Netflix over the past couple of months has been producing their own shows and movies. All the movies in my opinion have the same plot and cheesy love story. This movie, Tall girl, had a different spin on it. The movie revolves around a girl named Jodi who is 6’1″ and trying to get through a simple school day without someone saying “how is the weather up there”. Throughout the movie, Jodi getting bullied by her classmates is put on full display. A new exchange student comes to her school and a love story is brewed, but is impacted by people bringing Jodi down. Little does Jodi realize the people she already has around her are the people who truly love her for who she is, not just for being the tall girl.
There has been some controversy on this movie and I understand why. Height is not a common reason for why children are getting bullied. Children are often made fun of because of their race, religion, and sexual preference, which has had a much larger impact on society. From my perspective, no reason is too big or too small, children are still hurting. The lead actress, Ava Michelle, was on a previous reality TV show called Dance Moms and got kicked off the team for her height. In my opinion, that seems like a very odd reason. But no one will ever know what was going through her head that day. This movie being made could have helped her and other kids who relate to this bullying situation in ways we do not understand.
I don’t think the producers wanted to cause any commotion, but people are posting so many rude things on social media about how the movie is pointless and trash. There are worse problems in the world and bullying affects people in different ways. We live in a society where men and women have to follow a specific image. Men have to stay strong and women have to look a specific way to fit in.
In this movie I feel like the producers wanted to display an issue, with a happy ending. To show us that we can exceed other people’s expectations of ourselves. My favorite part of the movie was when Jodi walked up to the stage with an enormous amount of confidence at her homecoming and stood up for herself. She realized that she needs to love herself to truly be happy. I loved this movie because it had an impactful message that a person should always love themselves no matter what. That the opinions of others do not matter. When people try to bring you down your happiness depends on what you do with those words. Should you lay low or stand tall?
