Monday, 3 December 2007

Causing a Spectacle

This might get me in trouble...I might (heaven forbid) lose my only readers because of this post. But please don't leave me.

Why I don't like Ugly Betty
Ugly Betty looked great from the offset - I was excited by the trailers for the pilot, and sat myself down to watch it when the big day came. Disappointment was the main feeling I felt.. a similar emotion to when they stopped selling Frisps in my local Spar.

One of my main problems is this:
  1. Take an attractive girl, give her braces and glasses.
  2. Girl is now ugly. People laugh at her when she tries to get job.
  3. Girl meets geeky boy, they fall in love. It's sweet.
  4. But no! uncool boy is in-fact, attractive boy..but with glasses. And a sweater.
Did we not do the whole "make a girl less attractive with glasses" routine with films like "She's All That"? (She turns out to be a hotty).

Whenever I've watched Ugly Betty, I can't shake the fact that all of the cast seem to be blindingly good looking, but some are designed not to be. Is this because we wouldn't care about genuinely unattractive people? How many people do you see in that cast photo with spectacles? I see one. And they made him stand at the back....perhaps it was sunny day, and there were fears that his glasses would somehow cause the cast to just burst into flames. I do not know.

With a title like "UGLY" Betty, I presumed I'd be able to relate to the down-to-earth relate-ability of the characters...but I still feel an immense Hollywood/Cal void.

So please stop using glasses as your way of making characters instantly repugnant, it's not big, and it's not clever. I personally think spectacles are the best accessory the NHS can buy. (Though not if you're out of full time education.)