Stereotypes In Ugly Betty

The show depicts a quirky, young woman named Betty who is often regarded as unattractive by others. Betty lands a job as an assistant at a fashion magazine called “Mode”. Though her physical appearance is often mocked and humiliated, Betty gains her colleague’s respect and eventually finds her way into the fashion industry through her hard work and positive attitude. Meanwhile, other women who work in Mode tend to be careful about the impressions others have on their physical appearance, thus building their body images according to beauty standards. Though the first three seasons of Ugly Betty prove that women can live without following beauty standards, the makeover of Betty in season 4 undermines the show’s efforts to liberate women from body image stereotypes. The show was broadcasted on ABC from 2006 to 2010. At that time, the third-wave feminism had begun for over 10 years and the fourth-wave feminism just started. The third-wave feminism began in the mid-1990s. Third-wave feminists strived for reclaiming the definition of womanhood, sexuality, beauty and femininity. They rejected female stereotypes and promoted …show more content…
I will apply this term to my analysis of women representations in Ugly Betty. I will divide the rest of my article into three sections. In the first section, I explore mainstream beauty standards and stereotypes portrayed in American television. The show’s depiction of the leading roles are mostly skinny women wearing fashion brand clothing and makeup. The appearance of the characters draws upon the stereotypes of women’s beauty. Next, I apply contextual analysis of mental and physical illness of women on my discussion of the negative influence of one-dimensional beauty standards. Finally, I combine textual analysis of female celebrity interviews and my argument of women’s assimilation towards mainstream beauty