“Sierra Burgess is a Loser”, directed by Ian Samuels, opens up to a scene of a girl stepping out of a shower, set to sound of the other side by Betty Who. She then walks over to a mirror and pronounces: “you are a magnificent beast”. This girl is Sierra Burgess, played by Shannon Purser. Sierra is a confident, funny, and smart girl that is big boned and not supposed to be seen as beautiful, even though Pursers looks don’t exactly portray unsightliness. Nevertheless, Sierras doubt in herself due to her appearance leads her to commit a crime that can not be overlooked by the audience; cat-fishing the good looking jock, Jamie, played by Noah Centineo.
Shannon Purser got her fame playing Barbara on the Netflix series “Stranger Things”. After her character was killed off, many fans complained due to the fact that Barbara was a very relatable character that was sensible and not complacent doing things that movies tend to portray as what teenagers like doing for fun. Due to her role in “Stranger Things” she was nominated for an Emmy award and chosen to play Sierra, another girl that is seemingly relatable.
However, pretty quick into the movie, Sierra as a character is no longer likable and can not win the audience’s sympathy. This is due to her pretending to be Veronica, a cheerleader that Jamie believes he is speaking to. Her deception goes so far as to get Veronica involved and make her facetime Jamie and go on pretend dates as well. One person’s bad actions lead to another’s and the movie makes you want to scream at the characters, similarly to how one wants to scream at characters in a horror movie. But, in this movie, instead of walking down the basement steps into assured death, Sierra is talking her way down the path of fatal social situation.
She has placed herself in an ethical dilemma. Pretending to be someone is wrong, but would you be noticed for your personality if you don’t look a certain way? And, the answer is probably not. Although Sierra is prepped by her mother, that says things like “leave your insecurities in the bathroom mirror” and “open yourself up to rejection”, she is a teenage girl that is incapable of implementing these mantras in her life.
Purser’s portrayal of her character is spot on, and executed well. As, is the cinematography. Each scene is set perfectly to match the dialogue. The shots are taken from interesting angles such as from a birds eye view, when Veronica and Sierra are laying down in a bed. Or, from far away and peeking in through a window, when Sierra is starting to do things that the audience would not expect, like a keg stand. But, the great angles and acting do not make up for the bad plot.
The movie is supposed to send a message that one should be confident in themselves and not judge a person by their looks. It is sparked by many campaigns of inclusion and the general shift in the beauty industry to try and make beauty standards more realistic. This is evident with the rise of supermodels such as Ashley Graham and Precious Victoria Lee. However, the message is lost as Sierra becomes a deceiving liar that eventually wrongs all her friends in one way or another. Despite being a great character in the beginning, the new persona taken on by Sierra is no longer relatable. This is apparent in the last line spoken by Veronica: “You think I’m mean, well you should check the mirror because your looks aren’t the most ugly thing about you”.
The deception goes on for way too long which leaves just a small amount of time for an ending that gets the audience back on Sierra’s side. Thus, the climax of the movie comes way too close to the end, with only twenty minutes left, and does not allow everything to be worked out. And so, the denouement is lacking and altogether resolved too easily. It leaves one thinking that the creators are saying that cat-fishing isn’t that bad.
The take away from the movie is not to conform to societal standards of beauty and that it’s best to be yourself. But, it was executed in a way that doesn’t have the audience convinced. For, in the end, if it wasn’t for her pretending to be someone else, Sierra would never get the guy of her dreams.
I admire how you compared the character’s previous performance in “Stranger Things” to her performance in this film. It truly adds a level of understanding to the character she plays here. Also, the constant examples from the film supported your ideas very well and turned it into an argument. I respect the way you criticized the film, by describing how it perhaps sent the wrong message out to the audience. The discussion and analysis of Freytag’s pyramid illustrates that you have a deeper understanding of why the film, in your opinion, was unsuccessful.
I appreciate your recognition of the wrong messages being portrayed. As this is a movie geared for teenagers, I think its important to note that it does not promote body positivity and instead promotes a successful catfish situation. Like you stated, the viewer knows that if Sierra hadn’t pretended to be Veronica she would have never ended up with a guy like Peter. As a result, the film translates the message that a girl who is not a stereotypical beauty like Veronica will never be able to score a stereotypical guy like Peter. This promotes negative body images for girls who relate to Sierra. I think that the film starts off on the right foot for body positivity as Sierra promotes positive beauty images as she calls herself a “magnificent beast” in the mirror. Yet the film soon deviates from its possible intended message and sends the contradicting negative one instead.
Your opening paragraph is captivating: your description of the first scene pulled me in and characterized Sierra. I enjoyed the way you focused on cinematography, as the use of playful camera angles truly do make this film unique. Your analysis of the film’s failure to condemn Sierra’s deceptive behavior was spot-on. I found the film’s focus on Sierra’s love of music to be one of its highlights. I would have loved to hear more about the soundtrack, as your mention of it was really compelling. Also, I was reminded of the Brian Eno quote we read in class. Sierra uses music as an emotional outlet, and in this way, she makes a choice about experiencing art. I really enjoyed your review; good job!
Your review is well thought out and organized. I particularly appreciate the first paragraph, the description of the opening scene, as it depicts depicts the situation well and gives background that strongly supports your following claims about the character’s personality and confidence.
Additionally, I like that you discussed Purser’s previous role and reputation as it seems to give insight as to where the writers were trying to go with this movie.
It is also important that you have acknowledged the problematic storyline and even included examples, real life as well as from the film, to show just how off-target the message portrayed in this movie is.