The Ugly Truth

A few days ago I turned on the TV to find the movie "The Ugly Truth" starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. I realized I hadn't seen the movie in a while and thought maybe it would be a good thing to look at for this blog.
The whole movie is about Katherine Heigl's character, Abby, trying to change herself so that a man she likes will like her in return. Gerard Butler's character, Mike, has a TV show called "The Ugly Truth" where he talks about the truth about men.
She changes everything about herself, from the way she talks, dresses, the way she thinks about sex, and her overall attitude. Mike is constantly helping her change with the advice he gives her about men. While his advice is successful in helping her score the man she wanted, she realizes that in the end he doesn't even like her, he likes what Mike has made her.
While I think it is important that the viewer understands that it is wrong to change yourself for a man, the movie lacks any discussion or controversy over the way Mike actually wants her to act. He wants her to wear a different bra, wants her to eat her food sexually, wants her to dangle her sexuality in front of the guy so he will "fall in love" with her. The problem with this is that it is purely a man's eye, having nothing to do with a woman's sexuality.
The movie also shows scenes with almost naked girls rolling around in jello pools and twins wrapped around Mike's arms. This film continuously feeds into the male fantasy. This is just like what I previously discussed about women in music videos. The media continues to cater to men, and at some point, women start to view it as the norm as well. The movie shows how she doesn't really love the other guy in the end, because he doesn't like her for her, but she falls for Mike. In the end, does this really say that its okay to be yourself, and embrace your own ways and own sexuality? She didn't revert back to her old self entirely in the end, and she wound up with an attractive man who looks at women in this way!
If anything, I think that this movie says a lot about the male fantasy and the role that it plays in many types of media. Maybe it is the ugly truth that men think this way, but women should have to change themselves to score a great man.
This is when I start to think about Lena Dunham again. Just thinking about her, and her character on "GIRLS", Hannah, completely contradicts Abby's character. I think about if Hannah had been put in this situation...
Say Hannah has a crush on her new, cute neighbor, and a man tries to help her get him. If he told her to change the same things that Mike told Abby to change, I think that Hannah would think they were ridiculous. Maybe she would try some new makeup, but she would give up and say fuck it. Her character doesn't just do this to be abnormal, she does it because she is a woman and she knows who she is. I don't think that Lena Dunham would ever allow one of her characters to be so affected by such a stereotypical male. It is also rare that you see this huge male fantasy anywhere in her show. The sex scenes are raw and almost always painfully awkward to watch, that's probably because she doesn't lie about the content. When a man creates this kind of situation he dolls up the girl, makes sure her body is (unnaturally) perfect, and creates her like a pornstar. Lena Dunham just shows the reality of what she thinks happens in the lives of young women.
This contrast makes me wonder if there would be more of a change if there were less films like "The Ugly Truth" and more like "GIRLS". We cannot forget that the viewers of both of these are primarily women. "The Ugly Truth" is a romantic comedy, it is not made for men, yet we still see it catering to their ideals. If women were more exposed to shows lacking this false ideal, would women still think about themselves the same way?