If You Liked Dumplin: You probably Loved Drop Dead Gorgeous Too
Hey ya’ll. I watched Dumplin this past weekend. The Netflix musical comedy film directed by Anne Fletcher with Jennifer Aniston and Danielle Macdonald in the lead roles. It was surprisingly enjoyable and fun to be honest, but although it touched many of the current issues that plague the youth today (self-image, fitting in society if you don’t have the requirements that are acceptable in society, body image and the beauty pageants that promote impossible standards of beauty), I thought it needed a little more subjects to make the movie more relevant and topic heavy.
Like the effects that obesity can have on people’s health, and how fat people are treated in the workforce not just in the love/dating department. But I digress. I actually enjoyed Dumplin. I loved Danielle Macdonald performance in the lead role (Willowdean “Dumplin'” Dickson) and I also loved Jennifer portrayal of Rose, Willowdean’s mom. I found Rose to be a stereotypical pageant queen mom, but I also loved how initially accepting was of her daughter’s choice to be a plus size girl.
You know, I remember watching an old documentary about Cass Elliot a few years back, and one of her childhood friends that knew her from their high school days said that back in the 50’s she was aware of her persona. Back in the day he said, being too fat was an equivalent of committing a social suicide. Well, not much has changed since then, and Dumplin reminded us of that once more.
But you know what movie dealt with these type of issues almost 2 decades ago? Drop dead Gorgeous. Yes, if you liked Dumplin, you probably remember and loooved Drop Dead Gorgeous. The 1999 movie was and still is to this day one of my favorite movies ever, and although it was very different compared to Dumplin- in terms of style, theme and sub-genre, Drop Dead Gorgeous had also some similarities too.
Drop dead Gorgeous touched on the beauty pageants as an industry and as a lifestyle in general, especially in small American communities. It showed the ridiculous standards that most of the women need to aspire in order to win, and how the girls’ background and upbringing influenced on their chances to win.
Drop Dead Gorgeous was a harsh critique on America’s obsession with superficial materialism, the ignorance, the God fearing and close minded people and the small town mentality. The movie introduced us to the talent of Amy Adams and despite having mixed to negative reviews when it was released, today it’s considered a cult classic.
In fact, Allison Janney stated in an interview that she is approached by more fans of this film than for her Emmy-winning tenure on The West Wing. S, if you liked Dumplin, I highly recommend that you revisit Drop dead Gorgeous. The themes, the dark humor, the performances and the mockumentary style of filming was so ahead of its time. It’s worth revising once in a while and why not do it today? Or you can watch Dumplin… Whatever your heart desire.
