julie & julia

Last week I was finally able to watch the movie Julie & Julia. Meryl Streep is a wonderful actress and having watched Enchanted about a million times with Fifi, I've grown pretty fond of the lead actress Amy Adams as well. The trailers had looked comical and I knew I'd have fun with a movie having to do with blogging and cooking...

But I kind of didn't. I didn't enjoy the movie as much as I thought I would. I'm not a movie critic, I just have a tendency to get a little too emotionally involved with the characters in the movies. For instance, I was heartbroken for Julie when she found out that Julia Child had not been pleased with the Julie/ Julia challenge. This happens so often; feelings are hurt when one person makes an insensitive comment about something that another individual has poured a great deal of themselves into.

Tisk, Tisk.

The movie also forced me to look at my own participation in the "land of blog". At times in my blogging life I wondered why I was frantically trying to write something for people I had never met. I think many people have that impression of blogging, that perhaps it is a "show off", or that people become so entrenched in receiving comments from individuals they have never met that their own lives begin to become secondary.

You know, I really do like getting comments from like minded souls across the world. When I was first blogging, yes, I was more driven, however today it seems to come more naturally. I like to think of blogging as an act of bravery; bravery in putting yourself and your creations out there for the world to see. So why do we do it? Why do we add extra pressure to our lives to try to sew clothing, write a book, or bake bread...and then take pictures and write about it?

So here is what I did like about the movie...and a bit of my opinion on blogging in general. I understood Julie's desire to do something bigger than herself and then see it through. I write for myself to enhance my life, not complicate it. I understand that some days when I write, I want to "show off " and other days I want to vent or be vulnerable; both of which require some bravery. When we are a part of the blogging "co -op", some days we read and write to be inspired and other days it is our role to inspire others. So for all of that, although it was not my favourite, I can say that the movie Julie & Julia is a worthwhile watch. Julie did what she set out to do; she believed that what she was doing was important and followed through...and that is pretty great if I say so myself.

~a.