Tall Girl

       I believe many of us are familiar with this movie from the quote, "You think your life is hard? I'm a high school junior wearing size 13 Nikes. Men's size 13 Nikes." As you may be able to tell, this movie is pretty awful. Tall Girl is counterproductive in it's message. For one, it was meant to be empowering to young tall girls and send the message that we are all fine the way we are. However, I was left feeling even more insecure after watching it. On top of this, the movie feeds into stereotypes regarding race and gender as well.
      The main character, Jodi, is 6'1" tall. Because of this, she feels very singled out. She is constantly commented on because of her height. This is the only aspect of being tall which the movie got right. Her father insistantly makes negative comments on her height and compares Jodi to her much shorter sister. The difference between Jodi and her sister is very significant. Her sister is extremely petite and is portrayed as a gorgeous beauty pageant star who has it all. On the contrary, Jodi is portrayed as boyish, insecure, awkward, and self loathing. It is as if the message being sent is that being shorter means you have it easier in life and will not struggle, which is inherently wrong.
      The portrayal of Jodi's best friend, Fareeda, is an issue in itself. Fareeda has a very flamboyant personality and is seen in colorful clothes while speaking loudly. This feeds into the stereotype that Black women are all loud. She is also the only person of color in the film, and plays the best friend of the main character. She is also comedic relief.
       Finally, the biggest problem I see with this movie is the love story. Jodi is rejected and made fun of numerous times by males. Her one hope at ever having happiness or romance is dating the Swedish exchange student, Stig. Why him you may ask? The only reason is that he is taller than her. Seeing this in a movie which was meant to empower girls like me just made me insecure. To begin with, I am constantly being reminded that the people I should be with should definitely be taller than me.   Obviously, that is hard to come by at this age. Tall Girl perpetuates stereotypes as well as just have a very predictable toxic plot. Not my idea of a good movie.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2020 at 9:40 PM

    I thought it was pretty sucky movie too. Like I don't understand why Netflix decided it would be a good idea to make a movie about white, pretty, tall girls being the minority??? Also the plot was very basic and predictable

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 17, 2020 at 1:07 AM

    I agree although you get made fun of for being to tall you can also get made fun of for being to short showing that not all short people have it easy in fact ironically another character Sabrina Carpenter (Jodi's sister) plays in Girl Meets world Maya is made fun of for being short. The movie also portrays Jodi as not being pretty enough, as her sister is constantly trying to give her a makeover this is saying that if you don't meet certain standards, you are not pretty enough, which is a false idea that media puts out that this movie reinforced.

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