Sigmund Freud, a renowned sociologist, probed the question of desire. He spent his life pondering and testing this question of human desire. The prime-time television show Ugly Betty flirts with the desires for fashion and food. Superficially, these two items are historically opposed because fashion likes tall thin bodies. Seeing these images on television makes young girls aspire to deny their bodies for fashion. At work Betty consumes an endless supply of vanilla frosted donuts while everyone around her consumes fashion. Betty indulges in a pleasurable feast while her co-workers prostate themselves on the painful dogma of fashion. Initially, Betty thought that fashion equaled pain and eating represented pleasure. As a young Latina, Betty views herself positively although her peers see her as unattractive. Conversely, Betty might see her peers as unhealthy. Betty does not need to spend 5,000 on a purse because she has donuts. Ugly Betty is an empowering for Latinas because it fulfills their desire for representation floating in a sea of empty fashionistas. The show intrinsically sets up American beauty ideals in conversation with typical Latina body types in almost every episode. Psychology scholar, Deborah Schooler works to answer the question of what images do to Latina body images. Schooler put a heavy emphasis on young Latinas ranging from eleven to seventeen years old. This is believed by psychology domain to be a time when females are most susceptible to images because they are developing their identity. Remarkably, Schooler found that Latinas responded positively to black-oriented television but reported lower self esteem after viewing mainstream television. Ugly Betty is especially a guilty pleasure for Latina women because it transmits an uplifting counter cultural message to them. The findings of Deborah Schooler help support the argument that Betty’s consumer body helps curvy girls feel attractive and self nurturing but leaves minority men as malnourished one dimensional characters.
The best prime-time television shows often reflect the racial attitudes of society. Top rated shows on ABC must be particularly entertaining because the network has one of the highest cancellation rates for programs on network television. Even the shows lowest ratings night was pretty successful compared to most other networks. On March 5, 2009, Ugly Betty pulled in 6.3 million viewers. This number ranked as a 35% drop from the season premiere. However, Ugly Betty will return to finish its current season on April 24, 2009. There are 19 episodes available for season three of Ugly Betty. Betty nourishes herself with food while her co-workers fulfill themselves with fashion. The episodes that best convey this argument are “Bad Amanda” and “A Mother of a Problem”. Due to the nature of the show most of the minority characters are Latinos. The Latina and female culture of the main character is a large part of the series. The show is progressive as a whole but it misrepresents other minority groups that are not Latina. The black male characters and white European characters are presented as one-dimensional. The summation of the plots, characters, and visual presentations make the series compelling and fresh to white and minority audiences.
In episode eighteen Wilhelmina Slater and Betty Suarez face their own crisises with the items that they consume. Wilhelmina cries out saying, “Why God why…these things are who I am, each fur tells a story, each piece of jewelry is a piece of me”
The primetime show Ugly Betty makes compelling statements about race and race relations. The show first aired on ABC on September 28, 2006. The nature of the show is a comedic drama. On any given night the audience is primed to follow Betty Suarez as she navigates the twists and turns of life in New York City as well as home in Queens County. Betty works for a fashion magazine but she is not exactly what anyone would consider fashionable. She is short, overweight, and wears braces and glasses at the same time. The show is based off a Colombian soap opera or telenovella called Yo Soy Betty La Fea created by Fernando Gaitan. The show was adopted for an American audience by Silvio Horta and co-produced by Salma Hayek to portray a first generation Latina American. One major change that they made was making the family first-generation Mexican American. The show is a highly rated show among whites and Latinos. The series is currently in its third season.
The Ugly Betty series has many consequences that are good and bad. A positive consequence of the show is that it uses comedy to change people’s perceptions. The show follows its gay, transgender and Latino characters through their personal lives and reminds the audience to accept them as real people. The light-hearted appeal of the show makes it all the more attractive to the viewer when the characters encounter problems. Consequently, the show helps foster conversations and understanding around minority issues. A negative consequence of the show is that it may broadcast the world through rose-colored glasses. Specifically, the show makes a hardy attempt at pleasing minority characters white elites and white racial conservatives. The consequences of the show are mostly good but it has some bad effects as well.
A major flaw of the show is that it doesn’t feature black male characters. The only black male characters on the show are portrayed as sex objects. This is problematic because viewers at home may get the wrong impression. Some viewers might actually start to believe that black men don’t have interesting backgrounds or intelligent characters to share with the world. Another problem with the show is that it doesn’t have any characters that are actually Mexican American. All of the actors are Colombian, Peruvian, Spanish or from other Latin American countries. My response to this is that it is offensive because it lumps all Latino people into one solitary group of people. This is problematic because it doesn’t honestly represent the Mexican American people.
The rebel message that Ugly Betty gives women of color makes their lives better. These women finally see themselves represented on television as desirable main characters. Inner beauty and unapologetic curves are the stars of the show.
Ugly Betty helps Latina women to better understand the central issue of consumption. It accomplishes this task by weaving the stories of fashionable women with Betty. The nourishment that fashionistas receive is superficial while Betty is content with not being satisfied.
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