Lately, I've been pretty pleased with the quality of the movies being released. "The Age of Adaline," 'Mad Max," and others have all opened to rave reviews and general public approval, but my personal favorite recent release has been "Pitch Perfect 2." Both the first and second movies have great plots, wonderful casts, witty scripts and two hours of laughs. That being said, I think that one of the less obvious aspects that make these movies great is just how relatable the characters are. At some point in our lives, we've all felt like one of the characters.
So, with no further aca-ado, here are a few lessons we can learn from the characters in "Pitch Perfect 2."
1. Feel the way about yourself that Stacie feels about herself.
And no, I don't mean feel yourself up in public. I mean that you need to believe you are H-O-T just like Stacey believes she is. Have that level of self-confidence, and know that you are gorgeous and amazing and that the planet has been graced by your presence.
2. Be candid like Lilly.
Our favorite fish-mouthed whispering Bella can teach us all a valuable lesson about being up-front with people. We should all strive to be honest with the people we care about, and we should be comfortable letting people know what we're about ... Like if we set fires to feel joy.
3. Put yourself out there like Beca.
In both movies, Beca showed a remarkable amount of courage by just putting herself out there. In the first movie, she auditioned for the Bellas, and even though she wasn't necessarily Aubrey's first pick, she made it. She also used her mad music skills to form the "Bella sound" and impress her boss at the studio. Everyone needs that kind of courage because sometimes just doing something outside your comfort zone can yield incredible results.
4. Don't be afraid to ask for another chance like Fat Amy.
Spoiler alert: In the second movie, Fat Amy turns down Bumper's offer to make their strictly hook-up relationship into an actual dating relationship. Later in the movie, she realizes she really does want to date Bumper, and in an '80s inspired duet, asks him to give her another chance. It's incredibly important to realize that if we mess up or don't follow our hearts, that we can turn around and ask for a second chance.
5. Experience Emily's youthful excitement every once in a while.
I think Emily's first scene in "Pitch Perfect 2" perfectly illustrates how we all felt at the beginning of college: awe-struck, excited, scared and sometimes a little overly enthusiastic and somewhat embarrassing. But all of this was pretty endearing, particularly her excitement to join the Bellas and follow in her mother's footsteps. I think everyone needs to get that excited about something once in a while, whether it be rushing, that new job, your class schedule for the new semester, or even the fact you managed to get an on-campus parking pass. College life is actually pretty fantastic, and if we can all get just a little bit excited about it, it makes the experience even better.
6. Be as bold with the ladies (or gentlemen) as Benji.
I have to be honest: watching Benji try to talk to Emily gave me a horrible case of secondhand embarrassment. It was just so sweetly sad watching him stutter and spaz while trying to ask her on a date. Oddly enough though, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. At least Benji let her know he liked her, and he did something about it. If we all did that, instead of hiding how we feel or pretending we're too cool for feelings, we could get a lot further with potential love interests.
7. Turn negatives into positives like Aubrey.
In one of the best (and personally most relatable) lines of the movie, Aubrey talks about taking her knack for barking orders and bending people's wills and turning that into a career. Most people would regard those two things as fairly negative traits, but Aubrey took them and did something good with them that helped the Bellas. We should all learn to take our negatives and turn them into positive experiences and use them to our advantage.
8. If the Green Bay Packers can have unusual hobbies, you can too.
Who would have thought that an NFL team would enjoy a cappella and be so good at it? Definitely not me, that's for sure. But they were definitely a cool addition to the movie and taught us that it's ok to have passions that don't necessarily fit the way we seem on the outside. Seriously, you do you, even if whatever it is you do seems weird or unusual to others.
