Particularly progressive is the twins’ mother, who works full-time and raises her child with the help of a manny-cum-butler. Two children are being raised by single, working parents. Perhaps, then, we can find Chessy’s narrative significance by looking at what she represents in the film: the mother.Īs far as 1998 films go, The Parent Trap is relatively forward-thinking. Her look and her character are so familiar because they are born from something old and established. I wouldn’t describe her as an extremely unique personality - I would imagine others might look in the mirror and see her, too - yet she remains utterly likable. It’s the kind of 40-year-old you want to be. The most reasonable explanation for my sartorial decisions that day (and many others) is menocore, a fashion euphemism coined by Man Repeller, which represents “the aesthetic of a middle-aged woman on a low-key beach vacation.” The less obvious explanation for my outfit á la Chessy is that Chessy is the middle-aged woman whose life with Dennis Quaid is not unlike a low-key beach vacation.Ĭhessy embodies a certain spirit: that of the one who knows all, who can cure all, who is always there, but always on vacation. There was the makeup I decided to stop wearing, the Birkenstocks on my feet, the sports bra-inspired yellow bikini top that made me look, as a friend earlier noted, “Like a housewife who voted for Reagan-Bush.” I mean this in the sense that my hair was plopped in a scrunchie with loose pieces covering the edges of my face, in the sense that I was wearing an opened, flowing button-down in the 90-degree heat. It wasn’t until years later that I was washing my hands in a family friend’s bathroom and looked up at the vanity to see something odd. This, I thought, is a woman who has things under control. I liked the way she twisted her hair into a clip or a scrunchie and wore long-sleeved button-downs in the summer. I more than once had a mid-August panic attack upon returning home on “departure day.” Would I have panicked had Chessy been there? Often, I imagined not.Īs a child, I liked that Chessy was no Meredith Blake - she had a full bust and made denim look comfortable. Sleepaway camp can be wonderful but scarring, and the thought of returning home into Chessy’s warm embrace made an emotional day less anxiety-inducing. Hallie seemed safer when Chessy was there I felt safer when Chessy was there. There is an allure to Chessy: she comes in at the end of the first hour, and suddenly, you cannot imagine the film without her.įrom a young age, Chessy’s presence on screen gave me a sense of pure comfort. Nevertheless, she had always been my favorite character from The Parent Trap. There were other questions I had about Chessy, but none were as existential as this. So, Chessy was in love with Dennis Quaid, obviously. Yes, Napa is lovely, as is 1998 Dennis Quaid, but even I, at age 7, had an understanding that it would be strange if these two were not somewhat romantically linked. Two, I could not figure out what she was doing living in Napa with Dennis Quaid.
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