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We Need To Talk About Makeover Stories
A couple of nights ago, I watched The Princess Dairies. It’s the makeover story of makeover stories: socially-awkward and frizzy-haired Anne Hathaway discovers she’s a real-life princess and must begin training for her new royal role. By the end of the movie, she’s gone from a nerdy teenager stumbling in high heels to an elegant, modelesque princess.
It used to be one of my favorite movies as a kid — Hathaway’s extreme makeover was satisfying to watch and made me envision what my life would be like if I found out I was secretly a princess.
This time it only left a bitter taste in my mouth. It made me think a lot about makeover stories in general: She’s All That, Cinderella, Grease, Miss Congeniality, and Captain America: The First Avenger (just to name a few). Our culture loves to watch the ugly duckling transform into the beautiful swan — or, in many cases, the shy, geeky kid transform into the irresistible hottie.
And, as satisfying as it is to watch a beautiful actress get made into a socially-awkward nerd and then back into a beautiful actress, we have to ask ourselves: are these movies sending the wrong message?
