My Best Friend's Wedding,' that was one of my favorite films

Ariana DeBose, with the tenderness of memory, declared: “‘My Best Friend’s Wedding,’ that was one of my favorite films growing up. There are a lot of people who say it doesn’t hold up well, but there is something about it that I find so intriguing.” In these words she reveals the power of stories, that even when judged imperfect by time, they may still shine with meaning for the heart that first embraced them. What is dismissed by critics may yet be cherished by the soul, for it is not only the story on the screen, but the memory it awakens, that gives it life.

The ancients too knew this paradox. A tale need not be flawless to endure. Myths, passed by word of mouth, often bore contradictions and rough edges, yet within them lay truths so radiant that generations clung to them. So too with DeBose: she honors the film not for its perfection, but for the intrigue, the spark that stirred her spirit as a child. For what shapes us in youth becomes part of our being, regardless of whether others deem it worthy.

History offers us an echo in the legacy of Homer’s Iliad. For centuries, philosophers and poets debated its contradictions, its violence, its flaws of structure. Yet still it endured, because people found within it something intriguing — glimpses of heroism, love, and fate. Like DeBose’s love for her cherished film, the Iliad remained not because it was without blemish, but because it stirred hearts to reflection and wonder.

DeBose’s reflection also reminds us that art is deeply personal. What fails to “hold up” in the judgment of the world may yet remain sacred to the individual. The film, to her, is more than a story of romance and rivalry; it is a vessel of memory, a spark of identity, perhaps even an influence on the performer she would one day become. Thus, her words are a defense of the private bond between the viewer and the work, a bond no critic can erase.

Let the generations remember: do not measure the worth of art only by the judgment of the crowd. Ask instead what it awakens in you, what it teaches, what it stirs. As Ariana DeBose shows, even a flawed story may carry treasures for the soul, shaping one’s path in unseen ways. For the true power of stories lies not in perfection, but in their ability to linger, to intrigue, and to bind themselves forever to the heart that loves them.