Category: I Love These Things!

Stranger Things is one of the most popular TV shows in the world. Each time a new season is released, it takes the world by storm and it’s the only thing that anyone can talk about for months. The one consistency across these seasons? My love and the whole world’s love for Steve Harrington.

Steve was introduced in season one as nothing more than the jerk that Nancy was dating. In fact, he was actually supposed to be killed off after the first season, but luckily the creators of the show saw the potential of his character. Since that season, Steve has had one of the most iconic character developments of all time. Steve went from a self-absorbed jock to a caring father figure and the best babysitter of all time. We watch him take on the role of being a protector of the younger kids and risk his life for the people around him. There is a lot of speculation over why steve acts the way he does and my personal opinion is that it has something to do with his home life. It’s hinted in early seasons that Steve’s mom and dad aren’t around a lot. They run off on business trips and leave steve alone in a giant house. I think that Steve stepped up to be a role model for the younger kids because he understands what it’s like to not have one. He knows what it’s like to not have any parental figures around to watch over you, and he doesn’t want any other kid to grow up that way. This is why he takes care of the younger kids. I think it’s incredible how selfless we’ve watched him become as the show has gone on. When we started this show, he was a young high school boy and he definitely acted like it, now he has truly grown up into a man who now has things to defend. This teaches an important lesson. That being that anyone can change and decide to be better. Sometimes it’s just a matter of growing up.

I hope that that title got your attention because it made me laugh while typing it. Anyways, let’s dive into one of my favorite things to talk about, my unironic love for Hallmark movies.

I used to roll my eyes at these types of movies, the cheesy holiday ones that have the most basic plot to ever be made up by the human mind. However, a few years ago, I just got super into them and even made my family watch them with me. We now have a game that we play every year where we see who can guess the plot most accurately. Since it’s time for them to start airing again, I’ve been wondering, why do people either love or hate these movies so much? Think about it, you never hear anyone not be opinionated on hallmark movies. They either love them and watch them every year or absolutely hate them and refuse to watch them for even a second. One reason for both parties could be that Hallmark movies are so easy to follow and take no brain power really to watch. I myself, I love that. When I’m watching a holiday movie, I don’t want it to stress me out to the point of me having zero enjoyment. Some people may see this as a bad thing. Since the plot is so easy to follow, this couldn’t be a real movie or real entertainment. Another argument for those who hate these movies is that they’re unrealistic. Which, I feel is unfair. They’re cheaply produced holiday romcoms, did you expect them to be hard-hitting reality pieces? Sometimes, people just wanna watch a movie where a guy and a girl fall in love while trying to save the guy’s family Christmas tree farm. I feel like that’s not too much to ask for. Hallmark movies are supposed to be cute and sweet and romantic and if you expect anything different from them, that’s on you respectfully.

At the end of the day, I love these silly little movies because they just feel like the holidays to me. They’re amazing and beautiful and I wouldn’t trade them for the world and I will die on this hill.

Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk,

All my love,

-Lexi

In the great year of 2010, an eight year old Lexi Elliott was exposed to a piece of media that would forever change her life. This was of course the movie, Tangled. I genuinely believe that Tangled is the best movie that Disney has ever created. Let me tell you why.

Rapunzel has such a great personality and no matter how old you get, you can always see yourself in her. She has dreams that may seem small to others, are the entire world to her. Dreams that are only possible to achieve if she leaves her tower. That’s another great thing that I love about this move, the symbolism of the tower. Young or old, we all have some sort of Tower that we just can’t seem to get out of. I was Rapunzel when I was eight and my tower was my house. I was Rapunzel at the age of sixteen and my tower was the town I had lived in my whole life. I am still Rapunzel at the age of 19 and now my tower is my own head. I will be Rapunzel when I am 25 and who knows what my tower will be then? My point is, Rapunzel teaches us that while the Tower may be comfortable, if we want to live the life that we dream of, we have to be willing to take the risk of leaving.

Don’t even get me started on Flynn Rider aka Eugene Fitzherbert. When I tell y’all that this man is the blueprint for what I base my type around. I adore this man. His character development is top tier. He goes from caring about nothing more than stealing and getting rich, to willingly giving over the crown and dying in order to free Rapunzel. I would also like to point out that there is a part in the movie where the man who has never honestly bought a thing in his life buys a small gift for Rapunzel because he can tell how much she likes it. There’s also the fact that he goes from saying this his dream is to be by himself on an island surrounded by money to telling Rapunzel that she was his new dream. That is the sweetest thing that I’ve ever heard and I will never get over it.

As I’m writing this I have the overwhelming urge to watched Tangled for some reason. So that’s what I’m going to go do, if you’re reading this and bored, you should also go watch Tangled and come to the conclusion that it is a cinematic masterpiece.

All my love,

-Lexi Elliott

I’m using this blog post as an excuse to talk about my absolute favorite movie that I could talk about for hours and hours. That movie is Howls Moving Castle. I’m a firm believer that everyone needs to watch this movie at least once in their life, if only just purely for the experience.

First of all, this film is simply visually stunning. I’m not being dramatic when I tell you that this may be the prettiest movie I’ve ever watched. One scene in particular where Howl takes Sophie to his field of flowers that he’s been using magic to protect from the war leaves me speechless every time I see it. The colors are amazing and the animation of the wind blowing and rustling the field is incredible. Don’t even get me started on the soundtrack for this movie. The main theme, “Merry Go Round Of Life” is consistently in my Spotify wrapped and I’m not mad about it because it is one of the most beautiful and comforting songs I’ve ever heard. Sad? Listen to Merry Go Round of Life. Happy? Listen to Merry Go Round of Life. Need some background noise? Oh boy you know what time it is. It works in every situation.

To go on to why I really love this film so much, aside from the music and pretty visuals, I love this movie because the theme hits close to home. Howls Moving Castle is about self worth and love. The main character, Sophie, see’s herself as plain, ordinary and nothing worth looking at. It’s not until she is forced by a curse to live as an old lady that she learns how beautiful she really is. Sophie learns that beauty is not defined by outward appearance, but rather by who you are inside. It’s stored in how you carry yourself and how you treat others. I love this lesson, and what I love even more is that when Sophie breaks the curse, she isn’t transformed into some stunning, glowing and made up version of herself that looks nothing like how she did in the beginning of the movie. Instead, she looks the exact same, sending the message that Sophie was always beautiful, she just needed to realize it. Another thing I love about this movie is that Howl, our other main character, loved Sophie from the beginning, even when she thought she was plain. His love for her never changed, he just helped her grow in her confidence and I think that’s really sweet.

I adore this movie, and now I kinda want to rewatch it but that’s besides the point. I love Howl and Sophie I can’t recommend this movie enough.

All my love,

-Lexi