History Main / IAmNotPretty

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': The episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E42TheEyeOfTheBeholder The Eye of the Beholder]]" has a young lady whose head is swathed in bandages as the plastic surgeon laments that he was unable to do much for her. They remove the bandages to reveal she has a lovely face and is, in fact, quite beautiful. As the doctor and the nurses all gasp with dismay and disgust, the point of view pulls back to reveal they are all horribly disfigured by our standards, with ugly pig-snoutish noses. By their standards, she was the horribly disfigured one. The young girl sees her reflection in a mirror and bursts into tears at seeing herself as so ugly.

** Creator/MaureenOHara (the TropeCodifier for HeroesWantRedheads) ran into this problem when she was a teenager, going to a school where there were a pair of teachers who compared her unfavorably to her much more beautiful sister Peggy, she really didn't get a glimpse of how beautiful she was until she saw herself on the screen. And after she arrived in Hollywood, she ran into the [[SoBeautifulItsACurse opposite problem]] regarding her film roles.

* In the ''Literature/AmeliaPeabody'' series, the title character Amelia rubbishes anyone trying to praise her appearance, constantly emphasising that her height, frame, facial features, complexion and jet black hair clash with late Victorian fashions; she concludes that she is not in any way attractive. Several gentleman and ''definitely'' her husband Radcliffe Emerson [[spoiler:plus {{VillainousCrush master criminal Sethos}}]] would beg to disagree.

* ''Series/DeadOfSummer'': At first she's quite insecure about her weight and thinks she isn't pretty. In reality Cricket's slightly heavier than average at most, looking cute and voluptuous, which is especially shown when she dons a [[MsFanservice red bikini]]. Despite her anxiety, she gets the attention of Alex, a boy she likes, very readily. Cricket's putting on the bikini in public (to Alex's stunned appreciation) signifies she's begun to get out of her negative self-image and recognize herself as good-looking.

** Tharja in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' is a MsFanservice whose outfit leaves little to imagination, and the Japanese version even describes her as having "the nicest body in the army". However, whenever other characters compliment her appearance, her responses suggest she doesn't view herself that way. An example is when Gaius says that he loves and finds her attractive in their S Support, her response is an awkward "Oh. Well, that IS a problem".

* Tisala of ''Literature/{{Hurog}}'' is a BrawnHilda and LadyLooksLikeADude, and uses this trope to explain why she wouldn't make an appropriate wife for Ward, a recently ascended lord: she's too tall, too strong, CoveredInScars, and not at all conventionally attractive. [[spoiler:Ward responds that he doesn't want a beautiful trophy wife to boost his self-esteem, and he's even taller, probably stronger, can match her scar for scar, and [[AmazonChaser finds her ''incredibly'' hot]].]]

-->-- ''Film/Barbie2023'

->'''Tris:''' But I'm not pretty.\\
'''Tobias:''' No, you're not and I would only go to your funeral if there was cake.
-->-- ''Literature/{{Divergent}}''

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriors'' has a support with Lissa telling Cordelia how beautiful she is, Cordelia doesn't agree at all. A cut support featuring [[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Camilla]] and Cordelia has the latter again expressing confusion. Unlike the previous example, it's a bit understandable in this case because Camilla is [[BoobsOfSteel very curvy]] and Cordelia is... [[ACupAngst not]].

---> If I could go back and tell my 14-year-old self anything it would be, "Don’t worry. You’re going to be doing exactly what you want to be doing and those people who are assholes now are still going to be assholes in 20 years. So let it go!"

* ''Manga/OokuTheInnerChambers'': Averted and defied by Nobu; she knows she's rather plain looking (and this is backed up by others noting she's plain-looking as well), but she's also not particularly bothered by it because, as she herself prefers a plainer sort of man rather than {{Bishounen}}, it stands to reason that there will be a man that likes her plainer looks. This so shocks Shogun Tsunayoshi (who was raised to believe her beauty was the most important thing to her) that she ends up laughing, then awarding Nobu land and the masculine name Yoshimune as a reward for the laugh, setting off a chain of events that eventually led to Yoshimune becoming shogun herself.

* Fiona of ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' was cursed to become an ogress and later becomes one permanently after sharing a TrueLovesKiss with Shrek. At the end of the first movie, she tells Shrek, "I don't understand. I'm supposed to be beautiful." Shrek responds, "But you ''are'' beautiful." And indeed, she's still pretty for a CuteMonsterGirl.

* Willow of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' in the first couple of seasons. She pines for Xander, hoping he would see her as more than a friend. At one party where she's dressed modestly as an eskimo, she laments Xander's more attractive date. Little does she know, her future boyfriend Oz is watching her from the stage and is immediately taken with her.

* ''LightNovel/MagikaSwordsmanAndSummoner'': Koyuki Hiakari thinks that she is ugly because her whole life, she was bullied and called a monster for [[FantasticRacism being an elf]]. Her love interest Kazuki Hayashizaki constantly assures her that she is beautiful, but it takes a while for her to believe him.

Subtrope of AppearanceAngst. Compare ObliviouslyBeautiful, where an attractive character is simply unaware of their beauty. Related to HollywoodHomely, where we're either ''[[InformedFlaw told]]'' that the girl is unattractive, or the rest of the cast simply acts as if she is. With SuetifulAllAlong, the author [[InformedDeformity insists the character isn't pretty at the outset]], yet lavishes complimentary descriptions on her the rest of the time. See also SexyFlaw for when some kind of disfigurement or physical abnormality is seen as attractive.

* Bella of ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' complains ''constantly'' about not being pretty, but everybody swoons over her. She's an outright DudeMagnet but doesn't see herself as attractive. When Edward brings this up during one of her self-deprecating moments, she gets embarrassed. However Bella had just moved from Arizona where the beautiful girls were blonde, tan, and fit while Bella, pale, dark haired and clumsy didn't fit in. In the sun starved Forks Bella finally is among those who appreciate her beauty but her belief in her plainness is already embedded. She only starts believing she's beautiful after she's turned since she becomes a lot more beautiful but she doesn't look so different.

* An early ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode has a young lady whose head is swathed in bandages as the plastic surgeon laments that he was unable to do much for her. They remove the bandages to reveal she has a lovely face and is, in fact, quite beautiful. As the doctor and the nurses all gasp with dismay and disgust, the point of view pulls back to reveal they are all horribly disfigured by our standards, with ugly pig-snoutish noses. By their standards, she was the horribly disfigured one. The young girl sees her reflection in a mirror and bursts into tears at seeing herself as so ugly.

* A conversation in the fifth volume of ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' suggests that Shizuo Heiwajima is entirely oblivious to the fact that he looks like... well, ''[[{{Bishonen}} Shizuo Heiwajima]]''. This makes sense, as Shizuo has VERY serious [[HeroicSelfDeprecation self-loathing issues]].

* The Demon Queen in ''LightNovel/{{Maoyu}}'' is a curvaceous, busty, stunning redhead that believes she's "wasted away" because she has devoted too many ''decades'' to her field of expertise (''Economical Science'').

* ''LightNovel/SoICantPlayH'': Mina's shy and believes she's plain, especially compared to other girls like [[FieryRedhead Lisara.]] So when Quele tries entering Mina in a swimsuit contest to bolster her confidence, Mina declines the invitation because she believed [[OvershadowedByAwesome she didn't stand a chance.]]

* {{Justified|Trope}} in ''LightNovel/ReZero''. Emilia is a very beautiful young woman, but she happens to be an IdenticalStranger of the witch Satella who nearly destroyed the world. Therefore, almost everyone who meets her acts like if she's the living portrait of the devil because of her physical features. Emilia can't understand why Subaru would find her attractive and often takes his compliments of her beauty as him joking around.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': Suama Oyafune is considered a HotTeacher by her students, but she has low self esteem and says she isn't pretty.

* ''LightNovel/DeathMarchToTheParallelWorldRhapsody'': Lulu Watari is an inhabitant of a fantasy world who inherited Japanese features from a distant Japanese ancestor. Nobody else looks like her, so [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer she was bullied and called ugly her whole life]]. Due to the bullying, she believes them and constantly laments her ugly face. Only her sister Arisa, who has PastLifeMemories of a girl from Earth, and her love interest Satou, who is from Earth, say she is beautiful, with Satou commenting that she looks like an idol.
* ''LightNovel/DateALive'': Natsumi honestly believes her true form (a pretty, if messy haired 14 year old) is hideous and no one would want to look at her like that, hence she uses her transformation powers to give herself an adult form which is what she believes is an ideal body. It takes a lot of work, but in the end Shido and the gang manage to get her to accept her true form, and afterwards she becomes [[LovableSexManiac Miku's]] favorite target for sexual harassment, because she finds her so damn cute. It's later revealed that she thought so little of her looks because [[spoiler:her mother treated her like crap, called her ugly, and did other horrible things to her before her transformation into a spirit]] which completely wrecked her self-image.

Sometimes she might be a standard beauty, but feels unattractive because she's the ''wrong kind'' of beautiful. A girl with RavenHairIvorySkin who's an absolute knockout to anyone with eyes might still feel she's unattractive because she's told the "ideal" is blue-eyed blonde. This one is especially common in the U.S.; the standard of beauty is an ideal that could be considered Northern European (blonde hair, blue eyes, tan complexion), which leaves a lot of girls in minority groups feeling this way. (Music/{{Cher}}, for instance, has said in the past that she grew up feeling like she could never be beautiful because she wasn't blonde.)

This is often the basis behind a BeautifulAllAlong or SheCleansUpNicely event; when a character who is seen (rightly or wrongly) as unattractive is gussied up and made the 'Belle of the Ball'. However, the main issue at hand is not how other characters see her, but the fact that she sees ''herself'' as unattractive. If the girl can realize her worth and attractiveness [[JustTheWayYouAre without a makeover]], so much the better.

Subtrope of AppearanceAngst. Compare ObliviouslyBeautiful, where an attractive character is simply unaware of their beauty. Related to HollywoodHomely, where we're either ''[[InformedFlaw told]]'' that the girl is unattractive, or the rest of the cast simply acts as if she is. With SuetifulAllAlong, the author [[InformedDeformity insists the character isn't pretty at the outset]], yet lavishes complimentary descriptions on her the rest of the time.