So Apparently Uglies is Getting an Adaptation
Recently I bought some floating shelves for my bedroom walls, and some of the books I decided to display were the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. I remember that as I was putting them on the shelf, I was thinking, man, this would be a tough series to adapt.
I just thought this was my brain firing at random, but apparently this was my Nostradamus moment because not a month later I log online and find out apparently Netflix is adapting the books into a movie.
If you don’t know, the plot of Uglies takes place in this futuristic world where everyone is born “ugly” and at sixteen they undergo plastic surgery to make them “pretty”. The society they live in stresses that everyone is born “ugly”, but they have an opportunity to be turned “pretty” that is graciously provided by their government. It’s all a pretty overt propaganda campaign to get people to submit to this surgery, which has more sinister in-universe consequences. The book goes on to discuss themes about freedom, individualism, and other typical YA coming-of-age elements, but the crux of the plot hinges on every characters’ belief that they are “ugly” and their desire to be “pretty”.
So there’s this TikTok by @rants_n_rambles where they talk about their concerns about the upcoming movie. The tiktoker was expressing their opinion that to convey this visually, the movie can’t just slap makeup onto the “pretties”; they will need to use digital enhancements and CGI to create someone so pretty they couldn’t exist otherwise. The Pretties are described canonically as being so beautiful it’s difficult to look at them. When all is said and done, a “pretty” character is going to need to just approach the border of the uncanny valley to make this element of the movie work.
When I saw this TikTok and really started thinking about the adaptation, my Spidey senses started tingling. I’ve seen my fair share of book-to-movie adaptations. I’m familiar with the methods they use. And when it comes to this adaptation, I think I’m having another Nostradamus moment.
Because this movie is going to be cast one of two ways:
Either Netflix will chicken out of addressing the issue and populate this story with only white actors,
Or,
If they use any people of color in either the foreground or the background of this film, they are going to need to handle the use of the word “ugly” very very carefully.
People of color are, I think, right on the cusp of culturally reclaiming some of the elements of our own bodies that we were shamed for when we were younger. We’re not straightening our hair as much as we did once; a lot of us have gone natural. We’re not ashamed of the fact that we have hips. The darker skin, the flatter nose, the bigger lips; we’re taking it all back. For what feels like the first time, we’re celebrating ourselves, and we’re teaching our children to celebrate themselves too.
And now here is a movie where every character in it is considered “ugly”. This is not only how they talk about themselves but also how they are referred to by authority figures in this universe. When I remembered that, I just imagined for a second what it was going to be like to watch a movie with any amount of diversity where all the normal-looking characters are constantly called ugly.
If this movie plans to use any amount of diversity in its casting, are they prepared for how difficult it is going to be to re-contextualize the beauty standards of this universe to a broad audience?
The entire non-white audience for this movie is bringing in an extra layer of racially-motivated insecurity, and I genuinely wonder if anyone involved in the project has considered that. The collective flinch from the audience the first time any non-white character is called ugly to their face is going to be so powerful it will make observable seismic waves.
And to be clear, I don’t have an answer for how they should approach this. I really don’t. But with shows like Bridgerton and Shadow and Bone, Netflix has displayed an interest in diversifying their movie adaptations. They’ve put effort into casting with a more realistic mix of races. And when I see this effort, it’s appreciated. Just maybe give some serious consideration to how this one is going to land if it’s not done very delicately.
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(As a final point, and a quick aside, this message is directed at whoever is in charge of casting this project: there is a character in the third book who plays a vital part in the plot but dies before the end of the original trilogy. If this is the character you choose to make black, I am going to train a flock of birds to follow you around and shit on your car.)
