The very last thing I anticipated to see when my husband and youngsters cued up Little Giants, a 1994 classic underdog story, was a linebacker named Becky. Properly, “Becky ‘The Icebox’ O’Shea,” to be precise. She was a drive to be reckoned with on and off the Pee Wee football field, and she or he was (*gasp*) a woman.
As a mother to 4 sons, then a daughter, it has been my private mission for almost a decade to push again each time somebody tells them to not throw or scream like a woman, each time they skip over a WNBA game in favor of a males’s sport, and each time they assume their little sister will turn out to be a cheerleader by default.
However, like many basic exhibits do, it appeared to show them extra in a two-hour film evening than I would achieved within the 9,8,6, and 4 years of their lives. I’ve typically rewatched that film (as they’re obsessive about it), deconstructing the plot and Becky’s character to determine the explanations.
This is why the film was a feminist murals earlier than its time — and stands the check of time when many gender-based tales do not.
She has crushes, and she crushes bullies.
Wait what? Women can have each swooney girly moments the place they wish to be seen as enticing, lovely, and wished and in addition kick some severe ass a couple of minutes later? Becky has an enormous crush on Junior, who shares that he is extra into the “cheerleader” kind… and that it will be gross to attempt to apply kissing together with her. My sons noticed her heartbreak and rejection. Additionally they noticed her cowl a bully with mud from her go-cart after driving him right into a lake. Writing a one-dimensional badass character would have been anticipated. However a delicate, multifaceted younger girl exhibits that breaking into a person’s world would not preclude you from femininity.
She tries to be somebody she is not… till she will be able to’t.
My sons’ faces as they watched Becky attempt to turn out to be a cheerleader for a boy mentioned all of it — they have been as uncomfortable watching as she was sporting a cheer skirt. A way of reduction fell over my brood as she charged again onto the sphere, skirt and all, to renew her rightful position as linebacker, defending her crew. Even the opposing crew’s coach, her personal uncle Kevin O’Shea, declared, “That is my niece, Becky. And he or she’s pissed.” When her crush lastly comes round (even with out the cheer skirt), we see the one method ahead is being your true self.
She conjures up different girls *and* males to be higher.
Becky modifications her dad, who pursues his personal crush on the finish of the film, impressed by Becky’s bravery. She can also be the rationale the cheer coach, and Kevin’s spouse, involves the sunshine by the top — cheering Becky’s crew on despite her husband’s shock and protesting. She pushes her dad to begin a rival crew when her uncle cuts her, and different misfits. My sons watching Becky not solely play a “boy’s sport” however lead the cost to construct an entire crew from scratch (then upsetting the standing champions) had them wide-eyed.
She’s not simply in a “token” place. She’s a linebacker.
Thirty years later, we have seen examples of ladies serving as highschool kickers, for instance, however a lot much less typically has a woman headed proper into the fray. Becky is not a kicker; she’s a linebacker. This will get instant respect from my crew, instructing them the last word lesson that women headed into boys’ “territory” haven’t got to only be half in — they are often the star of the crew.
The teachings transferred off the sphere.
My son requested for a Caitlin Clark jersey quickly after he noticed this film. One other son began instructing my 1.5-year-old daughter how one can throw a soccer. A 3rd requested why a girl has never been within the NFL, and later why a girl hasn’t been a U.S. president. I’ve Becky O’Shea to thank for these questions.
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