I have seen many movies in my life, which is kind of normal for a teenager in the 21 century, but some of the most classical girl movies have one thing in common: makeovers.

Makeovers in movies are a classic Hollywood key. They get at the heart of the underdog story and there are some very important moments that always seem to happen in them, like:

​

1.The main character falls in love with the popular guy.

​

   The heroine is kind of geeky and nerdy and lets say unpolished. She is not accepted by society and by all the other “popular” kids in high school. She is awkward and clumsy until she meets the most popular boy in school and he ends up falling in love with her.

A good example is the 1999 film, She's All That.

​

2.The main character discovers the magical ability of makeup

​

   The heroine is usually helped by her friends and given an actual makeover. This scene usually starts at the mall or at one of the girl’s houses. One of the best makeover scenes is found in Clueless.

​

3.The moment the new and improved heroine is given a title

​

   After going through so much, the girl is presented in her world as the new, hot girl. Not only is she the hottest girl in school but also she is seen as a special, smart, extremely beautiful girl who gets the boy, or we could say the boy gets her.

This kind of concept has been in our mind since fairytales appeared. Take Cinderella for example: a beautiful girl is given the most extravagant makeover of her life and then she gets to enjoy the biggest ball in her small universe. As any other makeover character, she isn’t accepted by society and is cast aside, but that doesn’t stop the girl who after all is helped by fairies, doves and other magical creatures.

The first movie to have such a plotline is “Now, voyager” – 1942 and we have seen much more: Sabrina (1954), My fair lady (1964), Can’t buy me love (1987), Miss Congeniality, Princess Diary’s, Pretty Woman; you get the idea. There are also parody movies like “ Not another teen movie” and new movies that try to show us that we are beautiful just the way we are: “the Duff” and “Reality high”.

​

So why do we like this kind of movies so much?

​

   I think people like makeover movies because it’s comforting to think that we're a change of clothes and a haircut away from being extremely attractive, having a lot of friends and ultimately be living our own fairytales.

As the great big man on campus, Zack Siler once said: “Given the right look, the right boyfriend, bam, in six weeks she’s the one being crowned prom queen”.

​