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Entertainment July 21, 2017
The tale of an unconventional heroine.
Photo via Instagram/@caradelevigneIn the coming of age film “Paper Towns,” Quentin is the protagonist. However, Cara Delevigne steals the show as the strong female lead, Margo Spiegelman.
On a surface level, the film looks the classic story of a damsel in distress getting saved by a price, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Here are five reasons Margo turns the romance tale of “Paper Towns” into a story of female empowerment.
There really would be no “Paper Towns” without the courageous antics of Margo Spiegelman. The story starts out with her late-night adventures pranking those she believes have wronged her in some way. Throughout the film, Margo pushes her close friend Quentin to bypass what scares him so that he may feel the thrills that life has to offer.
She later runs away from home without hesitation in pursuit of her fantasy of “paper towns.” At no point does she stop and question herself. She never doubts herself. Margo knows what she’s capable of and she approaches the world head-on in all that she does.
In the words of Margo, “As long as we don’t die, this is gonna be one hell of a story.”
In “Paper Towns,” it’s easy to see that Margo Spiegelman has attitude and a lot of it. She is blatantly honest with no clear filter. Her sarcastic humor game is off the charts. By no means is she a “yes” woman. She has her own thought and opinions. At one point she even told Quentin, “I didn’t need you, you idiot. I picked you. And then you picked me back.”
She knows what she wants and she goes after it. Margo is a natural-born leader that others are eager to follow, especially her doting friend Quentin Jacobsen. Many look to her for guidance because she is self-assured and doesn’t apologize for who she is.
Some might call her bitchy or bossy. However, we prefer to call her a strong woman.
After coming to terms with Quentin’s obsession with her, Margo gives him a reality check. She tells him that it is not her that he is in love with, but rather the concept of her. She asks Quentin, “When did we see each other face to face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that we were just looking at ideas of each other.”
Margo is well-aware of her downfalls and is unapologetic of them. She reminds Quentin that the pedestal he has tried to lift her onto is simply not a good fit. She’s reckless and she can be a little selfish, but she’s okay with who she is.
Ultimately, she isn’t a princess to be rescued or a prize to be won. Rather, she’s a flawed human being. Eventually, Quentin realizes Margo may not be perfect, but she is authentically herself. The reality of this clearly sunk in for Quentin when he stated, “Margo was not a miracle. She was not an adventure. She was not a fine and precious thing. She was a girl.”
In “Paper Towns,” Margo Spiegelman has no problem being a lone wolf. Sure, she may enjoy company, but Margo is an independent adventure-seeker at heart. She doesn’t need to be attached at someone’s hip to feel secure.
Margo doesn’t hold onto romantic relationships lacking in mutual respect. She also doesn’t let any boy stand in the way of her ambitions. By going off on her own, Margo is proving that she’s unstoppable. When asked how she can just leave everything behind she responds, “It is so hard to leave – until you leave. And then it is the easiest goddamned thing in the world.”
Spoiler alert: Margo does get found, but the end result isn’t what one would expect.
She didn’t want to be found. She didn’t need to be saved. Margo took a leap of faith and did what was right for her despite what the outside world had to say about it.
She ran away from home to live her truth, and in that process, she is her own savior. Margo dreams of paper towns and she makes it there completely on her own. There’s no horse and carriage, just a young woman’s journey towards self-discovery. She leaves behind what everyone wants her to be so that she may embrace who she truly is. Then, she lived happily ever after.
There is a reason everyone is wrapped up in the illusion of Margo Spiegelman. She’s enchanting. However, she is not without her faults. She is chaotic, a little spiteful and she accepts it. Without a doubt, Margo is a flawed character.
However, she exemplifies an independent woman who chases her dreams and is never afraid to be herself. Now, if that isn’t a powerful female role model then we don’t know what is.
