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I don't know if you've heard, but it doesn't matter if you're a girl or a boy, man or a child, rich or poor, fat or thin -
dignity is a very important quality that everyone should have. But does Dawn have her dignity? I say she does in spades, but people always accuse Todd Solondz of rabid misanthropy, as if he didn't just adore every embarrassing quirk of this girl. He does! And we do! And here are fifteen reasons, one for every year since the film came out, why Dawn Wiener shouldn't have to hang her head in shame.
1 - She goes after the bullies! In the second scene of the film we see her stop Brandon and his gang of thugs from beating up on "Troy boy." Of course Troy proves himself to be a rotten little ungrateful snot unworthy of her intervention, but that's not her fault.
2 - She stands her ground, time and again.
Even in the face of the dreaded chocolate cake give-away!
3 - Fashion plate! You might sense sarcasm
when I speak of Dawn's clothing, but really she was on the cutting edge. It took fifteen years but you walk around in Brooklyn today and you're gonna see hipster girls wearing outfits incredibly similar to hers.
4 - She was
not grade grubbing.
I don't care what that bitch Mrs. Grissom said.
5 - She runs away to New York just to try and find her little sister who's been kidnapped. Her monstrously adorable pirouetting beast of a sister. Okay so she's sort of responsible since she didn't give Missy the note that would've told her to wait for a ride, and her motives might be a little closer to self-serving since she dreams of herself becoming a hero beloved by all. Plus Steve Rodgers has already gone to New York at this point so she probably thinks she'll bump into him and he'll in turn rescue her. But still. She's proactive!
6 - She fights back!
.
. 7 - She tells the hard truths. Even though Brandon is slipping through her fingers she tells him that her heart belongs to another man. Okay so she's deluded about the other man, and it's only a tween-age desire to live life as if in a soap opera that's informing her behavior, but she's trying to do the right thing.
. 
.8 - She knows a good thing when she sees it.
9 - And she goes after it! She's a forward little thing. "Wanna see my fingers," indeed. And then she swipes his ID card and tries to put a hex on him.
"Steve.... Steve.... You will come for me.
You will make love to me. You will take me away from this place."
10 -
She can cook!
11 - She doesn't sound anything like her mother when she talks. Believe me, this is a huge reason for Dawn to hold her head high.
12 -
She doesn't want to go to Disney World.13 -
She has opinions on important topics:
- Even at her bleakest moment, when the entire school has erupted in a chant of "WIENERDOG!" in her face, she stays strong. She doesn't run off stage. She doesn't cry. (In fact we don't ever see her cry.) She finishes her speech, gives the bitches a death stare...
... and maintains.
15 - Dance moves!.
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