Let's talk about something...
Girl. Meets. World.
Yeah, I know, I know. A kid's show on Disney Channel, the channel which has supposedly gone to (according to certain statements) a horrible place.
I like some of the shows personally, this being one, while others I can't stand the fact that they even exist (won't be naming those for reasons...) but as I watch the episodes more and more, I realized only one character stood out to me among all the rest, Riley Matthews.
No, it's not because she's the main character, it's because her character is one I've rarely seen in fiction or on screen anymore, and is one that I particularly loved seeing a lot more of in the old Disney Channel movies and shows.
Riley is nice. She is vulnerable. She is positive. She wants to make change in her friends and families' relationships with themselves and with other people. Yeah some things do cross the line a bit into Ridiculous Destination (i.e. wanting Shawn to be Maya's father and somehow managing to come very close with him taking the mom out on a date - not that we know where that went now, but you know) and sure there are just tons of situations I think she couldn't have changed realistically if the show were on a different channel (multiple, really) but you know what, I love her spirit.
And why is it that every character needs to be overly-sarcastic in order to be funny, needs to be misunderstood in order to be loved eventually, needs to have a bad attitude because of a hard past, needs to be skeptic at first before believing in magic and needs to be hard on the outside just so they can dramatically reveal they're soft on the in?
Riley is always happy, but we see her true vulnerability when she's being bullied. We see her cry, and because she was smiling so long for us, it doesn't seem weak. Someone who is always grimacing only to finally frown and let out a river of tears long been withheld seems more emotional than the creator is going for because by showing us they're tough in order to hide their weakness it just makes us think they weren't confident enough to cry or brave enough to not be okay at that very second. And a strong person (man or woman) should know what it means to be brave and confident.
Crying isn't a weakness, so a character thinking it is is just way too close to our true society's belief on that that it hurts too much to enjoy. I can't watch or like a character who thinks crying is a weakness, I can't even hate them because then I'd be hating myself.
Why can't we show kids - everyone - that crying isn't a weakness, it just takes a while before someone can be that broken?
That's exactly how I felt when I witnessed Riley Matthews (brilliantly portrayed by the lovely Rowan Blanchard, by the way) weep in front of her best friend. Weep in front of us. Finally weep because it all became too much to handle alone anymore. That's someone who's strong, brave, and confident.
And that's another thing. Being strong alone is pointless if you feel like people will regard you as weak for just crying, you'll prove you're strong to yourself but it'll feel like you have to hide the fact you're strong and weak. That's so terrible for a person to experience all their own. Riley crying to Maya finally showed that women - girls - can be strong, strong enough to tell someone they're just not okay right now. And there's nothing wrong with not being okay. In fact, feeling not okay will probably take you to such dark places that when everything's bright again, it'll throb much more brighter.
Being not okay can make you okay again.
I love Riley Matthews' character because she is strong, she is brave, she is confident. Yeah, that one episode she wrote "Insecure" on her forehead. But guess what? She must have been brave enough and confident enough and strong enough to write that on her forehead and leave it there for her friends and fellow classmates and her very own father to walk in on and see. She admitted to a lot of people that she is i~n~s~e~c~u~r~e.
That's strong.
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