MovieChat Forums > Easy A (2010) Discussion > What if Olive was an 'ugly' girl?

What if Olive was an 'ugly' girl?

posted 13 years ago by lisaweird
38 replies | jump to latest

If Olive was an "ugly" girl (TV ugly I guess. God forbid you see somebody's acne or whatever) would the movie have a different meaning and would we all react differently to it?

What bothered me about the character of Olive was that she was played by the gorgeous Emma Stone. I had a hard time believing that somebody who was pretty, funny, clever and no to mention didn't put up with most people's crap would be ignored... EVEN in a high school. Normally people like Olive excel in social situations and don't have a hard time making friends or being noticed. I didn't buy it at all.

If Olive was played by an actress who was just as funny and clever but not very attractive I would believe the character a little more, or at least would have understood why she was ignored by her peers and maybe why it was such a big deal when she became a so-called slut. It would have seemed unlikely and outrageous to the other students who didn't care about her before.

I'm not saying pretty girls are more likely sluts than unattractive girls but in Hollywood land it seems taboo to cast somebody who isn't easy on the eyes. A lot of movies cop out and cast the hot up and coming actress just to get an audience. I love movies and I've seen my fair share... I'm just getting really, REALLY tired of miscasting for superficial reasons.

That's evolution, baby. So mutate or step aside.

[–] poem 13 years ago

Hollywood actors are attractive.

Emma Stone isnt even a prime example for that.

So get over it.

Besides, what really annoys me is these new shows like The Vampire Diaries or The Secret Circle who look like they have been casting their actors on model shows, not from any serious acting school.

---
Always listen to your own advice.

[–] Eve_of_Destruction 13 years ago

The Secret Circle who look like they have been casting their actors on model shows, not from any serious acting school.

The girl with the big lips does not look like a model, I had to stop watching due to her overdone lip acting.

It's jUsT LiKe cAbO

[–] MissMaryMagdalene 13 years ago

"Besides, what really annoys me is these new shows like The Vampire Diaries or The Secret Circle who look like they have been casting their actors on model shows, not from any serious acting school. "

I completely agree!

If You Slept With Jesus Christ& are 100%Proud of it Copy This & Make it Your Sign.

[–] picklestr 13 years ago

couldn't have said it better!

[–] TheEtherWalk 13 years ago

She is gorgeous but she still has a very unique look and personality. I could buy her character

Honestly though I did mostly watch this movie because I find her stunningly beautiful

But it was funny. I give it an 8 out of 10

Quite exciting, this computer magic!

[–] Twisted_Utopia 13 years ago

While I see your point and I'm usually the first to whine about the ugly-girl-is-not-ugly phenomenon BUT this character does gel for me with her being pretty.

I got around a lot in highschool (not in the sleeping-with capacity or even the fake-sleeping-with capacity) I was friends with everyone, spent a lot of afterschool time with the stoner hippies, the cool rich kids, the art students and the band nerds - even the actual nerds who were just nerds and carried the mantle of tabletop games and starwars fandom. (student's council were the only ones I couldn't handle) And in all these unique groups I met ugly girls and pretty girls (and boys as well) and every one of them was a different cocktail of popular and pretty or not popular and pretty or popular and really unattractive. The most popular girl in the cool rich kids group had really bad acne and an amazing singing voice.

I'm not at all having a hard time believing a character as beautiful as Emma Stone's would be off the general high school radar just because she didn't put herself there, I saw lots of gorgeous girls and guys in the hall way now and then whose names I'd never heard and my highschool wasn't even that big.

I think the point of the character isn't that "woe is me, no one notices me - oh wow now i'm noticed!" it's that she never cared until she realized she kinda liked it. Most of the bad decisions she made were very flippantly done because she was curious and stopped caring. It was a sort of experiment for her and that's why it got so out of control, because she never took it as seriously as everyone else did until it was too late.

"Ah. Multiple exclamation points, the true sign of a deranged mind."

[–] lisaweird 13 years ago

True, she didn't care and didn't have the "woe is me" attitude. She was funny about it at least, but that's what bugged me. How could you have no real friends and not fit in anywhere in your school and be okay with that? Wouldn't she be at least a little jaded? Where is the typical teen angst? The character wasn't believable or relatable because she was, in the end, a Mary Sue.

That's evolution, baby. So mutate or step aside.

[–] CaptHayfever 13 years ago

She was totally jaded, man.

[–] ankmiike 12 years ago

Hey, it's entirely possible have no real friends and not fit in anywhere in your school and be okay with that, if you an introvert.
Personally, I am introvert too. I do have friends and we all enjoy each others company, but there was a time that I had no friends, and I had no problem with it whatsoever because I enjoyed my own company and the company of the few acquaintances that I had. I found no reason to go out of my way to make friends.
The only reason that I have friends now is because sometimes someone would randomly come up to talk to me, because there was no one else to talk to, and he would find me to be a fun guy. News spread, and now I have a large group of friends.

AFC to PUA. That's the dream.

[–] XxSissixX 13 years ago

I agree, it would be ten times more interesting. Thats the kind of thing you could expect from an independent or foreign movie, but this is hollywood, and hollywood is very shallow.

[–] lafsaledog 12 years ago

Hey Lisa ,

I understand your comment here .

I have always said the same thing about " WHAT WOMEN WANT "
Well of course it is easy for MEL BLEEPING GIBSON to get a woman to fall for
HIM way before he could read woman's thoughts ... .

WHAT if the part was played by DANNY DEVITO ...
BUT I GET YOUR DRIFT

Although on a side note DARIA was hot too ( for a cartoon character ) and she was a social outcast .....

[–] Ithilfaen 12 years ago

Sorry to ask but don't you feel you're doing exactly what you're accusing "Hollywood" to do when you reduce Emma Stone to her appearance and deem her "miscast" because she looks good? I didn't know her before I watched the movie and I thought she did an excellent job with the part and the dialog, especially the narration, which, let's be honest, is not an easy walk in the park. Why would they have hired anyone else who was not a good fit for the part when they had an actress who was? Because she's not "ugly"? Where in the movie does it specify that Olive has to be ugly? Did I miss something?

For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco

[–] DeepAndMeaningful 12 years ago

I didn't completely buy that such a gorgeous, funny and confident girl (with an extremely confident/loud bestfriend) would be such an 'outcast' she was never remotely noticed by boys or other girl. Because of that I didn't really buy that everyone was so incredibly shocked she'd have sex. I mean come on. It's the 21st century, she's clearly beautiful, it would never be that much of a big deal in a big highschool.

[–] nomen_est_omen_4 12 years ago

These are the same people she would have gone to elementary school with.

I was a late bloomer. I was socially awkward and plain-looking until probably about 10th grade. When I did start to get prettier and funnier and more at ease with people, all the ones I'd gone to school with all those years had already given up on me. I made a few great lifelong friends at that point, but the majority of people just couldn't wrap their heads around it. I was the ugly geek. Not worth hating, but not worth loving either.

The good news is, people like that are much better at looking past the superficial and seeing a great person underneath.

[–] pscott1045 12 years ago

What about Freaks and Geeks? The characters weren't all gorgeous. Maybe it was too realistic.

[–] gossipgirlrockstar 12 years ago

Being a popular is not just about looks. And as gorgeous as Emma Stone may seem to you I can see she's not like a sex bomb. She's goofy, into school, into pop culture. People probably thought she was weird. If you're good looking, but kind of talk and act differently people stay away from you. Especially if you sort of keep to yourself. Trust me, if you don't socialize it's quite easy to not have many friends.

I'm a rare combination of French film buff and thug.