Real Women Have Curves

This movie is a good look at the Mexican culture in the way that women are viewed. They aren't supposed to go to college or become successful. If they aren't beautiful, they have no hope for a future. (Which you can see through Ana's mom's comments) This is sad but very accurate. This movie opens the eyes of everyone, including Latinos. I hope it gives more courage to girls to follow their dreams and not let their weight hold them back. Curves are beautiful and America Ferrera (Ana) is beautiful!

This movie is beautiful for everything that it promotes and the ugly comes from the mother's comments and social pressures. A must see!!!

Ana: America Ferrera
Carmen: Lupe Ontiveros
Estela: Ingrid Oliu
Mr. Guzman: George Lopez
Jimmy: Brian Sites

Directed by Patricia Cardoso/ Written by Josefina Lopez/ 93 Minutes (Rated PG-13).

BY ANDREW KOCH

The central character, Ana, is an Eastern Los Angeles student who throughout the movie proves herself academically so well in high school that she receives a scholarship to Columbia University. Unfortunately, her traditional Mexican mother is trying to keep her working in a fabric shop ironing dresses for a living. Carmen wants her daughter to get married, start a family and become a good Mexican American mother and wife.
The movie has several important conflicts within the plot. One being the escape Ana makes from her mother and the life Ana does not want to live. The movie also examines Ana's bodily issues and the path to becoming comfortable with herself. The movie proves not that Ana is a gorgeous young lady, but that on the inside and out she is comfortable and pleased with whom she is as a Mexican woman living in Los Angeles.
This movie explores the concept of what society deems women are expected to look like. There exists conflict between Ana and her mother based around the expectation that a woman must be slim and accepting in order to attract an able male. Society's expectations of a female Ana's age are personified through mother Carmen. Carmen believes Ana should loose weight and loose her unique, robust, independent empowering attributes as a female. Thus, becoming more of an object than an actual person. This objectification does not go well with Ana; in fact it only further motives her to become less of an object and more of real woman with her own thoughts, feeling and curves. Scenes such as the sex with Jimmy and the naked fabric shop dancing only help illustrate how far she has come as a woman in the movie.
This movie becomes very dramatic and serious many times because of a clash/ intersection of race, gender and social/ economic class. To Ana, the clash of these functions as a barrier to achieve what she thinks she can do in life. Living in The USA as a minority can make life tough at times. One may feel lonely and mistreated frequently in life. This minority status is motivation to do well and to make her people proud she can succeed and escape the life of which many Mexican American's are unable to do. Her social and economic class also serves as an entity that holds her back. She must work and help support the family. This limits her time to do other things and also severely limits what "means" she has to progress in life. Ana's gender also brings her some hardships within her community and within her life. She as a Mexican American woman is expected by tradition/customs to finish high school and start a family. This intersection of her gender, Mexican heritage, and relatively poor lifestyle provides a barrier to disempowered her as an able female. Ana brilliantly asses each mechanism of this restricting entity and chooses to push way out by being confident, hard-working, intelligent and very unrelenting.

I liked this movie for a couple of reasons: First of all, it was "real". It deals
with real issues that real people face (the decision of going to college, problems
with weight, conflicts with parents). Secondly, this film shows critiques
stereotypes about women. In my opinion, Carmen represents the stereotypical of what
a women should do in life (stay at home, raise the family, take care of the kids).
Ana represents what women have become: strong, educated, and independent. Also, the
film represents intersections of race, social & economic class, and gender.
Throughout the movie, we see a Latino family struggling to get above the
stereotypes. In the movie, we even see Ana and her sister Estella looked down upon
by another Hispanic-American woman, due to social class.