#like her canon character is already trying to fit into societal standards and now she's a first gen immigrant

[rose-lalondde]

whoever started the sakura lives in the Uzushio District headcanon i luv u forever and hope you receive your favorite food soon

[hinasho]

Tally as a Girl of Color & Dr. Cable as White

I just finished reading the Uglies book after watching the movie, and while I did have a fun time with the movie, I can definitely see some of the issues with the adaptation. For one, I think the choice to cast Joey King as Tally was a poor one.

(Disclaimer: As of now I have only finished the first book. I have yet to read Pretties and on. If my stance changes after continuing the series, I will update this post.)

In the Uglies book, there’s heavy undertones of racism and colorism at play (lightening skin, widening eyes, thinning noses, straightening hair, etc.) Pretty society basically employs a “non-deadly” version of eugenics.

Tally as a goc may not be what Scott Westerfeld intended given the original cover model looks just like Joey King lol. But as a reader, it’s much more compelling to picture Tally as a goc suffering under severe internalized colorism and societal beauty standards. (It also just feels fitting given Tally canonically has curly hair and brown skin.)

I also think casting Laverne Cox as Dr. Cable was a poor choice.

People have already spoken at length about the tastelessness of casting a trans woman to be the main villain manipulating children to undergo extensive surgery. That is a pretty horrific casting choice given the political climate we’ve been in for quite some time.

On top of that, Director McG’s intention with casting Laverne Cox seems to be misguided from a racial POV too.

“You’ve got to remember, the great villains, they don’t think they’re villains on paper,” McG said. “What New Pretty Town is offering is wonderful, and what Dr. Cable is offering is wonderful. There’s no cancer in New Pretty Town. There’s no racism, there’s no sexism. All of these things are wonderful points of advancement…” — Deadline Interview

One of the reasons Laverne Cox was cast (aside from her acting skills because she does absolutely kill the role) was to emphasize there is no more prejudice, no more racism, no sexism, etc. after becoming pretty.

But in the book it’s clear “there’s no racism” because they essentially erase racial identities. Everyone looks exactly the same with exactly the same features. Everyone in New Pretty Town participates in the same events and is smashed together to form one indistinguishable “culture” completely dedicated to partying and very little else. “There is no racism”, not because they genetically modified everyone into no longer caring about ethnicities & cultural differences, but because they erased unique cultures as a whole. Intentionally.

Dr. Cable being played by a white actress ties into this given her role in Special Circumstances is to uphold society’s beauty standards and the continued erasure of different ethnicities.

The movie tweaking Cable’s character from an intimidating shadowy Special into, seemingly, a charmingly manipulative Middle Pretty who’s the face of New Pretty Town, is completely fine imo. But as the character who essentially stands behind the “We are all one race… the human race” concept, it would be more fitting for her to be played by a white woman trying to enforce society’s beauty standards onto goc!Tally. Rather than Cable being played by a Black woman in opposition to a very white Tally. Because while this movie is futuristic scifi, it’s being released in our world, with its current landscape, today.

This is no shade to the actresses by the way. I think Joey King and Laverne Cox did really well in their roles. I just think the casting choices could’ve been conceptually better and more impactful.