90's film (1999) - Shes All That

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5d/Shes_All_That.jpg

Shes All That is your typical teen rom com where the schools popular hot guy gets dumped by the schools popular hot girl before prom, and he ends up falling in love with the lonely geeky girl! Despite being quite cut up and embarrassed about being dumped by his ex Taylor, Zach Siler (Freddie Prinze Jr) starts bragging about how he could have any date he wanted to the prom and make her become prom queen simply for being with him, and slating his ex girlfriend by claiming that she isn't as attractive as him and that her good looks are just down to make-up and a push up bra!  This backfires on him straight away when his friend Dean challenges him to a bet that he has to make an ordinary/ugly girl his date to the prom and picks of Laney Boggs (Rachael Leigh Cook), the lonely, geeky looking, clumsy art student. After initially being weirded out by Zach, and Zach initially finding Laney unattractive they start to fall in love. Laney goes through a physical transformation to attend a party and everyone see's how beautiful she really is for the first time, this makes Taylor jealous who then humiliates Laney in public, and to add insult to injury Zachs friend Dean tells her about the bet to ruin Zachs chances with her. Obviously feeling completely betrayed  Laney never wants to see Zach again. As its our typical American teen rom com we all know how the film ends...Laney finds out Dean only wanted to sleep with her, Taylor doesn't become prom queen and Laney leaves prom to find Zach at her home waiting for her to confess his love and apologise for what he did. The happy ending we all love in a good rom com!

http://www.eurowoman.dk/Upload/EUROWOMAN.dk/2014/Lucia/all.jpg

 

http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/lt/lt_cache/thumbnail/615/img/photos/2014/03/25/24/29/rachael.jpg

One of my favourite things about this film is Laney's transformation in this film from the clumsy, unpopular, dorky looking art geek who works in a fast food store into an elegant beauty at the end. It fascinates me how depending on what an actor/actress wears and how their hair is styled or what kind of make-up they are wearing does to what kind of character they portray. 

Motifs: 

Just like with Grease, I think the fashion is a motif in itself. The style of the clothes the characters are wearing in this film from the beginning scene makes it clear that this was in the 90's which sets the scene straight away for the time period its in. 

The way Laney dresses at the beginning makes it obvious that she isn't one of the cool kids with all the friends and that she is quite a loser. 12 minutes 51 seconds into the film we see her rushing to a class holding loads of backs, stumbling up some stairs and falling over knocking her books and bags onto the floor, she then struggles to pick them all back up. 

From the first scene we see Zach in he is sauntering around the high school corridors looking smug, greeting girls who are swooning over him. His style is a motif for his character and personality as he is looking cool wearing a baseball jacket. Baseball jackets were very fashionable in the late 90's in America, just like in the 50's the greasers wore leather jackets. Zachs clothes represent his place in the school.

http://www.reocities.com/Hollywood/Screen/7512/pic6.jpg