What I Learned About Authenticity From My Favorite Movies

Be true to yourself and follow your heart.

In my newsletter from last summer for Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, I included a tweet from Matt Cama that said, “When a made up movie character inspires you, it’s usually because your subconscious is being reminded of something you have within, but remains dormant. The inspiration from how the character behaves or the traits they embody is a part of you that is dying to come out and play.”

I can’t express how much I think about this quote. I think about it every time I watch Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, because as I mentioned in that newsletter, young Donna Sheridan is a character I deeply admire. She’s free-spirited, adventurous, and fearless. And while I love these qualities that drove her to go out on her own and venture around the world, I realized what I really love about her (and other characters in my favorite movies) is her authenticity. Lately, it feels like society’s ability to be authentic and express any form of integrity has flown out the window. Every week, there’s a new trend on TikTok, and the beauty and fashion standards switch up so fast that most people look completely different every few years. I’m a big fan of Heidi Becker, who gained a following through using spoken word, brain rot language, and satire to draw awareness to the many flaws of our society.

Every day that I discover a new trend, I think of one of her videos where she asks, “What are the cool girls wearing this summer?” (or insert any relevant season.) Her point being that all anyone seems to care about is wearing, doing, and being whatever will help them be perceived as cool, socially acceptable, or maybe even better than everyone else. But when I think back to the movies I grew up watching, I can’t think of a time when the character that I wanted to be like was the one who was trying to be cool. It was always the character who marched to the beat of their own drum that drew me in. That’s why those 2000s Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan movies were so beloved. No one wanted to be like Shelby Comings in A Cinderella Story or Stacey Hinkhouse in Freaky Friday, we wanted to be like Sam Montgomery and Anna Coleman.