Burlesque (2010)

I will forever have a special bond with this movie because at age 19, Ali was the woman I felt I never could be. Yet, at that age, anything should be possible.

Ali was talented, she had no baggages and in this scary big world, no matter how bad it got, she always had her fairy godmother. She said, "if you fall off the stage, legs extended and boobs up." At least Ali had those.

What we had in common at that time was our untouched innocence, legs or not. The world hadn't had its chance to put its dirty hands on us yet. In that very small window of age 19, we celebrated our newfound womanhood. We played with our looks and welcomed our curves. Little did we know that while we led our guards down, creepy Marcus was lurking in the corner and marking us as his next toy. So it happened. He manipulated with our looks and criticized our curves. We no longer celebrated us and became too occupied with worshipping Marcus instead.

Along came Tess, oh Cher-ie. There's a fairy godmother in every story, only if she believed. She showed up with the confidence and vulnerability that could only be worn as battle scars. With her guidance and at the age of 34, she finally saw that Marcus has been disguised the whole time. Marcus is Vince; he is Jack; he is every reason why women can't trust men anymore.

I no longer want to be Ali. Ali was too good to be true. I want to be Tess, with Sean by my side. Because I'm tired of being the only person who gives enough shit to keep the lights on in this windowless best view on Sunset Strip.

Burlesque was the reason I joined sexy dance classes five years ago. I remember now. It was so much fun and every bit not like the movie. I still ain't got the legs and boobs and that's alright. 😉