Cameron Crowe’s Women Shape My Views and Thoughts On Dating

Last week when I was sick I watched Elizabethtown on Showtime, I have probably watched this movie at least 5-6 times. For some reason I am drawn into this movie whenever it is on, it isn’t because it is particularly good because it isn’t. Maybe I watch it to figure out if Orlando Bloom actually has any acting ability or not or maybe I watch it to answer the question if he can act in a movie that doesn’t involve a sword? Who knows?

Watching this movie really got me thinking about something, I enjoy Cameron Crowe movies a lot, well except for Vanilla Sky. Actually for the sake of this entire argument we will not even acknowledge the existence of Vanilla Sky. Back to what I was saying, I enjoy Cameron Crowe movies and I think that he writes lead female characters that are examples of the types of women I like and that I have dated. Of course they are all attractive and have some really great personality traits but they are all flawed in someway.

For some reason I think that his movies have helped shaped my opinion on women and maybe have even influenced the type of girls I date. If you don’t count “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” each of his movies comes out during a very important period of my life when a lot of change is going on. Maybe I am over thinking this, I don’t know.

Anyways I want to give my breakdown of the women in his movies and compare them to how they relate to women in my life.

Diane Court from Say Anything

Diane is the sheltered, accomplished, and vastly more talented girl. Kind of good at everything she does when it comes to academics and things of that nature but really hasn’t experienced life and has been kind of uptight. I think her flaw, which actually obviously becomes undone in this movie, is her over reliance and tightness with her father.

This was actually the main type of girl I dated when I was in college for the first couple of semesters. Girls that were really smart and were probably a little more accomplished than I was academically, and lived kind of a sheltered life. Of course this all changed when I became a raging drinker and learned that girls were just as perverted as guys. At that point a Diane Court type of girl couldn’t hold a torch to a drunken, bar hopping floozy with casual moral attitudes.

Janet Livermore from Singles

The super attractive girl who has had horrible luck with men, has been mistreated a little bit, and has some mental hang-ups about herself be it physical or mental. In the case of Janet it is her breast size or well her perceived lack of breast size I should say. She is looking for love, maybe a little bit more than she needs to be, and is hoping to find a guy that will treat her right and give her the relationship she is longing for.

I have only dated two Janet Livermore’s in my lifetime, girls that were probably legitimately out of my league looks wise but have been so beaten down by guys they have previously dated that they had zero self confidence. The good thing about dating this type of girl is that not only are they attractive but they are genuinely appreciative of every little thing you do. I had one girl that fit into this category that almost shit herself when I brought her a magazine that I saw on a newsstand because it had something we were talking about the other day. She almost swallowed her tongue and went into convulsions calling it one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for her. The problem with these girls is though there is like a shit load of baggage and overcoming it kind of a pain in the ass.

Dorothy Boyd from Jerry Maguire

The single mom with relationship trauma, loneliness, a great heart, and wants to believe in something, she is kind of there waiting for some sort of spark to go off in her life which has become stale and routine.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time looking at or even analyzing this character versus my life. I don’t have a lot of single mom time under my belt and the most significant relationship I have had with a single mom really is so twisted and perverse away from Dorothy Boyd that I can’t even begin to look at it. In fact it would probably take a month of writing for me to even have some sort of grasp on it.
Penny Lane from Almost Famous

The beautiful free spirit that at times seems to have no grasp on reality yet might have a firmer grasp than you want to believe of give them credit for. She is usually involved in something or with someone she shouldn’t be, has some secrets and damage she doesn’t talk about and covers it with her “free spirit” never really tackling the things she needs to.

I used to be convinced that Penny Lane in Almost Famous was the perfect girl and I have dated only one girl that I would consider close to her in that movie. It can be the most fun experience ever dating such a free spirit but also the most maddening. Also I learned when you damper the free spirit too much or impact them with some negativity it kind of hurts them more than the average person. You have to learn that you can’t control them, refine them, or change them, that you just need to either hope on and be apart of the ride or stay away.

Claire Colburn from Elizabethtown

I think she is the reigned in free spirit with a big heart, the sociable, truly aware girl that knows how to make everyone around her shine, she stands out in a room, and can be everyone’s friend. Creative, a talker, and constantly busy with something, I am still trying to figure out what the fatal flaw in this character is.

I haven’t dated anyone like Claire, I think I want to date a Claire type, I need to date a Claire type but I haven’t exactly found a Claire type. The thing is I have dated girls with a lot of the same qualities but some are over social, like Claire knows when silence is good, she understands the environment around her and where she is at. I have dated girls that were kind of like her but just continually talked which kind of made them self absorbed in some ways I guess.

So I guess I am out there looking for a Claire right now… Or a drunken, bar hopping floozy with casual moral attitude, whatever it takes.

Did this blog make any sense?