“Get Ready for Betty”
Ugly Betty enters its third season on a familiar trajectory. The first season being a breakout hit, the second kind of wobbling (partly because the writers hadn’t fully thought through the second season as they were too busy surviving the first; partly due to the writer’s strike), and the third season being a make or break kind of season as the show tries to re-coup some of its lost viewers. The fashion world backdrop of Ugly Betty continues with its fascination with physical beauty and style even as the eponymous lead character, Betty Suarez (America Ferrera), continues to evolve.
We still have some of the ridiculous office shenanigans as Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa Williams) schemes for power and the Meades—mostly in the form of matriarch Claire Meade (Judith Light) and heir apparent Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius)—try to maintain the reins of control of Mode magazine. Daniel also attempts to balance his “just wanting to have fun” mentality with the realities of being a new father. Betty’s sister Hilda (Ana Ortiz) is still dating the married coach and after the grief of losing Santos. Throw in the comings and goings of the other superficial Mode employees and we have a cast of mostly twenty and thirty something teenagers, people who are emotionally in their teens but in big people’s bodies.
“I’ve created a plan for myself.” –Betty
Betty has returned from a trip around the country and has returned to New York, and Mode Magazine, rejuvenated and with an agenda. She wants to be about experiencing things: change, growing up, and discovering herself. Armed with her “empowerment animal” (a dove, symbol of her feminine energy), she braces herself for new challenges as she seeks her independence. She has even made a life checklist: 1) more responsibility at work, 2) get her own apartment in New York City, 3) no more romantic entanglements. Well, two out of three isn’t bad as Betty has to deal with her romantic entanglements with Henry Grubstick (Christopher Gorham), Giovanni ‘Gio’ Rossi (Freddy Rodríguez), Jesse (Val Emmich), and Matt (Daniel Eric Gold).
“I can fix this.” –Betty
It’s funny: we come into the world completely dependent on them (and our parents know EVERYTHING); we start to make noises of independence and doing things our way (and our parents know NOTHING); and then we start to brave the world by ourselves (and our parents know SOME things after all). But at some point we have to try to get our crap together. We can’t be afraid to change and grow and cutting the apron strings is a rite of passage as you carve out your own direction. It’s about growing up, dealing with the decisions you’ve made, and picking yourself up no matter how many bowls of ramen noodles you have to eat in the process.
“It gets better.” –Betty
Even our spiritual journeys hit bumps as we mature, with the journey inward being part of the progress. Some people compare this time to God actually “giving” you more responsibility by not guiding you by the hand any more. Allowing us room to go and explore where we need to go, but continuing to be present or being a guard rail. The signs of maturing include an increase in humility and teachability; the acknowledgment of the need for help.
Ugly Betty rights itself with season three, after the lamentable season two. There’s a less over-the-top quality to Season Three, as it has found its footing. Less ridiculous and more natural feeling storylines, less celebrity cameos, and a less one-note quality to many of the characters. Betty remains a fantastically lovable character, strong, capable, and independent; living in “BettySuarezland” which isn’t such a bad place to be.
Yeah, I think I've watched some of the third season of this. Yeah, I remember enjoying the first season best. Yeah, the lead actress is capable and charming, appealing, winning and all the rest. But when it first came out (thank you for reviewing it, which gives me a chance to air this) I was a little skeptical and uneasy, but had no one to share with at the time! For example, I thought: "Why call the show 'Ugly Betty'? Surely 'Ethnic Betty' would be a more truthful, if maybe not so resonant title." After all, the female lead is certainly not "ugly": she has a very pleasant, open face and an excellent-quality complexion, although she is probably not "beautiful" by "conventional" Western standards, (ie, blonde, willowy, elfin fairy-tale princess etc), she definitely shouldn't be thought of as "ugly" by anyone's either (despite wearing of colored orthodontic brace as joke "freak" signifier and so on). Unfortunately, putting the word "ugly" in the title will encourage kids, teens etc to think that
that Betty is ugly. The wider significance/implication of this is that Betty's ethnic physical traits will be thus generally vilified – "uglified". The actress is obviously of what is called "mestizo" (mixed) descent: in South/Central America, a mixture of the original "Indian" population and the Western, mostly Latin, invaders. (That is the origin of most US Hispanics, so I understand.) She has the wide face, dental structure etc, as well as broader body frame, that is common and "normal" among many native tribes from these parts of the world, and she obviously has inherited many of their genes. So – what's with the "ugly"? Is this supposed to sound politer in your culture than drawing attention to the fact she is of another race? Isn't it a bit like calling a sitcom about a black, I don't know, businessman, "Grotesque Gus" because he happened to have very dark skin or thick lips? (I know, they probably wouldn't dare, unless they found a Wayans brother to do it. But there are still cases in
which American media do find people with dark skins (over a certain light-to-mid -brown hue) "ugly". Mostly this is in the case of female persons wishing to work in these areas; not so much males (of the same race). Wonder why? Believe me, it's very noticeable to foreigners, this dichotomy, and I have read essays remarking on it.) Anyway, it's not only persons of color around the world wondering and ruminating, even fretting, about how Americans choose to portray such matters in their popular culture. Just in case you wondered! Oh; and I thought that the TV company didn't dare discuss the matter of dark skin on women, so they deflected it onto wide frame, big teeth, and the sorts of traits found among a certain proportion of women of South American Indian ancestry, and said they were ugly instead. (But they're not: as I have protested. Oh – and WITHOUT the TV people admitting it WAS an ethnicity they were describing…) Er… peace?
i can't remember the rationale behind the title, as it's a translation of the imported telonovello.
i'd be willing to guess that it's meant ironically: better is considered "ugly" in terms of physical beauty and style, yet is actually the most beautiful person on the show. basically think "the ugly duckling".