Rediscovering the classic film Real Women Have Curves
One benefit of the recent Lady Bird-Real Women Have Curves controversy is this 2002 film that launched America Ferrera’s career and had a huge impact on me as a teenager. Like Ana in Real Women Have Curves (RWHC), I went to a “good” high school, had college ambitions, and a family that didn’t understand me.
RWHC revolutionary in its time, not just because of its body positive message, but also because it was a latina coming of age story wthat didn’t present the stereotypical images drugs and violence associated with the latinx community. Ana is a second generation Latina who has to negotiate between her working class immigrant family’s expectations and her desire to be more than and wife and mother.
Honestly, I hadn’t watched RWHC is over 10 years and had very little memory of the film beyond baby America Ferrera and the titular scene in the sewing factory where Ana and the other women throw off their tops in protest of the heat and declare their love for their curves and stretch marks.
Watching the film again was like discovering it again for the first time with new eyes. The core of the movie is Ana’s relationship with her mother Carmen who doesn’t understand her, and the theme resonated with me just as much now as it did then. It turns out that as an adult, who went to college and works in a white collar office every day, the cultural-generational divide doesn’t disappear when you come back home for the holidays and are still trying to find common ground with your family.
Later in the film Carmen declares that she loves her daughters and that is why she makes them so miserable. Carmen has strict expectations about virginity and marriage and openly resents Ana because of her education. Carmen tells her husband that she started working when she was thirteen years old. To Carmen it isn’t fair that Ana has had more opportunities and forces her to go to work in the sewing factory because “it’s her turn.” As an adult, I’ve heard this sentiment often and understand her family’s perspective slightly more now than I did as a teenager.
Ana, like many latinas, clearly lives between two worlds and is constantly negotiating between the expectations of her blue collar family and the expectations of her mentor and her white upper-class boyfriend, telling them that she is planning to travel Europe after graduation and that she works in her sister’s fashion boutique.
While Estela runs a dressmaking business that she clearly takes pride in, Ana declares that the factory is a sweatshop and the women “cheap labor for Bloomingdales.” The other women in the sewing factory comment that Ana thinks she is so much better and smarter than them because she went to a good high school. Many second and third generation latinxs grew up hearing these types of comments and the truth of these sentiments are powerful for me.
The class and generational dynamics that the RWHC presents are timeless and can resonate with anyone who is or was a first generation college student. Granted, Ana’s attitude at being forced to work in the factory is less tolerable than it was when I was in high school but later in the film she does acknowledge Estela’s accomplishments as a business owner and designer and the value of hard work.
Much has been made of the parallels between Ana and Carmen’s relationship and the mother-daughter relationship in Lady Bird and the almost identical final scenes. These elements do make RWHC a great and timeless film, but upon watching it again, I was especially struck by Ana’s relationship with her sister Estela and the parallels between the two sisters.
Carmen has given up on Estela, nearly 30, finding a husband and never acknowledges Estela’s accomplishments as a business owner. While Ana had a mentor that pushed her to apply to college, we know very little about Estela’s education but in the movie she was manages multiple employees and has ambitions of designing her own dress line.
Estela values hard work and seems to share Ana’s more liberal views on marriage and has come to terms with the fact that she will never live up to her mothers expectations about her weight. While Ana lives halfway between two cultures, Estela seems to have made the best of her situation, likely paving the way for Ana in a small way.
However, Estela is somewhat distant from her sister because, like Carmen, she holds some resentment towards Ana. In the final scene in the house, as Ana is leaving Estela doesn’t go to the airport with her, telling Ana that she has to get to the factory early. Ana is clearly hurt by this but we also feel the tragedy of Estela who remains under their mothers thumb while Ana is leaving for New York. This is clearly a small crack in Ana’s heart before the total heartbreak of Carmen’s total rejection of her.
Finally, sixteen years after seeing the film for the first time I was again reminded that it’s OK to be comfortable in my own skin, flaws and all. Carmen’s constant criticisms of Ana’s weight are difficult to watch but the titular scene in which Ana whips her top off and confidently strides around the factory is just as powerful now as it was in 2002.
RWHC should be required viewing for all young women and young latinxs who struggle with living between two cultures. Before Lena Dunham and Amy Schumer were praised for not conforming to Hollywood’s model-thin standards, 18 year old America Ferrera was breaking down standards of beauty for young women of color. RWHC stands the test of time and is a classic Latinx film that is worth re-watching or watching for the first time.
Real Women Have Curves is available for rent or purchase on Amazon Streaming.
