Lately, I’ve been on this movie-going spree. We have this cute little old-fashioned theatre in downtown Blacksburg with velvet red curtains and black and white pictures of old movie stars on the wall. The atmosphere makes watching foreign films with subtitles and movies that left the major theatres months ago so much more romantic, and romance is definitely a lacking area at this point in my life.

Last night, I went to see Becoming Jane, and as a devoted lover of Jane Austen and her works, I loved it. Although I have read about her life, seeing it portrayed on the screen provided emotion that I would not have felt otherwise. The recurring subjects of unrequited love, marrying for money, and overdramatic characters in her novels were also themes in her own life.

However, it pained me to realize that she could not have been capable of writing such heart-wrenching stories without first experiencing them for herself. In the end, her characters always end up happily in love, but Austen was never able to be with the one she loved. More pained were my roommates, who left in disgust, making sure to exclaim to everyone exiting the theatre that they do not want to be alone.

As much as I would like to be whisked away by Prince Charming, I have come to terms with the fact that it may never happen. I hear so many girls talking about how they need to find a husband right after college because they don’t know what they want to do with their lives, and the more I thought about it, I realized that the two women whose arts I most admire, Coco Chanel and Jane Austen did not marry. Is it because they were fiercely independent? Were men intimidated by their drive? Were their ideas too abstract for their time? Whatever the reasons may be, the lives and great accomplishments of these ladies prove that you don’t need a man to be successful.

There is nothing wrong with love or marriage (um, prince charming if you are reading this: call me, mmkay?), but you don’t need someone else to make you happy. Follow your dreams and open doors with your passion. If you meet Mr. Right along the way, consider it a bonus. Me? If I can be half as wonderful as Miss Austen or Coco Chanel, I think I’ll be just fine.