Like other dystopian novels before it, Scott Westerfeld’s Ugly owns a society in which books are forbidden. Although Netflix’s movie adaptation makes changes to these Ugly book, it retains this interesting detail. The typical tropes of the dystopian genre, such as censorship and conformity, are alive and well in the Ugly‘ Society, which hinges on the idea that all men get government-mandated cosmetic surgery when they turn 16, transforms them from so-called “Ugly“Wapped-yet-Totally”beautiful” UglyDr. Nyah Cable (Laverne Cox), who also serves as the district governor in the film, ensures that the policy holds.
The film’s protagonist, Tally (Joey King), wants nothing more than to undergo Ugly‘ Transformation and cosmetic procedure, which will allow Tally to join her best friend Peris (Chase Stokes), a newly minted beauty, in the City. Tally’s newfound friend, Shay (Brianne Tju), has a much different feeling about the matter. Inspired by legends of a rebel named David (Keith Powers) and an off-the-grid community known as the Smoke, Shay decides to escape into the woods. Using surgery as leverage, Cable tasks Tally with infiltrating the smoke, learning about his secret weapon and securing the city’s way of life.
Books are banned to avoid free thinking in ugliness
Ugly takes cues from other dystopian stories like Fahrenheit 451
Long before cable seized power, books were banned in the Ugly‘Central society to curb free-thinking, agency and individuality. While the Netflix movie doesn’t delve too deeply into the rationale behind book banning, the story takes cues from classic dystopian novels and films that came before it. more often than not, Books are banned in controlling, conformist dystopias so that those in power can maintain their authority. While the movie’s cosmetic surgery, which results in agency-destroying brain lesions, is a more direct form of control, banning books ensures Ugly‘ Shape of letters does not ask beautiful surgery.
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According to the Ugly‘ Timeline that Talley explains in the opening moments of the movie, humanity’s over-reliance on fossil fuels – and subsequent resource wars – caused a full-scale apocalyptic conflict. When people tried to build the society, Those in power realized that human nature would not allow for true peace. Instead of putting their shared humanity first, survivors built nations and factions based on their differences. That is, the transformation was meant to be a great equalizer. On the surface, people get along because they all look similarly beautiful; The brain lesions, meanwhile, dull their individuality and desire for agency.
Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 is the most popular example of this trope, but many other dystopian novels equate books with power.
The society’s total ban on books in Ugly Ensures that no one questions the transformation. Instead of being allowed to think freely, Uglies are raised to believe that the surgery is a dream come true. Shay makes Tally question her long-held beliefs about Cable’s society, partly because Shay gives Tally a book. The knowledge contained in this book prompts both Shay and Talley to question the conformist society That they arise and look for alternative ways of life. Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451is the most popular example of this trope, but other dystopian texts equate books with power.
What book Tally reads in ugly and its meaning explained
How Walden connects to the smoke and Tully’s story in Uglys
in UglyShe lets Talin borrow Walden by Henry David Thoreau. A transcendentalist writer, Thoreau believed that people and nature are inherently good entities, while society and man-made institutions are corrupting forces.. in WaldenThe author recounts the two years he lived in a cabin in the woods near Massachusetts’ Walden Pond. Themes of self-reliance and independence are crucial in WaldenSo it makes sense that David’s copy of the book inspires Shay and Tally to consider life outside the city. The smoke represents an idyllic return to nature, free from the shackles of Ugly‘ Controlling society.