5 Reasons Ugly Betty Has Aged Poorly (& 5 Reasons It’s Timeless)

Based on the telenovela, Yo Soy Betty, La Fea, Ugly Betty featured various elements including fashion, journalism, family, friendship, career, feud, coming back from the dead, LGBTQ issues, and more. While all these things made the show interesting, it is the contrasting principles of different characters that added more realism to it. While we have Betty Suarez’s (America Ferrera) father Ignacio Suarez (Tony Plana) who puts his daughters first, there is also Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa L. Williams) who prioritizes her career.

Released more than a decade ago, it was described as a one-of-a-kind series in American television at the time of its release. Be it the way people view things or the law itself, so much has changed until now. On that note, below are some things in Ugly Betty that aged well and others that did not.

10 Aged Poorly: Pretending To Be Gay

With the series being set at a fashion magazine, some of the stereotypes that are part of the niche were also brought up. One such thing is that Ugly Betty created the impression that gay men are respected more in the fashion industry, For instance, we see that Suziki (Alec Mapa), a fashion television anchor, pretends to be gay while in reality he is married to a woman and has two sons.

Elsewhere, there is Amada Tanen’s (Becki Newton) designer boyfriend who also pretends to be gay for the same reason. Now or then, the aforementioned stereotype is far away from reality which might have had an impact years ago but definitely not these days.

9 Timeless: Finding A Profession

Unlike Betty who was sure that she wanted to be a writer, Amanda was not sure what exactly she wanted to do in her life. She only knew that she wanted to have a career in fashion because of her interest and knowledge in it. The storyline following her self-discovery from being an actor to being an assistant, receptionist, designer and finally becoming a stylist is something that many of us can relate even today. Even these days, a lot of people have shifted to a career path that makes them happier.

8 Aged Poorly: Retouching Photos

When Natalie Whitman (Sarah Jones), a popular actor is at Mode for a photoshoot, the team at the magazine company goes on to retouch her photo in such a way that she looks thinner than she really is. While Betty initially points out that it sets wrong body standards for young girls, she later agrees to Daniel’s decision to use the edited photo. Later, due to circumstances, the unedited photo gets leaked which eventually turns out positive. While publications are still retouching photos, magazines these days also show people of different sizes.

7 Timeless: Justin’s Supportive Family

We see Justin Suarez (Mark Indelicato) discover his sexual orientation and understand himself over the course of the show. While he is constantly bullied in school for his likes towards broadway theatre and fashion, his family continues to support him all the time and encourage him to be true to himself.

Unlike Marc St. James’s (Michael Urie) mother who walks out on him for being gay, the Suarez family decides to celebrate Justin coming out in order to show their support. The situation definitely reflects on how more people are accepting of homosexuality than earlier.

6 Aged Poorly: The Title

Betty wore braces and glasses, she was not skinny and style-conscious like most people working at Mode, but these things definitely do not make her ugly. When the show ended, the ugly part of the title fades away leaving only Betty on the screen showing how she is not ugly anymore because of the change in her looks. With beauty being a very subjective concept, describing Betty as ugly is definitely something that audiences today will not appreciate.

5 Timeless: Skinny Models

Betty constantly talked about body positivity and was not happy with the idea of using only skinny models in the magazine and fashion shows. In one instance, she encourages Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius) to hire healthy models which he agrees to it. However, when the same issue is brought up to Wilhelmina, she points out that designers prefer skinny models so that the focus is on the clothes and not the models. Until today, we continue to see skinny models on runways for the same reason.

4 Aged Poorly: Old For Modeling

Wilhelmina tricks Daniel into thinking that a designer specifically requested that Daniel models for their show. Excited about it, he agrees to it and starts preparing for it. He is then constantly reminded of how he is too old to be modeling until he looks at his own reflection and realizes that he is not young enough for it.

Models like Lou Kenny who walked the runway when she was 58 and Joani Johnson who was part of Rihanna’s Fenty campaign at 67 show how the fashion industry has changed its perspective on older models.

3 Timeless: Impact On Eating Habits

Over many instances in the series, we see different characters concerned about gaining weight. For instance, we see Marc skipping breakfast because he had french fries the previous night, and Amanda refusing to eat carbs. Then, there are the schoolgirls who come to visit Mode office who throw away their sandwiches because they don’t want to become fat. Unfortunately, the fashion industry has continued to impact the eating habits of many people because it has led many to think that being thin is beautiful.

2 Aged Poorly: Same-Sex Marriage

When Wilhelmina and Marc go to jail to visit Connor Owens (Grant Bowler), Marc points out the way it only takes 20 bucks and five minutes on a computer for her to get married to Connor but it is illegal for Marc to marry a man. While gay marriage was not legalized then, almost a year after the series ended same-sex marriage became legal in New York in July 2011. This means unlike then, Marc can get married to his partner thus taking away the reason for his sarcastic comment.

1 Timeless: Ageism

During a conversation with Amanda, Helen (Kristen Johnston) tells her that she used to be a receptionist too but had to give up on the job when she became old. Amanda immediately becomes worried about her future and the way she would also lose her job. Unfortunately, even today we are more likely to see a young receptionist and sometimes job descriptions also have a specific age requirement. Probably due to the false mindset that a person is beautiful only until a certain age.

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