Lovely and Amazing Film Review

The film Lovely and Amazing follows the women in one particular family. The four women it follows are a mother and three daughters. All the women are trying to find a "place" in the world and better themselves while they are at it. The film shows the struggles that each woman goes through on a daily basis and how that affects their lives and their family's lives.

The first daughter in the film is the youngest daughter named Annie. Annie is adopted and the only African American in the family. Annie struggles mainly with the fact that she is the only African American in the family. She struggles with the fact that she is also a heavier set girl. Annie struggles with her weight and has an unhealthy view of food. She eats things because she doesn't think they are unhealthy when I really feel that the director is trying to show that women that struggle with their weight have a legitimate problem...it can sometimes take them over. Annie is a binge eater that will go through a bunch of food in sitting. She is in denial with the fact that she is doing this to herself. We also see Annie trying to fit in to her white family by straightening her hair as well. Annie shows just how hard it can be for the outsider...even in their own family.

The second daughter in the film is the middle daughter named Elizabeth. Elizabeth is an aspiring actress that seems to have things going pretty well for her...or so it seems. Elizabeth struggles with her own self image. She is skinny and pretty...but just not sexy enough to get the roles she wants in films. She struggles with herself to try and conform to what that industry wants without losing herself in the process. Elizabeth begins to sleep with an actor that she auditioned with who said she wasn't sexy enough for the role. In one scene that sticks out in my mind she asks the guy to look at her naked and tell her everything that is wrong with her body. The actor does and Elizabeth leaves seeming like it did not upset her that much. Elizabeth shows that even women whom seem to have everything going well for them still have self image issues that need to be worked out.

The oldest daughter, Michelle seems to be the one with the most problems. She is married and has a daughter of her own. Michelle does not work but does try to make some money by doing crafts and trying to sell them; although nobody seems to want to buy the things she makes. Her husband and her argue quite a bit because she does not have a job. Michelle finds a job at a photo development store and begins to like a young man she works with. Michelle begins to have an affair with this young boy (I say young because he was all of maybe 17). Michelle copes with her insecurities about her body and herself by sleeping with a young boy. In the end it did not help her with her self image because she ends up getting arrested for statutory rape.

The mother of the film, Jane is the real reason that her three daughters are so messed up. She is a wealthy woman that has done the best she can in raising her children. I do not quite know if she was married but she does seem to have had it pretty rough. She decides to get liposuction because she thinks that if she does she will be more lovable by the men around her. This of course does not work.

I did like the film. The director used a tone of seriousness as well as humor to get the audience to understand that every woman...no matter her age, is subject to the pangs of low self body image. It shows that women deal with this in very different ways. We need to be aware that we too will one day (if you haven't already) have to deal with our own worries about the way we look. The majority of women are not happy with how they look and the movies shows some extreme yet normal ways of dealing with this harsh reality.

Mona Lisa Smile Film Review

The film Mona Lisa Smile is about a young woman professor that takes a job at an all female college. Her goal in taking this job is to teach these women art history. When she gets to the college she ends up being able to teach these girls something more than just art history. The "college" is not really an educational institute...it is more of a prep school for marriage. The young women in the college are given an education but the main thing they are taught is how to find a good husband and once they have found that man how to be a good and proper wife to them. Julia Robert's plays the professor. She ends up seeing what this school really is and is very appalled by what she sees. She sets out to teach these women that they do not have to conform to society's rules, they can be something other than just wives...they can be real women that make a difference in the world.

The film was a good display of why the feminist movement began. Women in that day were taught from a very early age that their whole purpose in life was to become and wife and mother. It shows just how willing women were to follow in the foot steps of every other woman in that time without really thinking about what they wanted. The feminist movement began because of a simple survey and book that was published. The author that did the survey found out that the women of her time were not really happy with their lives; they were just doing what they thought they should be doing. In the movie you see some women shift from doing what is normal to becoming their own woman. They begin to see what life should really be about...and that is being happy and doing what makes you happy. This whole class was centered not just around the idea of beauty in our society but also the different gender roles throughout the years. This is a perfect example of how the whole feminism movement works.

I did like the film. I liked the film because it showed that we as women do not have to conform to society in order to be happy. When I was younger all I wanted to do was fit in...to feel "normal". But as I grew older I realized that the only way I was going to be happy was to do what made me happy...not what made the world happy. As long as I was not hurting any one else in the process of following my own happiness everything would be OK. I have never wanted to get married or have children and many times this has been a very hard subject to talk about with people. People cannot seem to understand my reasoning behind this, but I feel as if they do not have to...it is a personal choice and I am in control of my own life. I think this is why I really enjoyed the movie; because I could relate to it. It has began to show people that women are human beings and we have our own wants and needs and sometimes; if not most of the time; these wants and needs do not conform to what society thinks we should want and need. More movies like this need to be made to bring to light a lot of the issues that women struggle with on a daily basis outside of just beauty.