Uglies changed a main character and hurt me as a book fan

I wish one of the best letters in the Ugly Book has more than a cameo in the Netflix adaptation. Based on Scott Westerfeld’s 2005 novel of the same name, Ugly Tells the story of a dystopian society where all citizens receive surgery at the age of 16 that transforms them into being beautiful. Before the surgery, the characters were called ugly, because they did not have the desired physical features of their society. Being ugly leaves protagonist Tally Youngblood (Joey King) feeling incomplete, especially when her best friend Paris (Chase Stokes) becomes beautiful before her.

When Tally is sent by Dr. Cable (Laverne Cox) to find the Smoke, a place far beyond the city where uglies live freely, her worldview is upended when she learns the sinister truth behind the city. Ugly Operation that turns Paris and countless others into pretties. Much of her worldliness is challenged for the better by David (Keith Powers), one of the Smokies she grows close to during her time there. In this book, there is another Smokey Tally meets that is important to her arcBut the character only has a brief cameo in the film.

The boss is one of the best characters of the Uglys

He is important to Tally’s Ark

one of UglyBest characters, and an important smokey in the book, is known as the boss. As a middle-aged man who never received the beautiful operation, Tally is initially shocked by his appearanceAs she has never seen anyone with wrinkles, saggy skin, or someone who walks with a limp. Even more important than showing Tally that one can live without the beautiful operation is the boss’ dedication to preserving the magazines and books in the Smokes library.

The magazines and books belong to the rusty civilization that existed centuries before the time of Ugly. This delightfully snarky and eccentric chef understands how important preserving magazines and books are To understand the history of human civilization and to understand what has been lost. Helping Tally understand the truths is part of her arc in realizing the issues in her society and her need to rebel. The boss even risked his life and was ultimately killed in an effort to save the magazines, books and other artifacts for future generations.

Netflix’s Ugly reduces him to a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo

He is not even credited as the host

The boss has no dialogue in the Netflix adaptation and is little more than a brief cameo. When she first arrives at the smoke along with David, Shay (Brianne Tju), and Croy (Jan Luis Castellanos) in the film, Tally glances at an elderly man pushing a wheelbarrow. The character is credited as Wheelbarrow Smokey and played by Ugly‘ Author Scott Westerfeld, however Westerfeld confirmed his character is meant to be the boss.

While I enjoyed seeing Westerfeld play a character in the adaptation of his book that took nearly two decades to come to fruition, I wish the host had been more than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo. Tally briefly seeing him pushing the wheelbarrow is the full extent of his roleAnd he is not seen again in the film. Only those who have read the book have any idea who the man pushing the wheelbarrow is supposed to be, with his importance in the source material not translated into the adaptation.

How the host could have improved Netflix’s ugliness

He could have helped the themes and Tally’s arc be better developed

As an adaptation, changes of the Ugly Books are inevitable, but what frustrated me was that many changes were made at the expense of how the characters and themes were developed. Every character’s arc in the film, even Tally’s, feels rushed and unearned As the 102-minute adaptation hurdles through important plot points. Having the boss be a fleshed out character that Tally interacts with could have gone a long way in better developing her arc after she arrives at the smoke.

There is a particularly vital scene in the book where Tally looks at one of the magazines from centuries ago that the boss is preserving, and she finds the featured fashion models to be hideous. This is important to Talley’s understanding of how Beauty and attractiveness are subjective and are not about being beautifulAnd that the unique personalities and physical characteristics of each individual have been lost to conformity and government control. Without the magazines or the boss, an essential part of the themes and Tally’s arc are lost.

In this film, Tally secretly reads Walden by Henry David Thoreau, and later found it among other books in the home of David’s parents. The importance of books and the empowering nature of reading would have had a greater resonance with the boss talking about the importance of literature to Tally, along with the later sacrifice he makes to save the books and magazines. Losing the boss is one of many ways that Netflix is Ugly fell for me And why the book is a much more compelling iteration of this story.