amelie poulain from Amelie
lola from run lola run, image via ricardo cohen
margot tenenbaum from the royal tenebaums, image via style alchemy
mathilda lando from leon: the professional, image from autumn in my veinsbeing punk isn't about the safety pins, or the mowaks or the ripped jackets and the dr. martens, it's about recognizing the weaknesses in the rules that were written for you and deciding to rebel against that...(grossly paraphrased from Susannah Martin, theater director)
i find this idea provocative in its simplicity... i think we have gotten so caught up in what things look like that we sometimes overlook what is quietly or not-so-quietly going on beneath the visual representation. and the thing is that people take on trends and shrug them off, and just because someone is wearing all the "gear" to fit a specific archetype, it doesn't mean that their values and choices line up in agreement with that model... all of the film characters above are "punk", not in a visual sense, but in a philosophical sense... they all are choosing to make up the rules to their own lives, to forge ahead with what they believe, with what seems personally relevant and powerful, without letting the world around them dictate what is right or wrong or appropriate. being punk comes down to something completely bare-bones and essential— the right to individual freedom, the right to not conform to an established order. i have such great admiration for people who live like that, whether it be in sustained periods of time or in quick white hot flashes... and though fictional, i'm greatly moved by and very much value the integrity of these characters and their self-determining, singular identities.
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