Amy Schumer “I Feel Pretty” Backlash

Apr 18, 2018 | 6:15 AM

Amy Schumer has responded to the backlash against her new movie, I Feel Pretty, in a new interview with Vulture. Online, many fans have harshly criticized the film, claiming it shames women.

This is the premise: Schume plays Renee, who has low self-esteem until she hits her head and suddenly perceives herself to be stunningly gorgeous. Critics have claimed it perpetuates poor body image, but Schumer has maintained that the opposite is true.

  • “There’s been a lot of projection,” the actress, 36, told Vulture. “I heard a lot of, ‘She doesn’t have a right to feel bad about herself because she looks however she looks.’ But first off, it’s not about an ugly troll becoming beautiful, it’s about a woman who has low self-esteem finding some. Everyone’s got a right to feel that feeling, regardless of their appearance. We all struggle with self-esteem. I certainly have … it’s not our place to say who should be allowed to have low self-esteem.”
  • She also claims a lot of the critics falsely believe her character suddenly sees herself as skinny, when that’s not the case.
  • “I heard the comment, ‘Why does she have to think of herself as skinny?’ a lot. But you never see how I see myself! That’s a guess, that Renee thinks of herself as skinny,” Schumer said. “In the scene after the head injury, the assumption is that the woman I see when I look in the mirror is skinny, but I’m just seeing my same self and perceiving my body as beautiful. She doesn’t say, ‘I’m so thin!’ She just says that she’s amazed by her jawline, and her boobs and her ass. If anything, that sounds like a more voluptuous woman to me.”
  • Schumer continued, adding that she relates the character of Renee herself as someone who has had her share of body image issues.
  • “I have become a rich and famous person, and I am no happier now than I was when I was waiting tables. That’s the truth,” she said. “… To me, that’s a little comforting and a little depressing. Happiness can’t start with external stuff, whether that’s money or success or your body.”