We Need to Talk About "I Feel Pretty"

I went to see the movie against my better judgment.

I'm not a fan of Amy Schumer because I find her to be short-sighted and exclusionary in general, but something changed my mind. I follow a plus-size fashion blogger, Glitter and Lazers, and she endorsed "I Feel Pretty", sitting down and interviewing Schumer and telling her followers in the comments that she understood the concerns, but there wasn't much to them. The movie was about acceptance and Aidy Bryant's character in the movie was decidedly body positive, so I decided to give it a shot.

If you're not familiar with the premise of the movie, it's that an average looking girl, Renee, is unsatisfied with her life and feels less than confident due to a myriad of reasons. She's not fashionable enough, there are jokes about when she showers, and she works in a Chinatown office for a makeup line's online division, hidden away from the public. She's asked to go to the company's Fifth Ave headquarters to deliver some reports, finds out that there's a job opening for that office, and after reviewing the online requisition, feels that she's not confident enough to apply. All of this changes, however, after an unfortunate SoulCycle accident in which Renee suffers a head injury that changes her perception of how she sees herself. In short, she believes herself to be transformed into someone beautiful, to the extent that she is certain that none of her friends recognize her, she hits on a man in a dry cleaning shop (who becomes her love interest.), and just in general is filled with the confidence that she feels that every conventionally attractive person has, which leads her to great success. It also leads her to being a royal tool to all of her friends, sabotaging relationships, nearly losing her job, and just being an overall garbage human. Obviously, though, this all comes to be tied up with a neat little bow where at the end, Renee discovers that she's always looked the same and that her beauty was there all along and it all just works out. HOORAY. CONFIDENCE FIXES EVERYTHING. HOW POSITIVE.

I want to believe that this movie was made with the best of intentions. And I'll be honest, I found myself laughing at a few points throughout the film (e.g. A scene in which Renee, with her new found confidence, struts across the lobby of an office building to an Alicia Keys song. If you've never strutted to an internal soundtrack on a day where you're feeling yourself, you're probably lying because that is my MOOD). That being said, my main feeling was just immense frustration overall with how the story was depicted and, quite frankly, by whom. There was a situation about two years back where Amy actually addressed the press that she was getting for being plus sized. Namely, that she wasn't. She stated that she fluctuated between a 6 and an 8 and that plus size was typically a label used for sizes 12 and above. And honestly, props to her for owning that and not perpetuating the idea that anything above a four makes you a fattie. But that being said, when you own that you're not part of a community, you, in my opinion, lose your right to present a work that provides commentary on and jokes at the expense of, that community.

I am, decidedly, plus sized. Depending on the brand, I can wear anything from an 18 to a 24. Some days, I feel pretty (for example, in the montage on the right, working it in front of Cinderella's castle). Some days, I don't. Most days, I have to remind myself that I am a healthy human being who's doing my best. And I have a number of friends in that same boat. Along with this comes the frustration that for whatever reason, society has overwhelmingly decided that it's still okay to make jokes about size. For example, while I desperately looked for a tweet from a favorite author on this very subject (Never found it. Still mad about it.), I instead found this article about the prevalence of fat used as comedy in children's media. It's everywhere. It's prevalent. And it's annoying. But it's often justified under the pretense that to do otherwise is "glorifying" obesity and that people are "concerned about your health". The problem of this being that it's very difficult to determine someone's level of fitness and/or health by looking at them. It's also likely that when you see an individual of a larger size, they are struggling with health concerns that CAUSED OR CONTRIBUTED TO their size, rather than being caused by it. I, for example, have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. My blood sugar is fine. My cholesterol is fine. I am overall a relatively healthy and strong person, but PCOS makes weight a pain to lose. And even if my weight were completely determined by my own personal choices and decisions, I still wouldn't deserve to have jokes made at my expense because I am a dang human being and I do not owe you the appearance of health, wellness, or beauty to merit respect.

Which brings me back to "I Feel Pretty". Probably one of the biggest issues that I had with the film was that of the bikini contest. On a date with dry cleaning man, Renee enters a bikini contest. She appears next to a variety of toned and conventionally tall, lanky, and beautiful women in swim suits wearing a tied up t-shirt and unbuttoned shorts. She is not toned, but proceeds to do a sexy dance and make jokes about herself anyway. The key joke in this scene, as with much of the movie, is that Renee is not toned or "attractive", but behaves in a way that puts forth the confidence of someone with those benefits. She comes on stage and a hush comes over the crowd because "she shouldn't be there". But when she makes jokes about herself, the opinion of the crowd changes. To me, this furthers the opinion that the only way that you can win people over as a plus-sized or, I'm sorry, not plus-sized, but average person, is to own those imperfections and share a laugh with others about them. Riveting. Overwhelmingly, with my background knowledge of Schumer's comments about not being plus sized, my internal monologue said something along the lines of, "They're laughing at her and she's a size 8. What would they do to you?" When you present yourself, as an "average sized person" as something that others can and do laugh at, you are creating a precedent for mockery and cruelty to continue. You have furthered the assumption that fat is funny. Non-conventional looks are funny. Anything that is not inherently and undeniably knock-out gorgeous is funny. And that's frustrating.

I understand why people want to promote this movie and even want to believe that it was created with a message and intentions that were overall good. It's true that Aidy Bryant's character is a delightful person who knits, wears cardigans, and doesn't care what others think of her, but to call her character body-positive or claim that including one character to balance out everything else wrong with the movie is entirely misleading. The overwhelming message that confidence is all you need in order to have your dreams come true ignores the fact that there are very real barriers for many women that are, at least in part, because of the way that they look. One of the first lines that Renee speaks when she is "transformed" is to a woman on the street who says that she got her dress at Target. "Girls like us are so lucky that we can buy clothes where ever we want and still look good." Speaking as someone who has insane amounts of credit card debt at Torrid and Lane Bryant, that line alone highlights an extraordinary blind spot. Have you tried buying a cute and professional work outfit in a 22? It is difficult. It is annoying. And 90% of the time, it is DEFINITELY more expensive than Target.

I want girls and women across the world, no matter their color, size, identity, or whatever else, to feel undeniably pretty. I want that for myself, unapologetically and unquestionably. And I want there to be something in the mainstream media that perpetuates and exalts that. I believe that at some point, probably sooner rather than later, that representation will come.

But "I Feel Pretty" is not that.

Not even close.



Note: This is not a comprehensive review of any and all issues with this film or any of Amy Schumer's other works. There are numerous concerns that people have raised with this film which are perfectly valid, but I can only speak for myself, my own feelings, and my own experiences. If you want to know more about why people are upset about this movie or, again, any of Amy Schumer's other works, I promise you that a good Google search will give you PLENTY of information.