Detailed Essay Plan

Intro:

• talk about the genre- " Ugly Betty is actually an Americanized adaptation of a wildly popular Colombian telenovela—a type of Spanish-language soap that takes viewers on a 13-week roller coaster and then lets them disembark for the next series/ride. In many Spanish-speaking homes in the U.S. and in South America, telenovelas have been as much a part of the nightly routine as David Letterman and Jay Leno have in English-speaking ones. So for co-executive producer Salma Hayek, it was only natural to bring Ugly Betty to ABC and a wider American audience that's becoming increasingly Latino."
• ugly betty is different to before in many ways reflecting society and its audiences
• role of women has changed as:

Berger argued that "men act and women appear" but this is not the case anymore

• Chracters of Ugly Betty and the historical text that will be compared

Para 1: what is beauty? how is it defined -

• look at Eve Arden in Our Miss Brooks (black and white) but she looks attractive which promotes the idea that females should take care of image-its a common norm.
• This is the same with Mary Tyler Moore-however she has dark hair-idea of stereotypes.
• Even now -desperate housewivies has attractive females in postmodern age

linked to feminsim: "In an influential book The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf wrote: 'Beauty is a currency like the gold standard. Like any economy, it is determined by politics and in the modern age in the West, it is the last, best belief system that keeps male domination intact' (Wolf 1991: 10)" (1)

• and studies prove that attractive people are more successful and are given more opportunites which demonstrates the importance of image.According to Dr. Mona Phillips, a professor of sociology at Spelman College in Atlanta:

""There is research [pioneered by Dion, Berscheid and Walster] that talks about the `Halo Effect,'" says Dr. Phillips. "This is when people assume that if someone is attractive, then they have other good qualities. It's a clustering of good attributes that are assumed based on one's appearance."" (2)

"" A multi-billion-dollar global industry exists that centers on appearance (the fitness industry, the cosmetic industry, the fashion industry). These industries are all built on notions of attractiveness."" (Dr. Phillips) (3)

A2 Media Studies: The Essential Introduction (1)

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_12_100/ai_77931216 (2 and 3)

Para 2: Betty the main female protagonist is unattractive and is shown to be in fashion industry where image is vital.

MAKE LINK TO OUR MISS BROOKS CHARACTER! (book concise history one)

• the shots used to show her, her costume make her look like a greek etc.

""Before you can even open your mouth to express yourself, people have already formed an opinion about who you are based on your looks," reveals Dr. Work." (4)

• she's employed due to her bad looks.
• Betty being ugly makes a statement about the society we live in now where image obssession is at its highest peak-link to size zero debate, issues about weight.
• Although she is average weight, characters around her such as Amanda are skinny

link to feminism: Wolf argues that "Women's bodies and female sexuality have become commodities and the consequences of this are mental and physical illness, stravation diets and eating disorders" (5)

• she is supposedly representing real females-number of viewers show this is a successful program -link to audience and feminism.

she "shows a side of society that is so obsessed with looks that the everyday person feels inferior and not meeting the standard the world (not the real world, but the business and fashion world) has set on them" (6)

• but is she actually ugly- no spots etc, and in real life she isnt but then she's not the conventional beauty. Not only this but Ferrera wears fake braces on her teeth, bushy eyebrows and a disheveled wig, and make-up and clothing intended to downplay her own looks.

"Lloyd’s has insured the smile of America Ferrera, star of the hit television show Ugly Betty, for $10 million." (7)

http://thehive.modbee.com/?q=node/2465 (6)

http://www.lloyds.com/News_Centre/Features_from_Lloyds/Lloyds_insures_Ugly_Bettys_smile.htm (7)

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_12_100/ai_77931216 (4)

Book: A2 Media Studies: The Essential Introduction (5)

Para 3: her looks link in with the role she plays:

• she has a mother role as she protects daniel on many occasions as well as taking care of her family promoting family values -touchs on the genre development as it is a hybrid of drama etc and not only a office sitcom
• talk about how this show was adapted from a differnent show, audience link, relfection of society becoming more muticultural (Latino population increasnig in America) link to narrative -immigration (issues) and the American dream.

In 2007 Horta accepted the "Golden Globe for Best Comedy Series "Ugly Betty", stating "Like most of us up here, Betty is an immigrant and The American Dream is alive and well and in reach of anybody who wants it"." (8)

• Her low status job links to Our Miss Brooks and Mary Tyler Moore show
• she is represented as strong, kind caring etc , promoting female characteristics -links to feminsim and audience. However, do these factors validate for ther bad looks?
• "as the 22-year-old Ferrera states,

"[It's] not about being ugly at all. More than anything it's just about looking past what you see. Achieving that image is not all that we're on this planet to do." (9)

http://www.pluggedinonline.com/thisweekonly/a0002958.cfm (9)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Horta (8)

Para 4 : whereas Betty doesn't fit in to the enviroment of Mode Wilhelimina does:

• she is the villian -barthes theory
• new career woman-

link to second wave feminists "They argue that many battles for economic and workplace equality has still to be fought and won.." (10)

• shows class differences between herself and betty-she has money- link to swag episode where betty is respected due to her gucci bag:

Link to: political economy approaches -Peter Golding ad Graham Murdock argue that the group who own huge proportions of the media "ensure that social imagery and knowledge which is cirulated through the media is broadly in its interest, and reproduces inequalities from which it benefits." this can be linked to the audiences of Ugly Betty as well as it being shown in Ugly Betty as it is based on fashion and promotes buying more materials -refer to swag episode where betty is acknowledged and respected.

• doesnt conform to nurturing female role which empowers women but she is punished as she doesnt get what she wants and is the villian -audience link -feminism
• whereas Wilhelmina doesnt look after her daughter so doesnt fufil her mother role, Hilda -a single parent does- touchs on family diversity, however, breaks the 2 roles of mother or sex object as she is a sex object as well as being a mother -postmordern age , idea that a female can take on vairety of roles

Dr Linda Seger says that media images show women in a wife, mother or girlfriend role and these images are restrictive and negative : " 'These images misrepresent who we are, demean us, and it make it harder to see women as people...' " (12)

Book: A2 Media Studies: The Essential Introduction (10)

the Media student's Book (11)

As Media Studies (12)

Para 5: the 2 seperate dominant roles are accomponied by Alexis:

• career women who was a man-link to freud
• Amanda -stereotypical, she is shown to be attractive so

link to feminism: "Alice Embree argued that women were seen as bodies, not people (1970, 206)" like betty- if women were to attain liberation "women must no longer be 'enslaved by ludicrous "beauty" standards' (Morgan 1970,586) " so amanda is not liberated (13)

book: Feminism, Femininity and popular culture (13)

Para 6: ugly betty awards :

• all the awards won and all the awards won by Our miss brooks and the mary tyler moore show -reflect society and are fresh ideas which have not been explored successfully before.
• the similarities they share that make them successful and how they have adapted to the time