The Most Popular Plot In 2000's Coming Of Age Films

The makeover trope is a popular plot in 2000’s coming of age films, where the awkward nerd is transformed into a supermodel by taking off her glasses and straightening her hair, while pop music plays in the background. This trope has since been used in music videos, such as Taylor Swifts ‘You Belong With me’, Beyonces ‘Pretty Hurts’, and Lordes ‘Secrets From a Girl (Whos Seen it All)’. The representation of women who are only pretty when wearing a full face of makeup and revealing clothing has always appealed in the media, but has a harmful effect on the main age demographic, 16-25 year old girls, who are made to feel inadequate and unlovable without makeup and revealing clothing. ‘You Belong With Me’ has amassed 1.5 billion views on YouTube

She wears heavy makeup, has her hair done, and is wearing tight and revealing clothes, appealing to Beyonce’s male audience through Mulvey’s male gaze theory, where women are presented as sexual objects for the heterosexual male's pleasure. As the music video progresses, we see her step onto a stage where there are judges and camera watching her, a symbol for society and the societal pressure women are placed under to always look presentable and attractive to those around them. The audience also watches Beyonce undergo several cosmetic activities, such as applying heavy makeup, working out intensely and wearing restrictive and revealing clothes, all of which also represent the societal expectations that women should be ‘perfect’. We also see her exiting a bathroom, which is a reference to bulimia, an eating disorder that affects 4% of teenage girls in the USA. All of these examples stem from the ideology that women should always be pretty if they want to be liked, and that ugly girls are unlikeable and unfulfilled with their lives and should always try to appeal to men, which is also one of the ideologies Swifts ‘You Belong With Me’

This outfit represents her album ‘Melodrama’, a vibrant facade behind her heartbroken side. She presents this era of her life through plain makeup and hair, but vibrant and somewhat revealing clothes. As the video progresses, Lorde is joined by her first album, ‘Pure Heroine’. This album appears using a white blouse and long skirt, showing her innocence during this era of her life, but she also wears dark makeup which can be interpreted as her presenting a ‘perfect’ version of herself to society. The final version and era of herself, ‘Solar Power’ symbolizes how she has matured as a person and no longer feels the need to wear revealing clothes or a full face of makeup. She challenges societal standards of women wearing a full face of glamorous makeup and tight, inappropriate clothes by wearing unconventional clothing and embracing being unique. However, she does not entirely abandon society's expectations of women, including a dance routine into her music video, something not featured in Swift’s or Beyonce’s music