Plain Jane

Plain Jane. Girl Next Door. They pretty much mean the same thing. It's that girl that you're friends with but don't necessarily drool over. You're comfortable with Plain Jane. You hang out with her, go to the mall, watch movies together. But she's not the hottie you talk to with your buddies if you're a guy or the girl you secretly envy if you're a girl.


I've plugged myself into the category of this "Girl Next Door" type, so when CW came out with a show called Plain Jane with the premise of making over an ordinary girl so that she can tell her crush about her feelings for him, I couldn't help but watch.

To make a long story short, the girl Cristen had a crush on her guy friend Ty for six years but was always considered to be just a friend and "one of the guys." Enter beautiful woman with a British accent for the role of "fairy godmother" who critiques Cristen's "Plain Jane" ways from her clothing to her bedding and even takes Cristen to a burlesque club. After asking Cristen about her thoughts on the performance, Cristen says "Well, that's nice...for her." She is then instructed to make up her own burlesque routine to help build confidence and learn how to be sexy. One of my favorite parts of the show came when the pair was shopping for new clothes and the Plain Jane said "Can't you celebrate curves under a sweatshirt?"

Truthfully, I kept on asking myself..."Why should she have to change for this man like this? Won't he be falling for the made up version of this girl and not the person she is inside?" Don't get me wrong. I totally believe in dressing up every now and then, playing with my hair and experimenting with makeup to look pretty for the right man. But I would also want him to fall in love with me for the person I am inside, not the magic I can do with a flatiron and makeup brushes. My heart sunk a little bit when Cristen looked in the mirror and said "Wow...I don't look like myself." The thing is, I thought she was so cute even before the transformation.

Granted, she got the guy in the end and they stuck together. But I have to wonder...what will he think when he sees what she went through to get his attention? Will he be impressed? Flattered? A little creeped out? Who knows?

In my case, I just want to know that I won't have to pull out the glittery eyeshadow and high heels to keep a man happy. And I would want him to know that when the makeup comes off, I'm still the same Melissa that he was attracted to in the beginning.

And the big question remains the same:  Will there ever be a Plain Joe show where men are made over so they can reveal their feelings for a girl? Or is it just girls who need to change their image to reel in the guys they want?