The Greatest Walk of Shame (That Isn't Really A Walk of Shame)

A negative connotation surrounds the cultural phrase Walk of Shame. As Urban Dictionary defines it via its always eloquent prose, a walk of shame is "when you leave someone's house with the same clothes you had on the night before." This walk is generally viewed through the prism of regret, like Ashley Judd's character in "Come Early Morning" always sliding out of bed post-one night stand and slinking away or Charlize Theron in "Young Adult" slinking out of her own bed and her own house and still slinking away. But what if a Walk of Shame isn't shameful? What if it's a Walk of Joy Mixed With Melancholy That Finds Triumph In Embarrassment? Ah, then you have the walk of "Elizabethtown's" one & only Claire Colburn, the original [redacted].

Let's break it down, shall we, frame by whimsical frame.

Well, this is the how the Walk of Shame begins - Claire memorializing it with one of her patented mental pictures. And so straight away we know that shame can't really be involved. She wants to remember it, hold onto it, not let it end.

She leaves a flower beside the ashes of Drew's father. Another sign of the non-shame of this Walk of Shame. I mean, that's just so......nice. (Slate Magazine, I believe, criticized the choice of flower, advising Claire that "she did it wrong", citing Lilies as the optimal choice.) 

Here she strolls down the hall of The Brown Hotel with her head hung and her shoulders slumped. That is not shame, however, but sorrowful nostalgia for what has just passed. (Testify, sister.)

Love this shot. Love it, love it, love it. The way Kirsten poses, like she's trying to maintain a positivity in the face of sadness (and sorta failing), while the balloons chill in the bottom of the righthand side of the frame, gleeful taunts.

Elevator. Goin' down. Facing reality. Buck up. "I don't wanna buck up!!!!!!" BUCK UP!!!!!!

With a ding, the elevator doors open.

Hearing all manner of noises - like, say, a ginormous wedding party - in the lobby, Claire freaks the eff out.

"Love that dress!" Cuz, you know, it's the dress Claire was, like, totally wearing the night before.

Nobly, she assumes a smile of good humor and walks the walk. You got this, Claire. You got this!

Chuck (of Chuck and Cindy, the to-be-married couple staying next door to Drew at the Brown Hotel, "Loving Life/Loving You") is in the hotel lobby at, what, ten in the morning, drinking a beer. Respect. (Also, until this screen shot, I never noticed the older lady in blue to the right. Even she's into this non-Walk of Shame.)

Just take the cheers and the guffaws and the "you go, girls!" and just go, girl.

Owning it. #FuckYeah