Why There Needs To Be A Third ‘SOTTP' Movie ASAP

I know I wasn’t the only one who saw it. On Friday of last week, all four of the lead actresses in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants got together for one heck of a reunion. And in the wake of the amazing pictures that American Ferrera, Blake Lively, and Amber Tamblyn all posted to their Instagram accounts, the internet erupted in a sea of cries for a third Sisterhood movie. And the internet has good reasons to want one. With two Sisterhood movies already made and available for your viewing pleasure, the world could seriously benefit from a third Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie. Not only is it the right time in cinematic history, after a spate of lady-led franchises, it’s time for the world to embrace a more diverse version of what it is to be a girl in this world and to be strong while doing it.

I mean, just think about how the spate of amazing female-led movies are faring for themselves at the box offices these days. With so many new movies depicting strong, independent women like The Hunger Games and the The Divergent Series, there has never been a better time for female-led franchises. Audiences, both past and present, would totally eat up another Sisterhood movie. But it’s also never been a better time for a movie like Sisterhood to come back for other reasons too.

Because instead of a single note interpretations of what it is to be a badass lady (the kind of woman who fights to the death for her family and to protect her world), the amazing thing about the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is that it showed a much more dynamic and diverse version of what it is to be a girl today. The Sisterhood was never about dystopic worlds and leading revolutions. Instead it was about making decisions, day in and day out, to better your life and to better the world around you.

As fun and fantastical as heroines like Tris and Katniss are, they’re not exactly accurate depictions of what young girls encounter on a daily basis today. And as much as I can get behind the metaphorical significance of a fantasy world in which girls are kicking ass and taking names, those worlds are definitely a little detached from the realities than many modern day women face.

But the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants always embraced those realities. And what’s even better: They showed four unique versions of what girls really go through. Instead of some made-up version of what it is to be a badass lady, the Sisterhood showed what it’s really like for girls today to grow up in the world in which we live. They provided positive examples of diverse women living and loving and working in the real world.

And what the world needs now, more than anything, are more examples of that.