Confidence is the key to success in everything!
So stop stressing about your flaws! I don't remember when I last enjoyed a chick flick. I mean the ones whose story line aren't about people of colour. I must say that the 2018 Netflix romantic comedy, 'I Feel Pretty' was a must watch.
The film stars Amy Schumer, Michelle Williams, Emily Ratajkowski, Rory Scovel, Aidy Bryant, Busy Philipps, Tom Hopper, Naomi Campbell, and Lauren Hutton. The storyline is about an insecure woman who obsesses over her appearance. Her biggest wish is to be very pretty and slim. She joins a spin class where she experiences several mishaps. After suffering a head injury, she gains extreme self-confidence in her appearance.
Amy Schumer takes on the role Renee Bennett, the insecure woman. At the opening of the film, Renee experiences an injury around her Lady area at spin class. She manages the website for cosmetics firm Lily LeClaire. There's a job opening for a receptionist at the company's headquarters. However, Renee doesn't apply due to the job description's emphasis on being beautiful. One stormy night she wishes at a fountain to be beautiful. That wish didn't come true as she wakes up the same. In one session at spin class Renee suffers from a head injury. As she nurses her injury she wakes up believing that she's slim and beautiful.
This new perception offers her a newfound confidence. Her dressing immediately changes and she's upbeat. She meets a guy, Ethan, at the dry cleaners whom she exchanges numbers with. Actually she ambushes him on assumption that he's attracted to her. She applies for the receptionist position and is hired by CEO Avery LeClaire (Williams). Renee asks Ethan out on a date and enters a "bikini body" contest. She puts on a showstopping performance as she dances to Jason Derulo's, "Swalla'. She doesn't win the bikin contest but she impresses the crowd and her date. Ethan shows admiration for Renee's quirk and confidence.
Renee offers her opinion about the company's new diffusion line. This earns her coworkers respect. Avery confides in her about her vocal insecurity. Avery invites Renee and Ethan to a dinner meeting with her brother Grant and their grandmother, company founder Lily LeClaire. Renee is invited to Boston to give a key presentation. While Renee's life changes, her friends don't like her anymore. She's superficial and ditches her friends Vivian and Jane to attend an exclusive party with her coworkers.
In Boston, she finds out that Grant LeClaire is attracted to her. The two almost kiss but get interrupted by a message from Ethan. She gets rid of Grant, locks herself in the bathroom. She bumps into the shower glass and suffers a new head injury When she awakens, she perceives her real physical appearance.
Shocked by her reality, she leaves the hotel for New York, missing the presentation. She throws a pity party, avoiding Ethan and Avery's calls, binge drinking, and eating junk food. Drunk and miserable, she turns up at her friends' apartment and apologizes for her behavior. They reject her apology. Assuming that Ethan will no longer be attracted to her, she breaks up with him over the phone, moments after speaking to him in person. She speaks to her spin class acquaintance, Mallory, who is devastated over being dumped. Mallory says that she suffers from low self-esteem and feels people assume her beauty means she is unintelligent. Renee is surprised that beautiful women suffer from low self esteem.
Mallory rushes off to an audition to model for the LeClaire diffusion line. Renee sneaks in toLeClaire, siting that Mallory doesn't represent the everyday woman. She crashes the product launch. As she makes her speech, she displays her own before-and-after photos, only to realize that she was never transformed. She gives an impassioned speech about women accepting themselves as they are, presenting a collage of diverse real women, including Vivian and Jane, who appreciate the gesture. The launch is a success.
Renee goes to Ethan's apartment to apologize. She explains that her insecurities were related to her feelings about herself and not to her feelings for him. Ethan tells her that she has always been the most beautiful woman in the world in his eyes, and they reconcile.
I am Renee. Not necessarily clumsy but I relate to her insecurities. Being a woman in the social media age is hard. We have Instagram models and slay queens setting the bar for beauty. Growing up TLC's 'Unpretty' was my anthem. But I have learnt that confidence is the best medicine. And yes, 'Pretty Hurts' as Sia rightly wrote. I know of so many pretty girls who feel ugly inside. Others complain that they aren't taken seriously.
As the ugly duckling, a perception I had of myself, I focused on my smarts. I suffered from eczema for most of my life. I had bad skin. My face isn't symmetrical, so I choose not to take photos from my right side, or in bad lighting. I actually wish that I had a curvier, slightly bigger derriere. I'm sick and tired of being told that I have an English body. WTF! I'm an African woman, I should look like one.
Like Renee, many of us, even when we don't like to admit, have wished to be deemed gorgeous. Research has shown that attractive people are associated with good qualities such as kindness, being approachable and even smart. Good looks offer opportunities on the career aspect. And obviously in the dating pool, the attractive people have greater chances.
From watching 'I Feel Pretty', Renee's bestfriends found dates. Their dates were attracted to them based on their personalities and interests. At the bikini competition, Renee won the crowd because of her confidence. As awkward as her dance was, she had fun and gutsy. The bar manager even told her date Ethan that he was a lucky guy. Being able to go home to a wholesome woman is better than a pretty face.
We can't all afford to purchase perceived body parts like the Kardashian-Jenner clan. Most of us have to work with what we have. The best facial adjustment is probably makeup, angles and lighting. Most of the time we have who we are inside. We need to learn to accentuate character. It doesn't mean that we slack on our outer appearance. Dress well, smell nice, smile after brushing your teeth.
We need to learn to accentuate character.
Renee's perception of beauty upon her newfound confidence was condescension. She looked down upon those who didn't fit the aesthetic. She even embarrasses her friends because to her, they are less attractive and lame. Ironically they highlight that she's the saddest person they know. Her obsession with being beautiful made her a shallow person. One whom they didn't want to hang around with. Let's not swim at the shallow end. For me it's a work in progress. Learning to remove superficial perceptions about self and others.
Like in Renee's speech, we need that little girl confidence. When I think about just being a child, there's a fearless confidence. When we were kids we believed that we could be anything that we want, even a fish. Faith combined with imagination and innocence helped us walk with our heads up high. And dream.
Note to self
Confidence is the key to success in everything!
Until the next flick...
Be that Phil Colins song, "True Colours"...
P.S.: Always write your own love story!
Ciao!
Lady E
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