Unserious
That’s right, you can have fun even when life is hard!
I watched Spice World recently and WOWEEEE it is soooo dang FUN! I can’t believe I never watched it before. Though I grew up with some of the Spice Girls’ songs, I had never seen this movie, until now.
Rating, you ask? ✨10 out of 10✨ for a JOLLY good time.
IMDB can (respectfully) suck it!
I was not bored once.
The wacky the zany, the fits—ughhh the fits slayyyyed so hard I wanted to cry. Their energy and positively good vibes; legendary! I saw myself and Fairyland in Spice World: joyful, loud, passionate, and ridiculous.
It reminded me of something really important: I deeply value unseriousness and expressing myself with clumsy charm and excessive wit. I value being bold and cheeky and silly.
But recently, I’ve been noticing this habit I’ve gained of stressing and fretting and overly-dissecting my life’s path: wondering if I’ll ever find my yellow brick road, steeping myself in frustration; like a wrinkly chamomile tea bag. Only there’s no chamomile, no calm at all, just deep thought and rumination.
And then I watched Spice World.
And laughed and snorted and thought:
Ana, when life feels like it’s going down hill to the deep blue sea, can you pull back more often just to say: “Babe, why so serious? Who says the day can’t be saved?”
Translation: like, I know it’s deep. But girl, come onnnnn. I’m tired of sitting here all scared, I want to playyyyy!!!
Spice World rushed in with much needed perspective: I need to embrace my uncertainty with more self-belief, more deep breaths, and loud laughs (or just straight up hollering). Because I’m already doing my best, right? So why not enjoy??
So I compiled a short, three-point list of takeaways from this genre-bending, mind-boggling, completely unserious masterpiece. Here they are:
LIFE IS A ROLLER COASTER, SO BUCKLE YOUR SEAT BELT, BABY!
*spice world spoilers ahead!
Spice World went something like this:
dancing, singing, gravity defying leaps of faith, haunted house, enemies lurking under beds, incredibly fantastic fashion boots that I need to own, reality does not exist, more dancing, more singing, laughter, actually reality does exist oops, woozy dream sequences, EMERGENCY, awwwn we love London, girl squad 5eva, but also aliens?!
Yes, the topsy turviness of Spice World got me scream-laughing like nobody’s business. But it also got me thinking—isn’t that life?
At this point—in my 20 something years of breathing earth air—I’m officially, one hundred percent sure, that life is a series of great unexpectaions.
Monday you're fine, Friday you’re pulling out your hair. One evening you're dancing round the living room in your PJs (to a cartoon theme song) and the next you’re setting the kitchen microwave on fire (by accident, I swear).
Then you drop to the floor in dramatics, crying, “Oh Life, will I ever truly be ready for anything?”
Highly unlikely, my love.
The answer is most decidedly no.
And I sort of think the Spice Girls knew this. They understood the wild, uncertain ride that was life, climbed aboard, and rolled with it. Somehow they went with the flow. And not just any flow, but their own personal, rambunctious flow. They never assimilated, only adapted to whatever fantasy was flung their way—with loud dreams, infectious vibes, and big hearts!
WOW, I thought several times, put me in this movie!
For better or worse The Spice Girls were, and still are, THE energy to bring to the function. And in Spice World, their “seat belts” were their humor, friendships, and boldness. I really felt they could face anything. And that made me feel like I could face anything too <3.
So, upon reflection, this is what I think: Life is a mad adventure for the books. Sometimes none of it is your fault and sometimes all of it is. But, oh well! You’ll find a groove, a rhythm, a song (or two), then you’ll loop and fly through this wacky galaxy in swanky style.
And when you look back on all the things you did, and see that you’re still here, and not just here but bouncing with hope and dreams, well, how incredible would that be?
(I was watching a PICKGO web drama and a character referred to this feeling as looking back at a “shining memory”)
Yeah.
Pretty incredible.
EXPRESS YOURSELF. EXCESSIVELY. LIKE, AS MUCH AS YOU WANT!
There’s something about Spice World costumes and aesthetics and colors that make me just shake my booty.
It’s so good. Like sooooo good. I want to wear everything.
But it’s not just their clothes and hair, it’s the way they talk and laugh and shout. The way they stand up for themselves and make their own rules. And knowing that the Spice Girls themselves put so much effort into making this wonderful movie—they collaborated on script writing, they wrote the soundtrack, they chose their outfits, and were entirely involved in bringing this creative production to life. You can just feel that this movie is made by them.
In Spice World they do their thing in such tongue-in-cheek good fun; unabashed to show all sides of their personalities and let their voices be heard. Angry, happy, sad, excited—all emotions came through loud and clear.
It made me feel like: Ahh, I want to be myself, too!
I want to wear my cute magical girl outfits, put all the fluffy sparkly stuff in my hair, dance and sing and write my songs and poetry. Tell my fairytales to the world. Talk a mile a minute with all my fairy-coded lingo. Lean into my unserious and silly nature, as I build and design my own vibrant universe.
Gosh, we all deserve to express ourselves! Be what we are, out loud, instead of pretending. And though it can be scary, it can also be so rewarding. The Spice Girls prove the power of self expression over and over again in every scene!
And speaking of power…
TAP INTO THAT GIIRRRRRLLL POWER!
There’s a line in Spice World, when they’re marching around in the woods during their unhinged bootcamp (it will make sense once you watch it) and their singing a bit of Never Give Up On The Good Times/Sound Off and I remember how clearly the camera zoomed in on Ginger spice with her large megaphone, singing (with all the spice voices in tow):
Ahh! How satisfyingly girl-coded is that line? LOVEEEE IT!
It made me giggle and smile and want to belt along with them sooo much. In Spice World, girl power is a running theme: it’s the juice that launches the rockets of awesomeness and overzealous, childlike delight displayed in every sequence.
The joy of girl power is so real because it’s not just about accomplishing cool things or standing up for yourself, but it’s also infused with magic and whimsy and so much fuuuun.
Watching these five talented ladies: baby, scary, ginger, posh, and sporty, run up and down on screen doing their fabulous thing, is truly uplifting and wholesome. In the strangest and uncanniest way.
Seriously, babe, you just HAVE to see it for yourself!
And so our essay comes to an end.
You see, unserious in this context doesn’t mean you don’t face reality, boo. It just means that “reality” isn’t running the show all the time. Moving through each day with strength and fantastical joy and maybe a little fierce diva-ness, if you will, is a great possibility. One that already lives within you. So don’t just take life’s ridiculousness lying face down in the dirt: Dance! Sing! Go on and have fun along the way. Speak up and set your voice free!
Because freedom is a mindset, and in the face of all life brings, being who you are is just what you need.
xx
Anastasia
ps:I feel like the Spice Girls would love Fairyland? I mean why nawwwt, heh-lllooo. Teehee. Slam! Slam! Slam! Slam!
