I firmly believe that the willingness and ability to change one's mind is an underrated trait in human beings. I don't think we should be fickle, but I do think it would be an unbelievably stale and boring life to hold fixed, completely unchanging opinions about things for one's whole life. In the face of new and better evidence, why not change your mind?
What follows is a brief list of things that I've recently changed my mind about:
1. Musicals.
I used to think that I hated musicals. Not anymore.
My distaste for musicals most likely stems from being forced to watch lame Disney musicals like Newsies at girly-girl slumber parties. Was that harsh? Okay, so Newsies might not be lame. What do I know about whether a particular musical is considered good? But I do know that back in my teenybopper years, I had no interest in swooning over these newsie-boys. I wanted to partake in the much more fun endeavor of actually being a newsie (or Aladdin or Peter Pan or anything other than a boring princess). But I digress.
My appreciation for musicals blossomed, I believe, a few years ago when I first saw Wicked with Grace. Then, a little while later, I saw Rent. Wow, I thought, who knew that musicals could be subversive? It's not all cutesy-barfy sing-songs, after all. Yes, I know. Given the preponderance of gays in the genre, I should have known all of this. But I didn't. I remained fixed in my belief that I was not a person who liked musicals (let alone one of those people who sang along to them)!
In more recent months, Joss Whedon has cemented my love for musicals via Once More, With Feeling. I know this musical is a little dated, since it first aired over 7 years ago, but I watched the Buffy series last year on DVD. (I also hear there is a musical episode of Xena!)
Now, I have accepted the fact that I am the type of person who likes musicals. Not only that, but I am the type of person who owns the soundtrack to a musical episode of a television series involving a vampire slayer. And I sing along to it. Often.
2. Old-Timey Jane Austen-type Movies
My friend Jane will appreciate this category, since she is the type of person who will, during Becoming Jane, look over at her friends in a movie theatre and loudly say "I'm BORED." Not that she did that or anything, she's just the type of person who would do such a thing. If normal people did that sort of thing, of course.
Yet, I used to share her disdain for these types of movies. Not anymore. Maybe it's because of Keira Knightley's tendency to act in them. Maybe it's because I was on an airplane when I watched The Jane Austen Book Club and thus, appreciated anything that got my mind off of flying. I'm not sure why, but I gave these movies a second chance and do actually enjoy them now.
Most recently, hammerpants made me watch Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age starring Cate Blanchett (swoon), which I am including in this category. I know, I shouldn't have been surprised that I, a feminist, would find movies about a powerful female monarch exciting. But surprised I was. I'm just quick like that. Anyway, back to Cate Blanchett:
3. The Godfather movies
Before I actually watched this series I used to think they would be long, boring, and violent.
Oh, who am I kidding. After watching this series, it has only been confirmed for me that the Godfather trilogy is all of those things. Maybe I just couldn't get over Marlon Brando's cotton-ball-stuffed-mouth. Who knows. But I did give the series a good try.
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