Your Next Move After 'The Queen's Gambit'

Ladies and Gentleman. This is the moment I've been waiting for.

I have been an avid fan of Netflix since before they ran Blockbuster out of business. There was nothing like getting off the school bus, checking the mailbox and seeing that the next cartoon of choice was waiting for my 5 year old brain to absorb.

The only reason why I even understood the United States Postal Service when in kindergarten was because of Netflix. By the time I was in middle school, I had a tv remote in my bedroom that had a single red button worn down so much you could barely even read the label. I would stay up until after my 9:30 bedtime, please don’t tell my parents, binge watching shows like 'Pretty Little Liars' and 'Desperate Housewives'.

Both Netflix and I have come a long way since then. Now my bedtime is 10:00pm, so that I can hope to have energy for work in the morning, and they are throwing out original series like they’re Disney Channel. Since 2013, Netflix has been debuting their original series and sweeping the streaming world by storm. Sorry Blockbuster!

A few honorable mentions are, 'The Haunting of Hill House', 'Stranger things', 'The Umbrella Academy', and of course 'The Tiger King'.

A seven part limited series called, ‘The Queen's Gambit’ was released late last year. According to Netflix, the series had shattered the record at the time with 62 million households watching in the first 28 days of release.

This series follows a young orphan chess prodigy, from the day her mother dies all the way into her adult life. I know what you're thinking, I don’t know nor do I care about anything relating to chess. According to Lizzie Robinson at www.thefactsite.com, it is estimated that only 10% of people in the world know how to play chess. I for one am of the 90% that hasn’t got a clue. Still this was a very good series for many reasons.

The first reason, the thing that drew me to the show originally, is the main character is very interesting to look at. I know that sounds odd, but let me explain. Beth Harmon, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, has a very unique face that for some reason compels you to look and admire. Now I’m not the first person to point this out, she even said it herself in an interview. Nadia Cohen at www.thesun.co.uk, quoted her saying, "I have never and I don’t think I will ever think of myself as beautiful." Regardless, I find her porcelain skin, big doe eyes, regal lips, and overall grace that she carries herself with to be mesmerizing.

The second thing that caught my attention, was that the show was portraying a young girl with an outstanding natural ability to play chess, typically a classy game, to be a tomboyish drug addict. I mean seriously? Beth is this frumpy, orphan with a bowl cut is playing chess against adults, and winning, then taking numerous horse tranquilizers and hallucinating about chess. Oh, wait! I forgot to mention. This is taking place in the 1950s! You know, the time when women were expected to get married, have kids and bake pies for their nuclear families. Certainly not the time when women were expected to compete in a male dominated sport. Oh my goodness! I forgot again! She was competing, as an American, in a RUSSIAN dominated sport DURING THE COLD WAR. I have to say that is one heck of a plotline.

Thirdly, the character goes through an incredible journey start to finish and learns, what I believe, to be a very important lesson. In the show, Beth’s mother says to her, "Men are going to come along and want to teach you things. Doesn’t make them any smarter. You just let them blow by and you go on ahead and do just what how you feel like. Some day, you're going to be all alone, so you need to figure out how to take care of yourself.” From that moment on, Beth does everything in her power to rely on herself and only herself. That is until she gets adopted and forms a bond with her adopted mom in the name of mutual survival. Still she seems unable to trust or have a relationship with most men until basically the last episode. Eventually, throughout the series, she grows and learns that even when you think you are alone, you always have a team supporting you in the background. For Beth this team was a friend of hers who went to the same orphanage and almost every male chess player she ever connected to. The series showed how Beth unlearned the lesson her mother had taught her, and start to learn the new lesson that eventually we all need help from others and that it is okay to accept help from others.

All in all, ‘The Queen's Gambit’ was a fantastic show. So if you watched it, and now there is a void in your soul that you are looking for something to fill it with, I have a recommendation. If you liked ‘The Queen's Gambit’, I bet you would like ‘Sucker Punch’.

‘Sucker Punch’ is a movie that came out in 2011., directed by Zack Snyder , and although it is the directors lowest grossing movie, I’m telling you you have to see it. Now I know you don’t know me and I don’t know you but, I need you to trust me; if you liked 'The Queen's Gambit' or really any girl power tv or movie with any level of depth to it, you will like ‘Sucker Punch’.

Let me explain.

First of all, I need to explain to you how great this movie is aesthetically. The movie was filmed with such a close eye to detail. The camera movement and direction being used for the sake of storytelling was true to Zack Snyder and his other films. (Not to mention the soundtrack.) Although mainly, the film was aesthetically pleasing because of the actresses. I don’t know if it matters to you, but I feel compelled to mention that I am a straight woman. Regardless, just like in ‘The Queen's Gambit’, the women who got cast in this film are absolutely mesmerizing.

I’ll start with the main character, Babydoll, played by Emily Browning. The movie begins with a dark and stormy night, ‘Sweet Dreams’ covered by Emily Browning plays softly in the background. We pan into this small girl with long blond hair in pigtails, clearly scared, clutching her legs tightly to her chest. She has big round eyes with long full lashes and plush lips. Babydoll is clearly fit and just over five feet tall. Unless you see the beginning of this movie I don't think I could fully explain the allure this woman has. Also, Vanessa Hudgens stars in the movie as Blondie, although she is at no time blonde. I have to point out Vanessa being in this movie because she has been my, ‘If I could look like anyone I'd look like her’ girl since she played Gabriella in ‘Highschool Musical’. She is simply drop dead gorgeous and definitely added to the appealing to the eye part of this movie.

Next up is the plot. I again ask that you keep an open mind.

This physiological/action/fantasy movie is about a young girl, Babydoll, who’s mother dies at the hands of Babydoll’s abusive stepfather. The stepfather killed the mom so that he could inherit her wealth. Unfortunately, when he opens her will, he finds out that she left all her money two her two kids. Well, shucks! I guess he now needs to get rid of them too. Darn.

Babydoll’s sister ends up dying and Babydoll gets sent to an all girls insane asylum. Before you tell me that I just spoiled the entire movie, I'll have you know that all happens in the first five minutes.

Babydoll is alone and scared in this asylum and decided to do the only reasonable thing possible. She uses the extremely logically coping mechanism of envisioning it as a brothel. To deal with the physical and mental torture that is brought by the asylum she envisions living in a brothel where if she and her new friends find specific items, they will be able to escape. The movie is wild, start to finish, and completely original.

What lesson did Babydoll learn from this daydream? Well the exact lesson is actually said in the first five minutes of the movie. "Everyone has an angel. A guardian that watches over them. But we can't know what form they'll take. One day old man, the next day little girl. But don't let appearances fool you. They can be as fierce as any dragon. Yet they're not here to fight out battles, but to whisper from our heart, reminding that it's us, it's every one of us, that holds the power over the worlds we create. We can deny our angels exist. Convince ourselves they can't be real. But they show up anyway. In strange places. And at strange times. Then can speak through any character we can imagine. They'll shout through demons if they have to- daring us, challenging us to fight.” I would love to analyze every inch of this quote with you, but I don’t want to spoil the movie.

I will however include the final quote from the movie. "You have all the weapons you need. Now fight!"

The world is so obsessed with proving to young women that they are these heroic, godly, undefeatable, superhumans, simply because they are female. To do this, they like to show these 5’6”, skin and bone girls fighting in hand to hand combat with someone who looks like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. You can not tell me for a second that you believe that Margot Robbie in Birds of Prey, could actually take on three armed thugs. Also, maybe Harley Quinn shouldn’t be a role model for women, but that is an argument for a different time.

Women need to be portrayed in a more realistic light in TV and movies, because we are heroic; we just might not do it in the same way a man would. 'The Queen's Gambit' shows Beth paving the way for all other women, both to compete and be respected, in male dominated sports. She did not need to be physical to prove her strength. Rebellion isn’t always loud; sometimes it is soft, steady, and smart, much like a woman. Babydoll proves this same lesson. She is a tiny little thing, but her bravery, mental strength and intelligence gave her the ability to fight her battle, in her own way. If you liked 'The Queen’s Gambit' then I promise you, you will like 'Sucker Punch'.

Sucker Punch-Opening Scene