Aspects of Austen

Have you ever seen  Penelope ? If not, let me summarize it for you. An affluent family is cursed, a girl is stuck with the face of a pig, and only some kind of "true love" will save her and lift the curse. Predictably, this doesn't work (shocking, I know). Instead, Penelope (pig-faced girl) takes advantage of the situation, ventures out into the world that she had been barred from, and surprisingly finds some acceptance. Spoiler alert: Do you want to know how the curse actually gets lifted? My favorite line from the movie ensues, as Penelope, arguing that she doesn't need a man, or a normal face, to live happily, yells,  "I like myself the way that I am!" Culturally, this is the message that is preached to us over and over again, from  JCPenney commercials , to political platforms. But, we are definitely not practicing what we preach. I thought that I was quite grown and mature from where I had been even a mere year ago. I still believe that I