Remember back in the day, about 15 years ago, when Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games books became the most popular teen fiction? Suddenly, every publisher and production studio was pumping out YA dystopian stories, usually centered around a harried teenage girl having to make a symbolic romantic choice between two very different dudes while also trying to overthrow a corrupt, oppressive state.
Scott Westerfeld was Collins’ series in 2005, several years ahead of publication. Ugly, the first part in a planned trilogy that has now been expanded to eight books. But it’s taken more than 20 years for a film adaptation to materialize. Netflix’s new trailer for the Ugly series is a real flashback to the 10 year old heyday of YA film adaptations such as Divergent, Maze runner, The fifth wave, The giver, The darkest ghostsand so on. The CG-smooth future feels familiar. And so does the imperious representative of the oppressive regime (played by Orange is the new black‘s Laverne Cox), the stressed-out teenage heroine (Joey King of The princess) and the attractive boys she has to choose from.
Image: Netflix
The Uglies series is less immediately obvious about its dystopian setting than many of these other series: it’s set in a post-scarcity future where teenagers live in a kind of perpetual high-tech party, zooming around on hoverboards and playing high-tech games. Everyone has everything they need and everyone is conventionally beautiful, because they all undergo surgery at 16 to smooth out their quirks. But Tally (King) discovers the dark truth behind the mandatory surgeries, which thrusts her into a game she doesn’t want to play.
It’s easy enough to spot the twist online, and it’s clear enough how it serves as a commentary on conformity, superficial beauty standards, and the importance of individualism. But if you haven’t read the Uglies books yet and are feeling good about taking a retro trip back to the YA dystopia boom, you might want to start unspoiled and see if you can see the twist coming.
McG (director of the modern Charlie’s Angels reboots and the unloved Terminator: Redemption) is listed as the series’ director. The cast includes Keith Powers, Chase Stokes, Brianne Tju, Jan Luis Castellanos, and Charmin Lee, alongside King and Cox.
Ugly will be released on Netflix on September 13.