#gingerroseweek22
Oh, my Dear Friend, my heart was trembling as I walked into the post office, and there you were, lying in Box 237. I took you out of your envelope and read you, read you right there.
(Quotes from “The Shop Around the Corner.”) (The “planet” quote seemed very fitting with the “Celestial Bodies” theme and it is one of my favorite lines in the film. Among many. It’s just a hell of a compliment.)
“The Shop Around the Corner” AU. (NOT “You’ve Got Mail” AU. VERY important distinction. No one puts the other’s store out of business in “The Shop Around the Corner,” because…ABSOLUTELY NO WAY would I fall in love with the person who put me out of business. I wouldn’t even want to be FRIENDS with that person. Like…Nora Ephron, your writing’s great most of the time, but…yeah, this 2-hour-long ad for AOL was not your finest.)
Hux and Rose are coworkers at a small shop. They’re also anonymous penpals. As coworkers, they hate each other. As penpals, they’re slowly falling in love.
The night Hux arranges to meet his penpal in person for the first time, he drags Ben with him, begs him to peek through the window of the café to look for a young woman with a copy of “Anna Karenina” with a red carnation as a bookmark. (Note: NOT a shout-out to Domhnall’s role in a film adaptation of “Anne Karenina.” That’s literally the book used in the film so I took a screencap b/c I wanted the flower in the book.)
Ben looks, and spots the young woman. Pauses. Confirms to Hux that, indeed, she’s very pretty. …bears something of a resemblance to Rose, actually. A comment that makes Hux frown, because what does Rose have to do with anything?
Ben: Well, if you don’t like Rose, I can tell you right now you won’t like that girl.
Hux: Why not?
Ben: Because it IS Rose.
Hux almost walks away. Leaves her there. But he goes in, tries to feel things out, tries to be cordial without letting on that he’s the penpal she’s waiting for. It goes…poorly. (Understatement, honestly. Look up the original scene, Margaret Sullavan is VICIOUS to James Stewart.)
So, to Rose, her penpal—her dear friend, as they call each other—never shows up. But Hux does. And then a while later, he stops by her apartment one day, when he learns she’s sick. He’s there to wish her well, make amends, hopefully become friends.
If you’ve seen this movie, or “You’ve Got Mail,” you know how it ends.
But also, this movie is JUST SO QUOTABLE. SO MANY AMAZING LINES.
“A very interesting mixture of poetry and meanness.” (preceded by Klara’s AMAZING takedown of Kralik).
“I think people who like to smoke candy and listen to cigarettes will love it.” (The whole musical cigarette/candy box scene is gold.)
“Psychologically, I’m very confused…but personally, I don’t feel bad at all.”
All of their letters to each other. “Are you tall? Are you short? Are your eyes blue? Are they brown? Don’t tell me. What does it matter so long as our minds meet?”
“Did you ever get a bonus? The boss hands you the envelope. You wonder how much is in it, and you don’t want to open it. As long as the envelope’s closed, you’re a millionaire.”
I implore you, GO WATCH “THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER.” It’s SO good.
~~~
Oh. Also. This was the very first moodboard I made for this week. And the very first moodboard I made…well, ever. I feel like I improved the more moodboards I made, but I’ll let y’all be your own judge on that front. XD
Quote from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”
…for whatever reason, my brain screamed “ROM-COM” at me for this day. And literally just the other day, I was chatting with a friend about how great “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is.
…so…AU! (Obviously not the “Greek” part, but, whatever, you get it.)
(Also, PERFECT USE OF BOTTICELLI’S THE BIRTH OF VENUS IS PERFECT AND SERENDIPITOUS.)
Rose works in her family’s restaurant, her parents constantly talk down to her over her not being married/a mom, compared to her perfect older sister Paige, and Rose is just…thoroughly unhappy with her life and figures being single forever and forever working at the restaurant is just what she’s destined for, because nothing ever changes. (From the movie, “Here I am, day after day, year after year, 30 and way past my expiration date.”)
Cue Hux and Kylo coming in for lunch one day, and Rose sees Hux and she’s just…smitten at first sight. Zones out staring at him, tries to brush it off awkwardly, and leaves in mortification (even if the handsome ginger man she just thoroughly embarrassed herself in front of seemed to genuinely enjoy the joke she cracked).
Anywhoozle, she tries approaching her father one night about taking a couple computer courses to help the restaurant manage inventory better and improve their business. Her dad says no at first, but her mom eventually convinces him to say yes. (To drop another great quote from the movie: “The man is the head [of the family], but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants.”)
Cue the only valid makeover scene/montage in ANY FILM EVER, I HAVE SO MANY OPINIONS AND FEELINGS ABOUT THIS SCENE, where Rose’s self-confidence blossoms through computer courses and she speaks up more and joins the popular girls for lunch and they actually like her, and she tries new things with makeup and contacts and how she dresses. And she looks in the mirror one day and just…beams. She likes this new, confident, self-assured Rose.
She ends up taking a position at Paige’s travel agency to put everything new she’s learned to better use. Hux passes by one day on his way to work and does a double-take at the adorable young woman working at the travel agency, practically dancing through her tasks.
Cue the second meet-cute. Cue first date. Cue Hux asking if Rose would want to go to this great little restaurant on their next date, he just found it a while ago, he’d love to take her. Cue Rose’s mostly internal but also a little external panic when he names the restaurant.
She nonchalantly says her family owns that restaurant, avoids eye contact lest Hux recognize her…and her stomach clenches as recognition dawns over his face, and he says he remembers her. The seating hostess.
“I was going through a phase up until now…um…I was Frump Girl.”
Hux just smiles. “I don’t remember Frump Girl, but I remember you.” (This is my favorite line/scene in the entire movie.)
He remembers her quick wit. He’d liked that from the start. Even when she was Frump Girl.
They fall in love, they kiss, they get engaged. He meets her eccentric family, which…honestly? He loves them? Because his own family was kind of the worst? (As soon as Rose’s mom learns this, she is IMMEDIATELY like “COME TO MY BOSOM, SWEET YOUNG MAN.”)
They get married. Happily ever after. You know the movie. (And if you don’t, GO WATCH IT.)
