Tag: film blog

Beauty is Pain, But at What Cost: The Ugly Stepsister (2025)

#GRWM: chopping off my toes to fit the glass slipper!

What better time to talk about a girl putting herself through hell to look beautiful for a ball than after the 2026 Met Gala?

In the time of Ozempic and plastic surgery, I thought this was an appropriate time to talk about the film The Ugly Step Sister, directed by Emilie Blichfeldt.

A classic Cinderella tale, from the perspective of one of the ugly stepsisters, rings eerily true to today’s cultural climate when it comes to beauty standards.

The story follows Elvira (Lea Myren), who lives with her mother (Ane Dahl Torp) and her sister, Alma (Flo Fagerli). When her mother remarries, she ends up with her stepsister, Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Naess). Agnes is older than Elvira and very beautiful, and she becomes somewhat fascinated by her at first, but her fascination slowly grows into jealousy. 

When Agnes’s father dies, the family is left broke. One day, the daughters receive an invitation to the ball to meet the prince. Elvira is a huge fan of the prince, think One Direction fan fiction level. Hoping to marry the prince and become rich, she and her mother try their best to make Elvira beautiful enough for the prince to fall in love with, and their methods are as simple as a blowout and a spray tan.

Elvira’s body is put through the wringer, but not without her enthusiasm. She goes through brutal procedures, like nose surgery and sewn-on eyelashes. But what really stood out to me (especially in the current cultural climate) was when someone gave her a tapeworm to help her lose weight. That was a hard watch because it didn’t feel very far-fetched. You watch her binge eat because she’s starving, but she can never satisfy the hunger; she starts losing her hair and looking more and more unwell. 

It’s a really heartbreaking tale- I don’t need to spell it out to you, of course, but the lengths women are pressured to go to be accepted and feel adequate are kind of what we’re seeing now, only less graphic and painful. 

Her sister Alma, in contrast, seems free of this lust to look perfect, to win the man. She watches her sister continuously hurt herself in disgust. Alma acts as the clarity and the moral conscience of the film.

I watched the film alone on an afternoon, and I think the mindset and scenarios in which you watch a film really do change the experience. I had trouble figuring out whether I liked it or understood it. I could figure out the tone. It felt like a slow burn. About halfway through, it occurred to me… wait… is this… camp?

And then everything clicked.

The minute you declare a movie camp, everything changes, and suddenly, I understood it.

Strange costuming and comedic dream sequences contrasted by graphic body horror. This film suddenly became everything I’d been looking for. Not to mention, the plot really resonated with me.

It may seem like an obvious or simple concept, but if that is so, why, as a society, does it feel even more prevalent? This film may be dramatized and more graphic, but it’s not entirely untrue when you look at history, and really, the thing that has changed the most is the ease and painlessness with which we are able to achieve these standards now (at face value), and instead, it’s the amount we spend on it that hurts most 

The value Elvira places on her appearance drives her to the edge of death. It feels as if this is sometimes what it takes to be released from those shackles. We must learn to put less importance on our appearance altogether, maybe things like jealousy of someone’s “natural beauty,” like how Elvira felt about Agnes (or what is seemingly natural beauty), rather than trying to match or exceed beauty expectations, because that puts us in a cycle where we never win. 

Body horror is a growing genre in film about/ and made by women, ( See my post His Body is a Temple, but Hers is a Prison: In My Skin (2002) ), and I think it’s because of the current climate in which women’s body/beaty standards have been held to. It feels eerily like we have started going backward. While no one film has done it perfectly, I think it’s important to keep watching films like this and push yourself to engage with and think about these things.

I urge you to watch The Ugly Stepsister and reflect on how you feel about the messages they aim to convey. Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments and let’s get a discussion going!

Check out my blog page to read more.

Till next time, dolls!

Why Watching Films About Women Matters More Than Ever

I don’t know about you, but I refuse to live in a “man’s” world. I also refuse to let the patriarchy seep into every aspect of my life, so when I can control it, I try to engage with content made by/ women or about women. I also think it’s important to break out of the Western Hollywood bubble when it comes to film; engaging with diverse content helps broaden your perspective. In an attempt to persuade you, I will explore the importance of watching films about women (and, moreover, foreign films) by discussing the film “I am Not a Witch” (2017), directed by Rungano Nyoni.

One of the ways I choose to learn is through film. It’s not always about learning hard facts but instead about different sentiments, experiences, and culture. I love learning about the human experience through film, and in a world where the male gaze is so prevalent, I like to learn through the female gaze.

Watching films by and about women of colour allows for narratives that challenge Western patriarchal views. Therefore, it challenges you to open your mind to new ideas, experiences, and maybe even change your mind about things. 

Exploring the importance of women-made foreign films through “I Am Not A Witch” (2017) 

A great example of a film that completely opened my eyes to women’s experiences in a different culture is the 2017 film “I Am Not a Witch,” directed by Rungano Nyoni.

This beautiful film follows a young girl named Shula living in Zambia, who gets convicted of witchcraft. The film is not a period piece; it in fact takes place in the modern day. Nyoni explores modern-day witch camps that exist in Zambia through the perspective of a young Shula.

This specific story is not entirely based in reality; however, the concept of a witch camp is. In fact, director Nyoni lived in a Ghanaian witch camp for a month in preparation for the film. Ever heard of that? Me neither, another reason to broaden your horizons in film. 

Shula (played by Maggie Mulubwa) is accused of witchcraft. The witch doctor tells her that if she does not confess to being a witch, she will become a goat. So, she confesses and is sent to a witch camp that includes a group of elderly women. They are attached by ribbon, and someone controls how much the ribbon gives. They believe the witches can fly, so they keep the community “safe” by keeping them attached by a ribbon. (Hmmm, seems like the ribbon may represent something.

Later, she is brought to stay at Banda’s home with his wife (the official in charge of the witches). Still attached by the ribbon, Banda brings Shula around to perform witchcraft tasks. Because she is a “witch,” they use her “powers” in trials to identify the guilty parties.  Banda’s wife reveals to Shula that she too is a witch who was in the witch camp. She shares that she was able to escape the camp by having a respectable marriage; this is the only way to escape.

Eight-year-old Shula finds community with these elderly witches who take care of her. The women, and Shula, are forced to do labor, but Shula starts to get used to more tasks. Eventually, during a drought, A rich man asks Shula to make it rain. She tries to perform a rain dance, but without success. By the end of the film, Shula is emotionally and physically exhausted and upset. She tells the witches she wishes she had turned into a goat instead. 

Sometimes It’s so hard being a woman; we’d rather be goats.

The film explores the childhood experience of a girl in Zambia. While not all of this is real, the themes explored in the film are. They explore how women are seen and treated. The ribbon acts as a metaphor for how women are controlled, and the only way to escape is through “respectable marriage”. It also shows how quickly Shula has to grow up. They put the burden of people’s livelihoods on the young girl. This story is a huge contrast to many coming-of-age films in Hollywood about younger girls, even the darker ones (see my post about the film Thirteen Tweenage Wasteland: Thirteen (2003) for an example).

I’ve spoken before about the importance of expanding your watchlist beyond coming-of-age films through the white-femme experience, in my blog post Lady Bird is the Whitewashed Version of Real Women Have Curves where  I discussed the contrast between Real Women Have Curves and Lady Bird.  

Very often, we are fed similar narratives and experiences, and I in no way want to discount these experiences, but to merely suggest going further and exploring others. If we remain within our small Western bubble, we’re remain ignorant.

“I Am Not a Witch” is a truly spectacular, unique film unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It explores familiar themes through unfamiliar experiences and narratives, and this is exactly why watching films like this is so important.

So I encourage you to broaden your horizons and go watch a film made by a woman; better yet, start with the film I Am Not a Witch; I promise you it’s worth it.