In a superficial world, we fast-forward to a time to where everything unfortunately is still about what’s on the surface and where the plot is even, well…. superficial.
Netflix brought the book adaptation of Uglies to the screens in our homes this September, in perfect timing, as the discussion of personal aesthetics and pretty privilege are still having their moment online. While the general concept had plenty of potential, unfortunately, there were multiple messages that the movie missed the mark on conveying in regard to encouraging the idea of accepting everyone, no matter what they look like.
Our main character, Tally, narrates the beginning of the story and tells the viewers how we arrived at this time in history. The society before her was one of scarcity and greed where resources and the Earth were fought over and squandered to the point of near human extinction. The Rusties, as they are known now in history books, destroyed themselves and their environment into a state of decay, (where everything “rusted” away, I suppose the label came from). However, all was not lost! A few great scientists and engineers were able to architect a new climate where efficiency flourished. Issues like national disasters, world hunger and homelessness faded away along with the Rusties, so much so that they even concocted a toothbrush pill to do the cleaning that was once such tedious, manual labor. But… despite equality in an economic and financial manner, humans are still lacking in one small area. Not socially, in the way that we think about about race, class and gender, but visually. Pretty privilege still reigns and bullying based on appearance did not die out with the past, so the leaders of the new world decided to finally create equality by making everyone beautiful through a total body transformation - a breakthrough surgery, that can model after any version of yourself you desire, much like the face filters we swipe through on our phones. Then, by eliminating the flaws (quite literally) that make people subject for prejudice and by supposedly boosting their self-esteem at the same time, we can all then be on an equal playing field and focus on what really matters in life.
Makes sense, right?
Well in hindsight, yes, but it’s not so black-and-white as this.
Let’s dive into where Uglies misses the mark and manages to comment on the issue of superficialness and vanity in a way that by the end, is still only skin-deep.
Sidenote:
Okay, don’t even get me started on the special effects in this movie. We know that CGI is involved in almost every major action film nowadays, but even a simple hoverboard scene in Uglies manages to make Marty’s cruising through the streets of Back to the Future in the 1980s look like magic. I mean that scene where Tally is on the way to save Shay, but loses her footing on her board and is falling to the ground, but her board manages to not catch her fall, but somehow help her land and fully balance again on her feet, even though milliseconds ago, she was just flailing about, on her way to facepalm the forest? Is she a cat with 9 lives???
It’s Right in Your Face - No Pun Intended
Anyways, back to the plot.
In order to correct wrongs of ugliness that our society has made us feel is criminal, all individuals are systemically separated, even if it means children being separated from their parents. Those who have been altered to be pretty live freely, out in the open in the fictional city of New Pretty Town (yes, it’s really called that in the book) and with other conventionally attractive folks. Those who aren’t as easy on the eyes, are forced to dwell among the outskirts of the nation, in Uglyville (omg), hoping for the day they’ll finally be good enough, pretty enough, to be seen as someone with value. These two classes are labeled, you guessed it: Uglies & Pretties.
You see, this kind of straightforward label is too, what’s the phrase… “on the nose”. The lack of subtlety takes away from the opportunity for the viewer to come their own realizations. If the movie took the time to show us the personal qualities of the Uglies, allowed us to see what was in their hearts and not just their features, and it’d be more of a sensical and hopefully natural connecting of dots that their mistreatment by the Pretties was unreasonable. Instead, the movie immediately calls out this issue in society and then attempts to inflate the idea with other problems. Even the names that the main characters take on out of shame of their “worst” features aren’t realistic and honestly, just lack creativity. If someone’s biggest insecurity is their nose, I doubt they’d want to be acknowledged as, reminded of, and lastly bring attention to said insecurity by naming themselves after it. If anything, it’d be an unwanted nickname that you’d graduate from middle school rolling your eyes at, praying that also wouldn’t be echoing down the halls by the time you get to your new to high school.
It’s also unrealistic to faction off people based on their appearance because social norms give us the cue that this is not a publicly acceptable thing to do. Although these things do happen, we know it’s not okay to tease a classmate for a haircut gone wrong in the middle of a lesson. We know that even though as a parent, you may not see your own flesh and blood as appealing but that it would be widely criticized to ever let such a thought come out of your mouth. We know, even more so, that it’d be absolutely ludicrous to banish your young child from their home not because they have a condition that requires some sort of special care or are a dangerous threat to you and others but solely due the fact that they’re just not cute to you.
So given these known levels of acceptability when it comes to things like this, it doesn’t seem as though something on this grand of a scale would be likely to take place, regardless of it being a fictional story.
Really when you think about it, wouldn’t it make more sense to alter one’s DNA so that everyone came out pretty from the beginning, rather than subjecting people to a life of segregation and unhealthy self-absorption for their first 16 years in the world? This, interestingly enough, is already a thing. The concept of “designer babies” already exists.
This super direct form of plot and character creation take away from the real social commentary that could have taken place if approached more strategically, and we see it play out through the rest of the remaining 90 minutes of the thriller.
The Plot Thickens - Or Does It?
As we go further into Tally’s journey, she bonds with a fellow unsightly person, Shay, who isn’t really for the whole “pretty = better” idea. She tries to convince Tally to rebel with her and leave the Uglies behind, but spending her days preparing to become a Pretty is all Tally has ever known, and she watches as she loses another friend to another form of society; Shay runs away to be with the outsiders, The Smoke. We learn that not conforming to the indoctrinated process is not allowed in New Pretty Town and the antagonist and leader of the “free” world, Dr. Cable, isn’t having any of it.
What ensues is Tally, covertly working with Dr. Cable to bring Shay back under the guise that free thinking is unjust, “a cancer”, as she calls it.
But why veer off into trying to create this idea is associated with how attractive you are? Why not touch on what you already have in front of you and comment on how being pretty won’t make you happier, but that it also won’t make you some vapid, heartless being either?
While Uglies tries to hint that being more beautiful isn’t the solution, it also, possibly unintentionally, continues the stigma that those who we may deem as more aesthetically pleasing, are often those that think they’re above others as well as unintelligent. When Tally sneaks out to reunite with freshly beautiful, Nose, it only takes a couple of minutes for his character to play into all of the typical movie tropes around the pretty (and usually popular).
A real-life example that comes to mind is IT Girl and famed super model of the late 80s and early 90s, Brooke Shields. Watching her documentary coincidentally titled, Pretty Baby, we got a glimpse at the goofy, down-to-earth and self-proclaimed nerd that Brooke was behind all of the cameras and lights. Even on camera, we could feel this genuineness from her; many moments were caught in action of people meeting her and being caught off guard by a good-looking person actually looking them in the eye and caring about what they had to say. Despite Brooke bringing her full self to shoots consistently, people immediately assumed that she was as plastic as the Barbie dolls she resembled. In her words, she “was just born with this face.”
Amazon Prime’s My Lady Jane was a great example of showing how discriminating against someone because of the way they’re born isn’t right and, surprise, there’s nothing you can do about it anyway! A creative spin on what queendom would look like if Jane Grey of [England] took the throne instead of meeting her untimely demise, a defining effort of her reign is to eliminate discrimination for the people of the town with ethianism, an ability to transform into an animal form. The ethians are outcasts, treated as an abomination due to their unusual way of being. But that’s just it, being part animal is their state of being. Being human by day and seamlessly transforming to horse, dog, bird or whatever animal at night, is as normal to them as breathing. They did nothing to be born with the ability and to have the ability doesn’t mean something is wrong with them either. Yet, being different is not seen as good thing, let alone normal. Although it’s a fantasy setting, this can be a fluid metaphor for the casting down of racism, sexism, castigation against LQBT+, and many more discriminations.
Similarly, it could have been emphasized in Uglies, how everyone doesn’t have to fit the mold. That freckles are dazzling underneath the warmth of the morning sun. That a gap in your teeth adds a bit of character to one’s smile. That chubby cheeks aren’t only adorable on babies. And that a slender nose does not have to be the standard; this nose shape may not even accent the rest of your features well/ make sense for your facial composition. We don’t have to all be one way. Where’s the fun in that anyway? There’s beauty in our differences.
Looking back into the earlier days, The Twilight Zone was a pioneer in the sci-fi space, and had an episode on exactly this topic. Spoiler alert - everyone was forced to become “pretty”, and all it ended up doing was making everyone the same.
Interlude: The casting
Okay, was it just me or The Smoke should’ve been a third faction in the storyline and called The Hotties? I mean, you have Keith Powers as the leader. I could stop right there. Then you have Shay, who was already absolutely as gorgeous as can be, fleeing from the idea of becoming (more) pretty. And you could see Croy’s rock solid jawline from a mile away.
Another thought I had regarding the casting decisions was how Joey King’s character was paired with Keith Power’s character. It’s not that they aren’t both talented actors; it was their on-screen chemistry that was missing from their love story. I didn’t get butterflies from their first kiss or really root for them to get closer in the first place.
Actually, I believe it would’ve made more sense to keep them as friends. Nose betrays Tally’s trust in the beginning by forgoing his promise of not losing his values. Likewise, it would’ve still been impactful to see her betray David’s friendship by keeping her real motives hidden. They didn’t necessarily have to be lovebirds.
Oppression without a Cause
What struck me most from the power dynamic between the Pretties and the Uglies is that the persecution Dr. Gable’s dominion inflicted upon the other group is that it served them in no real way. Sure, the pretentious often distance themselves from the undesirables in the same way the rich find ways to create barriers between them and the poor, but it’s not clear what concrete benefit the Pretties received by keeping the Uglies out.
For example, the beauty industry profits off of people’s insecurities. They have to continuously make people aware of insecurities they didn’t even know they had in order to be able to continue to sell products pushed as the supposed cure to these problems. However, keeping the Uglies separated doesn’t keep the Pretties from much other than having to look at the Uglies, just as forcing the Uglies to get the enhancement surgery doesn’t do much more but ensure that all are conforming as the powers-that-be intended.
Perhaps this is what the movie was trying to convey all along. Towards the climax of the film, Dr. Gable enforces their power out of the idea that “free thinking is a cancer.” Is it more about having a society where everyone does as they are told? Ahhhh, now this would make for a more fitting sci-fi movie concept! It’s just the way that the concept was carried out that may have lost some audiences (I’m speculating, as I am only voicing my own perspective in these reviews). You’ll have to browse through Youtube and Twitter for a more general consensus though.
In the journey to become beautiful and socially acceptable, a conflicted Tally eventually succumbs to the pressure and gives in to the procedure. “Make me pretty,” she sighs. The screen fades in to give a slow pan around to the glowing gold eyes she has always wanted and a more chiseled out face, but we get a glimpse of her hand too. The scar from her days as an outcast, still intact.
What I think this may be a comment on is how many of us also succumb to societal pressures to assimilate, out of fear of isolation, but that we can still keep our sense of self with us. Again, I’m not keen on the execution of it though because at the end of the day, she still gave in. It was never her own idea. It was the law of the land that was imposed on her. The revolution of The Smoke was all in vein because there’s no revolution in sticking with the status quo.
Not to be cheesy, but I think it’s only right to leave you with a quote that has stuck with me since middle school:
“You’re so used to your own features, you don’t know how beautiful you look to a stranger.” - Fina Ord
Extra Fries:
a little something extra to munch on that didn’t make the final cut.
Could the Uglies moving to the city after surgery mirror real life in the sense that stars and socialites often live the city, while everyday folks live on the outermost parts? And when the everyday folks do come to the city, they’re coming to get a taste of the star treatment or glamorous life?
The story reminds me of the whole “glow-up” trend that has reverberated throughout social media for the past few years. Better on the outside, but nothing has changed on the inside. Luckily, newer trends like ‘That Girl’ are focusing on more holistic approach. (It’s still not without its faults, of course).
