These Chick Flick Heroines Use Rejection to Their Advantage

By Sarah Waddington

Ask anyone to picture a hero in a movie, and I think one of the last people on their list would be someone like Elle Woods in “Legally Blonde.” However, doesn’t overcoming gender stereotypes and acquitting an innocent defendant deserves just as much clout as conquering an entire battlefield like Wonder Woman?

Female heroes populate all movie genres, including rom-coms, even while delivering laughs and all the feels. In romantic comedies, which many write off as cheesy and shallow, women disrupt stigmas, overcome crises, and land their dream jobs all before the uplifting song plays them into the credits. Here are four times a rom-com heroine tackled her problems like a boss.

“Confessions of a Shopaholic” (2009)

Photo credit to “Confessions of a Shopaholic”

This relatable rom-com from 2009 follows the story of Rebecca Bloomwood (Isla Fisher), a shopping addict and aspiring writer living in NYC. It isn’t actually Rebecca getting rejected to start off this flick, but her credit card when she tries to pick out the perfect green scarf on her way to an interview.

As the plot unravels, Rebecca’s relationship with her friends and family are threatened by her unruly spending, even though she has snagged a new position as a finance writer for Successful Saving magazine, advising other people on their spending habits. It’s only after she chooses a television interview dress over the bridesmaids dress for her best friend’s wedding that she realizes how selfish she has become and begins to confront her problems.

A few hilarious meetings of Shopaholics Anonymous and frozen credit cards later, Rebecca Bloomwood tackles her debt, establishes healthy spending habits, and gets the guy––what more could a girl want?

“The Devil Wears Prada” (2006)

Unable to land another job, recent grad Andy (Anne Hathaway) gets an offer as co-assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the biggest and baddest editor-in-chief in the magazine industry. Andy accepts hoping it is only temporary, and that she will get a job as a more serious reporter elsewhere in about a year. However, Andy excels at the job, impressing Miranda by completing her difficult and demanding tasks and surpassing the other assistant. She does this all while becoming more glamorous and wrapped up in the magazine industry.

Problems quickly arise with her college friends and boyfriend, who think she is turning into everything they used to make fun of. Since Andy is so good in the position, it launches her into a successful career with a major New York publishing company, and by the end of the movie she has shed her unsupportive friends and boyfriend (weren’t they the real villain all along?). Andy in “The Devil Wears Prada” got what we all hope will come from a rejection—a chance to grow from it, learn from it, and become better.

“Easy A” (2010)

In “Easy A,” Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone) finds herself ostracized by her high school after a rumor is spread that she lost her virginity after a date with a college boy. She realizes she has two choices—accept the treatment and live in shame or completely embrace her new persona.

She decides to become what everyone thinks of her, culminating in an epic strut down her hallway wearing a black bodysuit with a Scarlett A sewn onto it. Let’s be honest, who hasn’t had a dream of recreating this iconic scene in their own high school hallway? She even makes her new rep into a small business, allowing guys to say they have slept with her in exchange for money and gift cards.

She learns in the end that reputations don’t matter because people will always believe what they want to. As she states before signing off her webcam to ride into the sunset on the adorable Todd’s (Penn Badgley) lawnmower, “It is nobody’s goddamn business.”

“She’s the Man” (2006)

Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) is devastated when her high school’s girls soccer team gets cut and she’s no longer allowed to play, in the classic 2006 movie, “She’s the Man.”

She has a totally normal response—enroll in the rival boarding school disguised as her twin brother to play on the boys soccer team, and prove her cocky ex-boyfriend and coach wrong.

After getting almost exposed multiple times and sleeping late on the day of the game, Viola scores the winning goal at the match against her old high school’s boys’ soccer team. She successfully rejects the gender stereotypes about boys being better than girls at sports and gets to kiss Channing Tatum, which is not the worst prize either.

All while being relatable and hilarious, women in romantic comedies show what it’s like to stand up to whatever life throws at you. Whether it’s rejection from sports, sexism, or rumors, the only way to beat it is to face it head-on, and I think this is something we can all learn from.