Celebrate Yourself With These Body-Positive Movies

When you see as many movies as I do, it’s easy to conclude that since your body hasn't been sculpted from Hollywood marble, you should permanently relocate to a cave. The vast majority of women depicted onscreen are effortlessly beautiful. Their frizzy hair doesn’t threaten to expand. Their shirts don't snag on curves or fat. And that's a problem, because we go to the movies to laugh, to cry, and above all, to relate with characters.

It's hard to relate to characters when the women onscreen don't look like you, or anyone you know. When I was a kid, I thought I found my heroine in Mia Thermopolis (Anne Hathaway) in The Princess Diaries because she had curly hair, glasses, and a long last name, like I did. Then, she had to up and “fix” herself. She straightened her hair, got contacts, and became "beautiful."

I’ve been tired of the way women's bodies are depicted onscreen ever since that initial Princess Diaries betrayal. Luckily, there are movies like these, which tell the stories of all different women.