The latest teen romance flick, staring Barb from "Stranger Things" and Peter Kavinsky from "To All The Boys I Loved Before," hit Netflix earlier this month. "Sierra Burgess Is A Loser" follows Sierra (Barb), a chubby, intelligent band geek who begins a texting relationship with Jamey (Peter), a cute, poetic jock from another local school. The catch? Jamey thinks he is texting Veronica, a beautiful and bitchy cheerleader from Sierra's school.
Cue some cat-fishing, an unexpected friendship, a best friend being left behind for someone cooler, and ultimately, a sweet little love story that shows that finding love sometimes means looking beyond what is on the outside. A good lesson, right? Not quite.
Sierra Burgess is plus-sized, and in a lot of ways, this representation was wonderful. The scene where she breaks down crying because she is "unattractive" and her mother is slim and beautiful is repeatable for a lot of young, plus-sized women with parents, siblings or even friends with a "dream body." Beyond that, the entire premise of the movie focuses on Sierra being terrified of Jamey finding out who she really is because he won't love her. Plus-sized individuals constantly feel like they won't ever be able to find love because of their size. In many ways, seeing a plus-sized girl be the romantic lead is a big step.
But Sierra really isn't the romantic lead. I mean, Sierra is, but Sierra's body isn't. Jamey isn't falling in love with her despite her size and imperfections, he's falling in love with her personality: A personality he has no idea is attached to a plus-sized woman. And to his credit, when he finds out, he eventually accepts her and falls for her, anyway.
But wouldn't it be nice if a plus-sized romantic lead didn't have to trick her way into it? Isn't it time for plus-sized actors and actresses to just be in a film without their size being the main component of their story? The average American woman's pants size is somewhere between a 14 and a 16. Would it be that difficult to normalize bigger girls in the popular girl, mean cheerleader or intentional love-interest roles and not only allow them to be band geeks, hopeless losers and perpetually-single sidekicks?
Does size have to continue to be a part of the "loser" stereotype?
"Sierra Burgess" is a big step, I think. The hot jock decides to look beyond her looks (and more importantly, her creepy catfishing escapade) and accept her for who she is. Beyond that, the beautiful, popular cheerleader befriends her as well. It is a good lesson on "what's on the inside counts." But do we still need that? It is 2018 — why do we need to convince people that fat people can be worth hanging out with?
This movie has some humor, some aww-out-loud moments and yes, some really relatable moments for plus-sized women. It is a step in the right direction, but it certainly leaves something to be desired.
Seeing more Sierra Burgess-sized women in roles that don't completely revolve around their size would be a great next step. This movie tries to show that women are more than what they look like on the outside. Hopefully, the casting directors of Hollywood can start to learn this lesson.
