Pitch Perfect’s very own Beca Mitchel is most certainly a highly regarded character. False. You cannot see it, but I am rolling my eyes at the mention of her name. Embodying the essence of a rebel, Beca learns to slowly adjust her stereotypical lenses and view college in a positive light, due to…drum roll please…the Barden Bellas. She is one of the many female acapella-ists who band together in a disgruntled form of sisterhood. It is because of both Beca and the Barden Bellas’ mutual collaboration and gradual acceptance of one another that each was able to metamorphose into the vessels of their fullest potential. But what if Beca never joined the Barden Bellas? Who would Beca be then?

“Cups” by Anna Kendrick further glorified Pitch Perfect’s iconic acapella audition into a full-blown instrumentalized song. Kendrick’s character, Beca had unwittingly successfully created a basis for a trend-setting musical sensation, but she was only able to do so because of her incompetence to solely rely on the capabilities of her vocals. Beca consciously propped a cup for her source of rhythm, which is against the unspoken but evident rules of acapella. Supplementary to breaking said rules, Beca had reached the audition platform late and only with Chloe’s enthusiasm towards an additional beautiful young woman singing for their team, was she admitted into the group. If Aubrey, annoyed and disappointed in Beca’s obvious talents but undisciplined self demeanor, had been the lone determinant of Beca’s sorority ingression, Beca would most likely not have been accepted. Foremost, taking in hand, the splintering morale Beca suffered after trying something new and failing would take a harsh toll on Beca or anyone for that matter. Beca is not the persevering type, additionally, flat-out rejection leaves a bitter remanence on the palette, one which Beca would regurgitate for future victims in her path.  

Overall, Beca would have had to have chosen another club to meet her rather annoying father’s requirements. Acapella was out of Beca’s element, to begin with. Without Chloe’s sexually escalated persuasive tactics, Beca’s singing would only echo in the shower. Ultimately, she would most likely have chosen a club closer to her original interests: DJing. In the scene where Beca meets Fat Amy in front of the “Deaf Jews” or (D.J.) booth (a satirical societal commentary), Fat Amy scared Beca away with her anti-semitic monologue. Without this encounter, Beca may have joined this club instead, unaware of the real denotation of the varying abbreviation. Her oblivion invites the possibility of religious conversion, under the guise of maintaining her deal with her father, creating a scarce form of character growth. Also, by associating with a club of more men than women, Beca is advertently subjecting herself to limited character growth, ripening the disintegration of her relationship with her father and allowing for further hidden resentment. The presence of female friends in the film generated an outside perspective of Beca’s traditionally rebellious persona. She unknowingly craved a person of trust to tell her off and point out the error of her ways. Keyword: trust. Her father had done so at certain scenes but with a fixed mindset enclosed in daddy issues, Beca would easily dismiss any conversation with her father as unmeaningful. Her newly acquired friends within the Barden Bellas would serve as the much-needed authority figures that eventually understood and respected her opinions. Her absent-minded father belittling Beca’s interests and major did not help mend an extremely wounded relationship. It took Beca’s sadness in losing her friends and Jesse’s cold words for her to seek advice as a last resort. Thus without both events, Beca would remain stagnant in her character development journey. Her father seemed to have put little effort into understanding Beca, which was the initial reason for Beca disregarding most of her father’s parenting methods in the first place. He misunderstood her self-dependency as unconscious isolation. Rookie mistake. Without the anti-climatic resolution of family matters, Beca would most likely have a speedy faltering of romances with Jesse and who knows how many after and decline into an even more dysfunctional member of society. Simply because one cannot grow with their loved one without first acknowledging and disentangling their imploding psychological turmoils. 

I am absolutely certain if Beca had not joined the Barden Bellas, her already muddled decision-making skills would worsen, causing a sequence of unwanted events. Jesse would thankfully remain as the primary love interest, but the film would not have reached the necessary point of self-reflection. She would experience the next four years of college completely and utterly alone, minus the new friends she would meet in the Deaf Jew (D.J.) club, of course. Despite that, she would unknowingly be another misguided soul aimlessly wandering in society. Making her just another average college student, unworthy of a trilogy. I am only speculating. 

Writer: Yenesis Sotomayor

Artist: Solymar Estrella