waitress on the wedding.On Daphne's seventeenth birthday,Libby tells her about her absentee father.

After hearing that,she is curious about what her father looks like and why he left her and Libby.Then she told her mon that she wants to go to London and visits her father,who is an influential aristocratic politician,Lord  Henry Dashwood.

Libby agrees to let her go find her dad in London.When she arrives at London,she is busying looking for the place where her father lives.

 Before sneaking in her father's estate,she meets a cute musician,Ian,who is a singer in the band.She tells him that she is in search for a wealthy politician,that is, her father.

Finally,she finds the address and sneaks into the beautiful palace.Yet she is caught immediately by her dad,Henry.

Henry is so surprised that Daphne is her daughter because Libby left him without saying that she was pregnant.He doesn't know he has a daughter existing in the world until Daphne comes to London.Soon she lives in the her dad's palace and she is stunned by the large,fantastic and luxurious room.And that is her room!!!

Her dad asks her to attend royal dress show and she is so glad that she has a chance to go there with her father.Henry has a fiancée, Glynnis and her daughter,Clarissa.They don't like Daphne because they are afraid that she will threaten Henry's political career and her existence may be a scandal for Henry.This is likely to destroy his reputation and election.Clarissa asks Daphne to choose clothing she like to the royal dress show in order to see her making fun of herself.

Nevertheless,instead of wearing what Clarissa had suggested for her,she wears clothing that she sees fit.She unintetionally walks on the stage and turns out to be a professional model that every audience fixs their eyes on her.

She is an ordinary girl that suddenly walks into the life of an upper class and breaks the rules of what a noble girl should act like.She often does what she wants in front of other people and this in turn causes her father to be laughed by citizens and he might be unable to be elected as a member of Parliament. Consequently,she starts to learn to act like a lady.

Because of learning to be an elegant girl,she has no free time to see Ian,who becomes her boyfriend.The worst thing happened on her coming-out party,  Clarissa and her mother play a trick on her by locking her in the room.Her party is ruined  totally.Her mother also attends her coming-out party.Unfortunately,she left London with her mother at last due to unhappiness brought by vicious Clarissa and her mother.

Daphne and her mom goes back to US and did not contact Henry anymore.Unexpectedly,Henry goes to US and wants to remarry Libby.Ian also goes to US in order to be with her girlfriend,Daphne.Daphne is so surprised and glad that she has a father again and a boyfriend who love her so much.Later,they all go back to London and lead a happy life!!! 
I think Daphne is a lucky girl who gets what she wants eventually!!Everyone all has dreams and we all want our dreams to come true,yet we have to make an effort to achieve those desired dreams.What I want to say is that no matter how hard how desperate your situation is,never give up and keep going on.There is always somthing,someone waiting in some place for you.If you surrender to difficulties,how could you possible to see the bright future and meet the right person that you will fall in love with?Thus,working hard on your dream and you will certainly see the results without regret!!You will just as lucky as Daphne who gets what she wants-Dad,Boyfriend and a happy family!!!

The Virgin Suicide (1999)

The Virgin Suicide is directed by Sofia Coppola.

There are five beautiful daughters (Therese, Mary,Bonnie,Lux and Cecilia)

 in Lisbon’s family.

But…behind the silent surface…those five girls killed themselves unexpectedly.

1.      The youngest girl, Cecilia, killed herself by jumping out of her bedroom window and impaling herself on an iron fence.

2.      The other four girls killed themselves in the end. Therese took sleeping pills. Mary put her head into the oven. Bonnie hanged herself. Lux burn herself in the car.

Why did they commit suicide?

Their mother said: none of my daughters lack any love, there’s plenty of love in our house. I never understand why.

The film did not give us the answer why they commit suicide, yet I figure these all about the way their parents treat them.

1.      When Cecilia died, the father tried to cover up the reason why she committed suicide. He told his four daughters that Cecilia’s death was only an accident. He never wanted to discuss the real problem in the house.

2.      The parents allowed them to join the homecoming party with boys.Mrs.Lisbon took them to buy dresses. The dresses are all white. What does it symbolizes? White means purity and innocent. This is very irony. Those girls are all blonde. They looked so innocent with the white dresses that the boys cannot help but fall in love with them. Unfortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon do not allow their daughters to have relationships with boys!!

3.      The Lisbon sisters have very strict curfew. One time, after the party, Lux did not come back on time because she was having sex with Trip, who is the most handsome boy in school.Later,they all are grounded by their parents.Mrs.Lisbon even forced Lux to burn all her favorite CDs for punishment!!The worse is that they cannot go to school or contact with other people anymore!!!!

I think Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon do love their daughters, but they are too overprotecting them. Their love somehow is too much that suffocate their daughters!!The Lisbon sisters can only live in their own world .They don’t have any social skill since their parents block their connection with outside world. When the sisters breaks family rules, their parents did not want their explanations. They think that were ecuses.There is certainly a big gap between Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon and their five daughters. When the sisters no longer put up with that, they find the way out by committing suicide.

Do you think Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon love their daughters in a proper way? Do you think your parents

are very strict?