With a body-confident self-empowering message at its heart, Amy Schumer’s ‘I Feel Pretty’ is a much-needed lesson about the importance of learning to love yourself.
With a body-confident self-empowering message at its heart, Amy Schumer’s ‘I Feel Pretty’ is a much-needed lesson about the importance of learning to love yourself.
As Renee, Schumer begins the film hating her body, lacking in self-esteem and motivation, working in the basement of a cosmetics company in the IT department, consequently suppressing her dreams of working her way up the company fearing that she’s not pretty enough.
After banging her head during an intense spinning session, Renee’s hope of ‘being beautiful’ comes true - even though there’s no change physically, her confidence skyrockets and she’s soon entering bikini contests and strutting confidently around the massive glass-walled headquarters. It’s not long until she’s plucked up the courage to go for a receptionist job - of course, she gets the promotion, bagging a boyfriend soon after.
While the film and Schumer herself have come under fire for the way her character needs to have a bump to the head in order to make her feel pretty, the message is well delivered: image isn’t everything.
As the skinny and snooty models and company bosses (including Naomi Campbell) belittle her - just for the way she looks - Renee takes it all in her stride.
It’s interesting to see how much her character changes throughout the second part of the film, while her slimmer counterparts admit to having insecurities about themselves; it’s something that demonstrates that it doesn’t matter how everyone else sees you, it’s how you see yourself that matters.
One particular scene that stood out involved one of her spinning friends, real rife model Emily Ratajowski, crying in the changing room having been dumped - Schumer comforts her, though struggling to believe that someone so conventionally perfect could have been broken up with and that, ultimately, they’re not as untouchable as they appear on the outside.
It’s a timely message too, as most teenagers these days spend every waking moment perfecting selfies to post on SnapChat and Instagram: we should stop panicking about how we are perceived by others, because even though someone might look like they’re living a perfect life - as is regularly the case on social media - it’s more often than not the case.
‘I Feel Pretty’ is now showing at The Light Cinema in Wisbech. For full screening dates, times and tickets visit www.wisbech.lightcinemas.co.uk
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