Don’t Cry, Shopgirl

I know I’m a bit late in posting about the wondrous Miss Nora Ephron, but, honestly, I wasn’t quite sure what to say. It’s been a few weeks and as I’ve read the tributes online and elsewhere, I can’t help but want to add a few of my own thoughts about her legacy.

Nora Ephron wrote movies that I knew were fantasy. Yes, going to the top of the Empire State Building to find a man you’ve never met, but have sort of stalked via the radio, is insane. I know. But I didn’t care. It wasn’t about a pure reality for me, it was about all the parts and pieces in between. I loved that all the women in Nora Ephron’s movies were working women. I loved that it was never really brought up that they were working women. They just were, and no one ever questioned or challenged them about it. I loved that they were pretty, but not unattainably so. I mean, of course Meg Ryan is a beautiful woman, but she looked like someone I could be friends with. I loved that the men were funny and good at heart, even if they made stupid mistakes and acted like jackasses sometimes. I adored the emphasis on friendships and how important they were to her characters.

I loved how Nora’s movies made me feel. I am a rom-com sucker, and let’s face it, the genre has been in a pretty sad state for awhile now (I blame J. Lo). Nora’s movies are somehow timeless, even when they are based on ten or twenty year old technology. That’s pretty incredible.

Also, Nora made me fall in love with New York. Every time I’m there, I quietly imagine myself walking through a Nora Ephron movie. “Oh, don’t you love New York in the fall? If I knew your address, I’d send you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils.”

Thank you, Nora.

Here are a few great Nora reads and tributes I’ve seen in the past week or so….

A lovely list Nora wrote about the things she would and wouldn’t miss after she died. (via A Cup of Jo)

This great interview she did for NPR’s Fresh Air a while ago.

This sweet tribute via the Monkey See blog really hit the nail on the head for me. When talking about Sleepless in Seattle, she writes:

It’s about leaning on your friends: Meg Ryan and Rosie O’Donnell have a quick phone call where, at the end of it, they say, “I love you,” and “I love you, too.” I was so struck by that, I remember – that in most movies, you’re lucky if people say goodbye before they hang up, but this one knew that with your best friend, when it’s important, you say, “I love you,” and “I love you, too.”

This post by Natalie is just perfection. (via Nat the Fat Rat)

i think the thing about nora is, she was not afraid to be a woman. her strengths as a writer, her characters’ strengths, all come from the fact that they are unapologetically girls. sally with the hair spray in the car in the parking lot of the diner, annie and her over-watched copy of an affair to remember, marie and her rolodex full of dateable men, tabbed in the corner if married. kathleen and her daisies. nora’s women are soft but that doesn’t mean they aren’t strong. why don’t more people see femininity the way she did? nora’s girls aren’t like men and they don’t care to be. it’s refreshing. it’s inspiring. i’m so sad to see that brilliant spark of feminism missing now that she’s gone.

The most recent book she wrote and this one from a few years back, which are now patiently waiting in my Nook queue.

And for you trivia lovers out there, Pioneer Woman is having a Nora Ephron movie quiz tonight, so go enter!