My new religion.....

I went to see Mama Mia last night and I have decided to start my own religion, "Abbaism" the worship of the Swedish gods that are Abba.

How did I come to this revelation? Well think about it, firstly the group obviously was inspired by heavenly beings, they have a religious, nay, biblical name, Abba- father in Hebrew. There are four of them, very symbolic (one better than the Trinity), they have fantastic costumes, essential for a good religion, look at the vestments worn by the Catholic priests or the wonderful clothes worn by the Orthodox Jews (I love those ringlets, maybe I could work that into Abbaism?). There is a good back story to the band, lots of drama and back biting, really important for any good religion, you need something for scholars to fight over for a couple of thousand years, before the split into "Bennyism" and then the "Bjorn Again Abbaists".

Okay so maybe I am getting a bit carried away but I went to see the film with no real preconception of what to expect, like most children of the 1970's I know all the words to a lot of Abba' songs, but a musical made around these unconnected songs? Didn't know what to expect at all. So on a critical level, the film was great really enjoyed it, the only downside was the lack of strong male characters, but as this is generally the opposite to most movies then I'd say I can ignore that, it was a musical after all!

As a girlie I really enjoyed it (boyfriend said he enjoyed it too, but was surprised to hear I wanted to o to see it again with another friend), and as I watched it I really did think the songs took on a wonderful life of their own, songs like "The winner takes it all", which has always made me cry, as it was written by a husband and sung by a wife who were separating at the time, were performed by Meryl Streep with an amazing voice and an amazing sense of emotion, she really is a fantastic actor!

But it was Dancing Queen that inspired me to found "Abbaism", in the movie the song starts of slowly building up to a crescendo of Greek women abandoning their daily grind of laundry, dishes and olive picking to follow Meryl and the girls on a dance through the little Greek village to the Sea, the feelings it inspired in me, all these women, wrinkly, ugly, skinny, fat, old or young getting swept away in the music reminded me that inside every woman is a "dancing Queen, only 17!" No matter who or where that song is tacky and trashy and crap but it inspires a feeling of women power better than any Spice girls crap from the 90's, thing is though it was written by men! I am serious about the whole quasi religious experience I really thought i was so inspiring to see such a celebration of women. On the whole the movie was a celebration of women, older women actually, imagine older women being attractive and intelligent, imagine older women having (shock horror) sex!!!! I really enjoyed it, maybe life doesn't end at menopause? Now not all of us are as fabulous as Meryl Streep at 60 but Julie Walters is something I can at least aspire to!