Ugly Betty Open Thread
Last night’s episode of Ugly Betty featured Betty advocating for a “healthy models” fashion show. According to the TWoP recap:
Betty asks if they couldn’t show a wider range of women — normal, but not deathy. Finally, someone stands up for the non-deathy women in fashion! Okay, besides Tyra. Betty had the graphics department put together a little presentation that juxtaposes her, a model whose neck can’t hold up her head, and a skeleton. It’s all about subtlety. This could be the theme for Mode’s show, she says — healthy models. Daniel argues that it was done in Milan and Madrid, and then thinks about all the publicity those shows got. Betty wants to do it for the children, Daniel wants to do it for the press, and both agree it’s a win-win. As Daniel goes to tell Alexis, he tells Betty that they need new models, a new backdrop, and a caterer, since they can feed the models for once.
Also it looks like it had something to do with New Kids on the Block, which: bonus! Nostalgia! Did you guys see it last night? Or read the recap? What did you think?
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: America Ferrera, Celebrities, TV
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I saw it last night. I really like America Ferrera, and I liked the show.
Somehow, though, the whole thing came off as trite to me.
Surely someone else had a less jaded view than mine?
All I did was read the recap, but I can see how it might be trite. At least, in the real world, these types of fashion gestures seem to be treated as a “novelty” as opposed to effecting any real change in anyone’s attitude or behavior.
And in the fictional world, it probably doesn’t mean there will be any difference in the types of models we’ll see on Ugly Betty from here on out.
It’d be wonderful if Ugly Betty actually created a lovely little fantastic dream world where models began to be normal looking.
I personally believe that the fashion industry does far less than TV itself does to warp young minds, so a TV show that is more fantasy than reality telling young women that normal was fashionable? Excellent.
It won’t happen, next week will bring it all back to normal, I bet, but I can dream.
I wondered why Mode didn’t actually recruit any plus-sized models. They’re in New York for heaven’s sake, and there are hundreds of women who weigh more than 102 and know how to walk a catwalk. It would have seemed less trite if actual models were used.
You know, everyone is always going on and on and on about how models are so impossibly skinny and set an impossible standard for the rest of us women and shouldn’t all models weigh the same as normal people and stop warping our minds in terms of what we feel we’re supposed to look like to be considered attractive?
But nobody ever mentions anything about height. Yeah, I’m never going to be 102 pounds, but I’m also never going to be 5’10”
Why is one model-typical physical attribute supposed to make me feel bad about myself, but not the other–considering they’re both supposed to be possessed by the ‘ideal’ female physical speciman?
Exactly…I’m barely over 100 lbs, but I’m also only 5’3. I’m skinny as fuck and my weight doesn’t worry me- it’s my height I obsess over. I feel unattractive most of the time because I am not 5’11 and leggy like a model.
Ha. The height thing is so true and it is the main way that Barbie dolls fucked up my head — I never really expected to be wasp-waisted with huge boobs, but damn it, I wanted to be six feet tall. I still don’t quite feel like a grown-up because I’m not as proportionately tall as Barbie.
(My mom is also taller than I am, which is probably the real reason why I feel like I haven’t quite achieved an adult body yet, but I’d rather blame Barbie.)
Yeah! At my school medical when I was nine, I was told my projected height was 5’10.
But although I was a tall child, I was already starting my growth spurt then. I’m actually 5’5, which is perfectly average (and taller than most of the women in my family). But I feel, well, short.
My brother got caught the same way. They shouldn’t TELL kids what their projected height is; it’s such an inexact science!
I caught the last part of that ep. I think the whole “healthy look” thing is so very anti-thin disguised in PR (though it does mean that the rhetoric of body pride activists are becoming relevant). I agree with proposing a more diverse size range in models, but I don’t agree with excluding anyone based on their size or the health status people assume they have because of their size. Stereotyping thin women as anorexic and calling them “deathy” isn’t helping. It’s the same thing. Period.
I take the good with the bad, but I wish people in the media could talk about and propose broadening acceptable body types and loving one’s body without disparaging other bodies.
Oh yeah, and the whole skeleton’s thing really bothers me and creeps me out. How do people totally miss the misogyny in those images? Not okay.
I did see the episode and in the end they did en up using a couple of plus size models for what it’s worth….
I saw the episode and enjoyed it very much, especially when one of the ‘cool’ girls came back and expressed her gratitude to Betty. It shows that it can change some people’s minds. Although it is sad that pluas size fashion shows are far and few between.
I don’t know if anyone remembers but there was a real Mode magazine that was a fashion magazine for plus size women. Unfortunately, it didn’t last that long due to low reader numbers.
I saw this episode and had mixed feelings about it. Does anyone else think America is getting smaller?