I recently read old articles regarding that. I saw the film in a communications class years ago. It was OK. I liked the make over, she is still the same person. That goon look was creepy. It is pathetic the way kids dress for school and socializing. I wanted to look nice going to the store. Good grooming and appearance still matter.
Big-egoed 'lookit me, I'm different' is not integrity.
She didn't eat the weird food because she likes it. She ate it to cause a reaction in others - look, how she's trying to get reactions from everyone. How is that 'integrity'?
Then she stops playing games and lets her true self be expressed. That has more integrity right there.
She tries to express herself without words that is for sure. Does she want genuine attention though or just a moment of validation? To know she has been seen that she exists?
I liked her look before the makeover which I still think was a terrible one and didn't suit her. They could have done so much better.
I didn't like that scene either. Ally would never have liked what Claire did to her. It wasn't her! She didn't need a makeover. And having Andy's eyes open up after she changed shows that he only liked the change. Not Ally.
Ally Sheedy didn't like it. But I think the character did. When she saw the look of approval on Brian's face, she whispered, "Thanks".
She has a very poignant line early in the film. Concerning her parents, she said very sadly, "They ignore me."
She felt like a non-person and had no self esteem. She covered herself head to toe with hair in her eyes and loose baggy clothing. It was as if she was trying to disappear inside a shell.
Claire's make-over was the first step in a beautiful butterfly emerging from its cocoon. If Allison decided that she liked her original look, she could always go back to it. But she'd go back as someone who was making a positive choice, not as she had been doing which was just hiding herself.
Just my take on it.
Yeah. I wouldn't have even looked twice at her in high school as the plastic, suburban prom girl. If I had seen her earlier look, I would have wanted her for my girlfriend.
She was still a compulsive liar. And that's going to change just because her appearance did. In fact it might help her lie to people because people tend to believe a good looking person easier than a less attractive one.