Weber discusses the messages that derive from makeover-centric reality TV shows. In an article called “Makeover as Takeover: Scenes of Affective Domination on Makeover TV,” Brenda R. The idea that a person’s “true self” requires a makeover to reach is not exclusive to Tally’s world. Remembering her kiss with David, she thinks, “this counted” ( Uglies 280). In her understanding, most Ugly kisses don’t count.
Based on social programming, she never imagined that a kiss with another Ugly could feel significant or matter.
David is Tally’s first boyfriend and so all of her experiences with kissing and touch up to that point were second-hand. She remembers that “Uglies did kiss each other… but it always felt as if nothing counted until you were a pretty” ( Uglies 280). As she processes her confusing feelings, she recalls the relationships she used to see between her friends in the Ugly dorms. She is very surprised when she kisses David and feels genuine romantic feelings for him. She does not feel like her ugly body represents her true self and feels that she will be more mature and more genuine once she has the operation. To her, her natural face and body are signs of immaturity. David tells her, “Whatever those brain lesions are all about, the worst damage is done before they even pick up the knife: You’re all brainwashed into believing you’re ugly” ( Uglies 276).įor Tally, “ugly” is not exclusively a description of her physical appearance. To David, who was raised in a rebel camp that frowns on plastic surgery, Tally is tragically hard on herself. Before they share their first kiss, they debate at length about whether or not someone with an imperfect, unaltered face can be beautiful. When she first meets David, the rebellious Ugly from New Smoke, she is completely floored by his admission that he finds her beautiful. Her entire body is natural, and the only obstacles to her expression of intimacy are socially programmed. When Tally is an Ugly in the first novel, she has never had a mind-altering operation.
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