Real Women Have Curves

The movie Real Women Have Curves starts with Ana’s last day of high school. At school, her  teacher who she has a great relationship with tells her she should go to college because she is so intelligent, but unfortunately she cannot consider it because her family cannot afford to send her away to college. When Ana arrives home from the last day of school, her family has a surprise party for her graduating. Her teacher shows up and also tells her parents to consider sending her to college. Ana’s mom blows it off and is only focused on Ana’s physical appearance. She thinks that if Ana was pretty and skinny, life would be better for her. Her mom says to her at her own graduation party, “you’re bigger than the cake, don’t eat it.” Ana goes against her mom to teach her a lesson that she loves how she is and she doesn’t need to change because she is pretty the way she is.

When Ana tells her family she really wants to attend college, her family continues to bug her about working and they say that she has to have a job to help their family. In this scene, the teacher comes to their house to tell the family that Ana needs to go to college because she’s so smart and has a bright future but all that her family tells the teacher is that she has to work instead. Her mom also says that she doesn’t want her to go to school because all she needs to know is how to sew, how to raise children, and how to take care of her husband. This relates to Feminist Film Studies by Janet McCabe when she states, “Patriarchal knowledge instead relentlessly constructs an idea of woman as a projection of male fantasies and and anxieties of phallocentric Otherness and masculine lack” (McCabe 4). Ana would agree with this and she believes that there is way more a woman should be doing than just cooking, cleaning, sewing, and raising a family.

When Ana goes to work with her family, she has a tiring job steaming the clothes in a hot facility. Her mom tells Anna that she’ll never fit in the dress she’s admiring because it’s a size 7 and she’s not that. Her mom continues to put her down, but she never stands up for it. Ana’s mom has no respect for her daughter or for the women that work in the facility sewing together. The women work hard but give themselves no credit, only the men get credit. Ana’s mom also tells her that men want women who are virgins and Ana comes back at her and says why does it matter, women have thoughts, ideas, a mind of their own. Ana’s mom speaks her mind, and no one else’s opinion matters. Some may think she is doing this because she has insecurities of her own.

While Ana is ironing the dresses, she realizes that the dresses will never fit her and her sister Estella sees her becoming insecure about this. Estella made a dress for Ana and says to her, “pretty dresses aren’t just for skinny girls.” This makes Ana more confident, even though her mom brings her down shortly after. When her mom finds out she’s been accepted to Columbia with a full scholarship, she shuts it down and does not even congratulate Ana. Ana met a boy who she finds herself falling for, and she has sex with him for her first time. Ana was following her heart, and she didn’t care what other people would think. The following day, her mom sees her looking at herself and says “you lost your virginity didn’t you, you’re not only fat but you are a whore.” Ana says back to her, “there’s more to me than what’s in between my legs.” What Ana says is completely true and no one should judge someone who they engage in sex with. It is important for women to stand for what they believe in, and Ana’s mom doesn’t understand that. She thinks living under mens rules is what is best.

When Ana, Estella and the other women are working in the hot facility, Ana rips off her shirt because she is so hot, and then the other women do it too.  Her mom says to her “If you lost weight you would be good looking and a beautiful daughter.” Ana’s mom yells at everyone telling them they are so unattractive and need to lose weight, and the women clap back at her saying that they want to be respected for how they think not how they look. They stand up to Ana’s mom and seem to have more confidence than ever. It is devastating seeing how Ana was treated throughout the movie by someone who should be her role model. Her mom showed her an awful example of what it is like to be a strong independent woman, but luckily Ana learns from her Mom’s mistakes.