The era of young adult dystopias in cinema is unfortunately over. The beginning of the 2010s triggered by The Hunger Games Trend has produced many other films. Divergent and Maze Runner are the best known examples. But there have also been film adaptations such as The Host, The Giver and most recently Chaos Walking.
In fact, even Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One could be included in the list. But we digress. Let us not dwell on the old days, but look to the futureWith Ugly (original title: Uglies), Netflix is bringing back the YA dystopia in a big way. You can stream the film now.
Netflix continues the legacy of The Hunger Games with the dystopian sci-fi adaptation Ugly
Ugly takes us into a world of beauty obsession, where young people go under the knife to achieve the perfect look. The story begins 300 years in the future, where society is two strictly separate classes On one side are the Pretties, on the other side are the Uglies.
You can watch the trailer for Ugly here:
Ugly – Don’t lose your face – Trailer (German) HD
You can probably already imagine what this means: If you are beautiful, you don’t need to not worry about anything. On the other hand, those who are blessed with a less than perfect appearance have one obstacle after another thrown in their path. However, all hope is not lost. Because there is a way to become “pretty”.
Anyone who celebrates their 16th birthday ritual cosmetic surgery can look to the future with confidence. Tally Youngblood (Joey King), the protagonist of the film, can hardly wait for her operation. But it doesn’t take long before she realizes that not everything in her world is going as it should.
In the 2000s, the film adaptation of the Uglies series failed, now Netflix has a huge opportunity
The premise fits perfectly with the dystopias mentioned. A dark vision of the future with a very specific detail (in this case the operations), which can be used to discuss social, political and moral questions of the genre. Just like Hunger Games and Co., Ugly is based on a novel.
Scott Westerfeld put the story on paper in 2005 as a response to the beauty craze and has continued to write three more novels written that complete the Uglies universe: Pretties, Specials and Extras. A whole series lies dormant here, just waiting to be made into a film. Now it’s Netflix’s turn.
If we look into the history books of Hollywood, it will quickly become clear that In the mid-2000s, the first plans to bring the story to the big screen. 20th Century Fox wanted to create its own young adult dystopia. Ultimately, the project never came to fruition.
Now we can look forward to seeing whether Netflix will succeed in adapting the series in a worthy way and sparking new enthusiasm for the genre. If the film is successful, we may even be able to hope for the sequelsLead actress Joey King has at least already finished one Netflix series with The Kissing Booth.
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