Is Ugly Betty a good role model for young women?

Lots of talk today about how the new show Ugly Betty, starring America Ferrera, sky rocketed to the top of its class on Thursday night..beating out Survivor and holding its own against Grey's Anatomy....

And actually I was just doing an interview with Amy Jussel of the new blog called Shaping Youth, which is a forum about media and marketing's influence on youth....and we chatted about whether or not this show is going to provide a positive role model for young women.

Now, I missed the premiere, so I'm going on what I've read so far... and I'm of two minds: On the one hand, I think it's GREAT that there's a show that has a strong, young female lead as a character.  Not enough of those since things like My So Called Life disappeared...and junk like that Pepper Dennis show is really just an excuse to have people ogle supermodels like Rebecca Romijn.

But from what it sounds like, Ugly Betty could be a venue for some interesting portrayals/representations of femininity etc.

But what I'm a little uneasy about is the whole "ugly" thing.  Because first of all it plays into the idea that what this character looks doesn't match up with the accepted, common definition of "pretty"...and that there are two kinds of women in the world: pretty ones and ugly ones.

I also feel a leeetle queasy about what's going to be in store for Betty. LIke, are they going to let her stay "ugly" yet somehow validate her for that?  Or will she have to follow the Devil-Wears-Prada-Mean-Girls-She's-All-That evolution set out in so many movies etc, where she morphs into the epitome of pretty..but still keeps enough of herself to still be HER. 

I'll stay tuned for that... and would love to hear from you if you happened to watch the show.  Post your opinion about the tone it's setting etc!

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And let me just add that if you haven't seen America Ferrera in Real Women Have Curves... you are truly missing something.  I happened to go to that movie alone...and I swear to God, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.  EVERY woman and girl in there was applauding at the end.  A GREAT movie for young women, even teens, to watch....as it's about a teen girl coming to terms with dualing ethnic expectations about women's cultural roles and bodies....and defining herself.

Comments

[Adele]

I agree--I'm totally turned off by the fact that they have "ugly" in the title. if they didn't change one thing about it except for that i would think it's a really cool idea. also, i think that actress is a pretty cool gal because of the movie you mentioned and also the fact that other stuff i've seen her in she seems to mention her body in a positive, confident way (i know it's the writers who write the damn stuff but i don't think other actresses would feel comfortable pulling it off).

[Audrey]

Y'know, I happened to catch the debut episode in part last night.... and now that I have a few months space from it, I have to say that I was kind of disappointed by more than a few elements of the show.

First, there was a laugh track at some points. It was subtle, but it was there. Like when Betty first arrives at Mode magazine and goes to the staff meeting...she enters and is all flustered uncool compared to all the lovelies who work there. And it left me thinking "Just because she's 'ugly' why does that mean she's lame, discombobulated and unsure of herself?" I mean, why did they have to make her laughable in addition to ugly?

So that was the first thing that bummed me out. The second was just how plastic and formulaic Vanessa Williams character was with the incessant botoxing etc. It was so cliched that it cheapened the message of the show...