Joy

I wanted to try something a little bit different. Today, I will be writing about a movie. Over the break, I was able to see the movie Joy. Joy starred my personal queen, Jennifer Lawrence. In this movie she played (to much sarcastic surprise) a strong-willed, independent woman, trying to make her way in the world. I can’t think any other movies where she played a character like this… Winters Bone, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, The Poker House, all of the X-Men movies (after 2011), all of The Hunger Games movies, the list goes on and on.

Picture courtesy of wikipedia.org

Joy is about a woman, named Joy (of course), who lives in a large house with her crazy mom, freshly divorced (for the second time) father, her loving grandma, Columbian ex-husband, conniving step-sister, and her two young children. One day, Joy was laid-off from her job. Unable to provide for her mess of a family, Joy and her daughter design a mop; after Joy had cut her hands mopping up broken glass. This new “miracle mop” was self-wringing, with a detachable/washable head. Joy pitch the idea to her dad’s crazy-rich, new girlfriend, whose lawyer did a patent search (there was a man in China with a similar idea, but he allowed it). Joy was able to hire a cheap manufacturer to build the molds that Joy had drawn up. 

After having trouble selling her new product, Joy got help from a friend of her ex-husband to make an infomercial for her mop. She got the deal, however, when the infomercial aired live, the seller was unable to work the mop. Zero mops were sold. Joy went back to the producer of the commercial, and demanded that she would be the one to sell the product. He agree, but Joy’s first appearance on TV was a disaster, until her best friend phoned in and got Joy talking about the product. The “average housewife” on TV was able to hit record breaking sales. 

However, there was a problem with the manufacturer. They were asking for a lot of money, now that the Miracle Mop was a big success. Joy flew to California to confront the company. They claimed that the molds where their other employer’s idea, a man who Joy had never talked to. Joy had to file for bankruptcy, but not before she flew to Texas to find this mystery employer. This man (supposedly) worked for the guy in China. The man in China had no clue about the molds. Joy sued the mystery employer for fraud, and won the money. Joy and her family moved to a bigger house, and she was able to invent more products that would change the world.

This movie is now one of my favorites. The message of independence and empowerment is so strong. Even though Joy was full of many strong actors, they all did an amazing job and their performances complimented each other really well. Over the weekend, Jennifer Lawrence won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical, for this film. She also reached out to reporters and the public, demanding for equal pay for women. I feel that it is important for children all over to have an idol who is as strong as her, one who doesn’t just portrays strong women.

Thank you for reading this post! Equality of all kinds is something that means so much to me, so seeing a movie like this made me really happy. My challenge for you is the actually the Golden Rule. What people need to understand is, no matter how bad it sounds, people are constantly judging you and it’s not going to stop any time soon. What you need to do is be a good person. Give everyone else something good to judge. “We got here from hard work, patience, and humility. Don't think the world owes you anything because the world owes you nothing.” - Joy Mangano, played by Jennifer Lawrence. Until next time…

~Rachael