Warning! Spoilers for Netflix Ugly And Scott Westerfeld's continued book series ahead!
An interesting theory suggests that Netflix's new sci-fi movie, Uglyis secretly a prequel to Katniss Everdeen's story in The Hunger Games. The 2024 dystopian movie is based on the book of the same name by author Scott Westerfeld, which was first released in 2005. Since The Hunger Games Was written by Susan Collins, and the first book was released in 2008, the two stories cannot be directly related. However, it is interesting to consider how they could fit together.
Like Netflix's adaptation, the Ugly Book series follows a 15-year-old girl, Tally, who lives in a future centuries after the near collapse of human civilization. To combat humanity's destruction of the planet and itself, those who survived the apocalypse devised a plan to make everyone into flexible and obedient citizens, therefore allowing a utopia. They achieved this through lesions placed in everyone's brain at the age of 16Under the guise of making everyone "beautiful" through mandatory cosmetic surgeries. It is a unique idea, so what does it have to do with The Hunger Games?
A theory suggests Tully's town in Uglies is an earlier version of the Hunger Games capitol
The beautiful healing in Uglies led to the dystopia of the Hunger Games
A few years after the US Ugly Book series complete, and once The Hunger Games Dominated popular media, a theory developed that the two dystopian stories exist on the same timeline. like Ugly, The Hunger Games is set an unknown number of years after the collapse of modern civilization. During this time, a central, wealthy capital was served by the surrounding districts, and the terrible Hunger Games were used to keep the lesser citizens in line. The idea of the Ugly/Hunger Games Theory is that Tally's story ultimately led to the events of Katniss.
in Westerfeld Ugly sequels, lovely, And SpecialTally and the Smoke successfully reveals to the world what the beautiful operation actually does. People everywhere get the cure and wake up - which is good - but crime and war return, just as Talley's government feared. It makes sense that A totalitarian government like the Capitol would eventually arise as the world slowly returned to its messy ways and resources again grew scarce.. After all, Tully's town was all about controlling the ugliness of humanity's worst impulses, just like the Hunger Games Capitol.
The Capitol's style and luxury in The Hunger Games mirror the city in ugliness
The styles in Tally's world are just weird and weird
This theory is reinforced by the aesthetic similarities between Talley's city and the capitol in The Hunger Games. Cosmetic surgery is not only normal but a requirement in Ugly. However, after Tully freed the world of these beautiful lesions, the operation became elective again. Some people chose to become beautiful, while others kept their natural faces. Then, some have strange operations, like replacing their little finger with a tiny gold snake. Style exploded, and trends got weird -Just like styles in The Hunger Games Capitol was over-the-top and funny.
Similarly, Talley's city was essentially a utopia in Ugly. All citizens wanted for nothing. The technology and gadgets in Ugly Ensuring that resources are recyclable, food and champagne are plentiful, and the "Holes in the wall"Print all the clothes or furniture anyone could want. However, this only worked when everyone had brain damage that caused them to be greedy or ambitious. Once the cure is released at the end of the Ugly series, people returned to hoarding wealthAnd only a chosen few can live like this. Perhaps this is how society became divided into the rich Capitol and poor districts in The Hunger Games.
Ugly and The Hunger Games touch on a lot of the same themes
The themes of both make the theory interesting to consider (even if it doesn't quite work).
Of course, this Ugly And Hunger Games Theory does not claim that the two stories were intentionally placed in the same universe. They are two separate dystopian book series written by two separate authors. The similarities between them stem from the fact that both Westerfeld's and Collins' books explore similar topics and concepts. Both look at the damage humanity can do And the extreme efforts people of power will make to maintain control.
Tally's story ends with the implication that the world would become very ugly again, even though she had done the right thing.
Over the Ugly series, Tally often worries that she is doing the wrong thing by freeing the minds of the world. She knows that the government is wrong to force people to conform, but she is also aware that, as Dr. Cable claimed, humanity is like a cancer. Tally's story ends with the implication that the world would become very ugly again, though She did the right thing if, at some point in Uglyfuture, A new oppressive government arose and forced children to fight to the death to maintain control (Rather than working on their minds), this would further the same impressive topic.