I was in my late teens and I was regularly surrounded by glossy images on magazines and on TV of such physically perfect models and celebrities with such thick hair and clear skin. Women who look physically attractive were getting so much more attention and interest too.
Within this glamour obsessed society, there is me 4ft 11, thin hair with that odd bit of acne here and there, feeling very insecure on the way I look. especially with my hair. I keep thinking "Thin hair will never ever make me look attractive and beautiful". I even shed a few tears when I even think about my hair. I felt unattractive in a way.
But.. I had that inner voice saying "No, STOP! You ARE so much more beautiful than all these images shown on these magazines. There is much more to YOU that makes you beautiful and attractive". Instead of shunning my imperfections I wanted to celebrate them as I am aware that we all have imperfections too and we undergo similar experiences of feeling insecure with the way we look..
Beauty pressure is currently an ongoing issue still experienced by audiences today. I wanted to vibrate my inner voice out towards young audiences in particular to raise confidence not through informative materials but through MOVIES.
Young people should be brought up with realistic healthy representations of life and not be bombarded with such unrealistic representations that are out of their lifestyles which can be dangerous to one's self-esteem & happiness levels.
I am not just dealing with beauty pressure only but with such real life experiences and such issues that are also applicable to the cinema audience today. Starting with tackling beauty pressure. This was where my aim of moving audiences with my line of modern Hollywood movies comes in.
Back to beauty, I love to bring up our young audiences with such positive representations and not expose them to such images of unattainable unrealistic standards of beauty and perfection.
We are each unique and I love to embrace individuality rather than putting us into some beauty mould of how must look.
ALL OF US are indeed SO special and worthy. This message needs to be unleashed. Just like the way a mother becomes a role model for her child, as a Filmmaker I set to bring up healthy examples through movies.
As we are regular cinema goers and want to be entertained yet touched in a way, nothing beats a good movie we can all feel good about.
“ Just like the way a mother becomes a role model for her child, as a filmmaker I set to bring up healthy examples through my movies.”
Being deeply moved by the levels of low self-esteem in young people triggered me to go for it with making movies. Thinking of my audience throughout my writing process to me is KEY.
- Namita
Pg 7 OUR HOLLYWOOD