Young adult narratives set in dystopian worlds have become a relic of the past back in the last decade itself, but Netflix can’t help churning them out nearly every month. This time, they have got their hands on Scott Westerfield’s novel Uglies, the cinematic adaptation of which unfurls a story that connects body dysmorphia with the question of human free will, which sounds like an intriguing concept on paper and might even be interpreted by the uninitiated as having certain underlying complex themes of identity and human psyche. But in reality, it’s a rather milquetoast narrative that barely scratches the surface of the promising concept it introduces. Add to that a generic plot, uninteresting characters, and a lack of drama and action, Uglies manages to put forward a strong argument that it’s justified its title more directly than it intended.
Spoilers Ahead
The World Of Pretties And Uglies
In an alternate future, humanity’s avarice leads to ecological collapse and an acute crisis of fossil fuels. Centuries later, a bunch of expert bioengineers synthesized a unique flower, the White Tiger Orchid, which acted as a natural, clean source of energy—which allowed the surviving humanity to recreate human civilization. However, humanity’s tendency to discriminate led to the creation of different clans, castes, and creeds all over again, threatening the peace of this new era, which prompted humanity to consider an unconventional solution—to remove the superficial differences among individuals altogether, a cosmetic transformation procedure was initiated that brought out the best physical form of everyone, letting people attain a perfect, symmetrical appearance. The perfection apparently allowed humans to attain happiness and peace, ending every possibility of conflict as a result.
After turning 16, everyone undergoes the procedure of transformation, and the ‘perfect’ ones, termed as Pretties, get to live in luxurious cities without any responsibilities, sustaining themselves on the amenities provided by the district authorities. The ones who haven’t undergone the transformation yet are termed Uglies, who live in dingy dormitories away from the main cities. In a way, to wipe out discrimination, humanity had enforced a temporary one. Our protagonist, Tally Youngblood, is one of the Uglies, who is ever eager to become one of the Pretty ones and venture to the city, along with her best friend, Peris. The initial phase of the movie shows the strong bond Tally shares with Peris, finding common ground with him while dealing with their respective ‘imperfections’. Before his graduation/transformation day, Peris promises Tally he’ll visit before she undergoes the procedure. However, as a transformed Peris starts his new life, he grows out of touch with Tally, which prompts her to sneak inside the city to pay a visit to her best friend. However, Tally gets dejected to feel a lack of connection between them, and while returning to her dorm, she almost gets caught—when Shay, a high-spirited Ugly, helps her to escape the authorities.
What Did Tally Learn in the Smoke?
Tally and Shay quickly become the best of friends, and Tally gets excited to learn that Shay shares a birthday with her, which implies both of them will go through the transformation procedure on the same day. However, on the day of transformation, Shay reveals to Tally that she has been in contact with a renegade commune leader, David, and following his guidance, she is unwilling to go through with the procedure. Unlike Tally, who is not comfortable in her own skin, Shay has made peace with her ‘imperfections’ and wishes Tally to join her to meet with David. Talky refuses to do so, and Shay ends up taking her leave as she goes to meet David, leaving a cryptic waypoint for Tally, just in case she decides to change her mind later on.
Tally’s transformation doesn’t happen, as she is summoned by the district governor, Dr. Nyah Cable, the chief overseer of the transformation procedure and everything involving Pretties and Uglies. Dr. Cable questions Tally regarding Shay’s whereabouts, mentioning that she has been led down a dangerous path after getting indoctrinated by David, whose commune is secretly trying to make a weapon to destroy the city and thwart the peace attained by the authorities. Assuming Tally is aware where David has taken Shay to, Dr. Cable orders her to find her friend before it’s too late, but Tally decides not to break Shay’s trust and refuses to help. However, as Dr. Cable sends Peris to convince Tally to help them locate Shay, she eventually agrees, and the district governor provides her with a beacon, which she can activate after finding out Shay and David. Meanwhile, Cable sends Peris for another transformation procedure, which enhances his physical attributes even more but renders him a machine-like construct.
Following Shay’s cryptic directions, Tally ventures deeper into the outside world and comes across David, who takes her to a settlement where she is reunited with Shay. Shay is delighted considering Tally has accepted her offer but gets disappointed to learn that Tally wants her to return back to their old life. Shay asks Tally to stay for the time being and judge for herself what kind of life she is willing to choose—the preordained mechanical life in the dorms and the city, or the free lifestyle propagated by David and his associates.
From David and his friends, Tally learns that the White Orchid flowers, which were seemingly the source of free, clean energy, are actually toxic enough to make the lands barren, which is why David and his followers burn them to ensure the protection of the wilderness. Cable sends a couple of enhanced scouts, assessing Tally’s possible location through the last signal of a GPS device she had put in Tally’s belongings, and a scuffle ensues, which almost claims Shay’s life during the burning of the flowers. Tally puts her life on line to save her best friend, which allows David to trust her—and he decides to take Tally to the secretive commune known as the Smoke.
Living peacefully and maintaining harmony with nature, the residents of the Smoke believe in self-help and freedom of choice, but most importantly, they have accepted themselves as what they are, going against the directive of achieving a set standard of perfection upheld by the likes of Dr. Cable. Tally is surprised to realize that she has been misinformed by Dr. Cable, as in reality, David and his followers are starkly different than the kind of image Cable wanted to project about them. As David and Tally gradually grow fond of each other, Tally can’t help but directly ask him about the weapon Dr. Cable has mentioned to her. David takes Tally to his parents, and speaking with them, Tally learns that everything she had been taught about the Pretties and their world is a big fat lie. David’s parents, who are doctors by profession, reveal that the transformation procedure changes the psyche of its subject, limiting their emotions in such a way that they can be controlled, and their free will ceases to exist. There is a cure at Cable’s disposal, which was used on doctors to restore their psyche, and after learning this terrible truth, David’s parents, Az and Maddy, decided to leave the security provided by the authorities behind and settle in the outside world. They have been trying to synthesize a version of the cure, which Cable has termed a weapon, given how it could undo all her plans with the brainwashed populace.
Why Did Tally Agree To Become Pretty?
Learning the heinous truth about Cable and her machinations, Tally wastes no time to destroy the beacon by throwing it to fire—little does she know that the beacon gets activated nevertheless, and the next day Cable and her enhanced scouts arrive at the Smoke and round up the residents. As Cable congratulates Tally for finding the Smoke, Shay and the rest of the denizens of the commune consider her to be a traitor. Cable tries to force David’s father, Az, to reveal his son’s whereabouts, and as he refuses to do so, Cable orders brainwashed, enhanced Peris to kill him. The Smoke is turned to ashes, the residents get captured and get taken to the city to be turned into pretties, and somehow Tally and David manage to escape. However, David wants nothing to do with her anymore, given her connection with Cable resulted in his world getting uprooted in this way. Tally explains the entire situation to David, mentioning how she was in the dark and was misguided by Cable for so long until she met David and the rest of the commune members, which allowed her to learn the truth. Tally offers her help to sneak David inside the city, as she is prepared to rectify her mistakes by saving Shay, David’s mother Maddy, and the residents of Smoke from Cable’s grip.
Tally convinces some of the few friendly Uglies to create a distraction when she and David sneak inside the city’s research wing to help the residents of the Smoke escape. However, Tally is too late to rescue Shay, who has already been turned into one of the Pretties. Cable manages to trap Tally, Maddy, and David and forces them to enter the transformation chambers—as she goads them about how her way of eradication of human free will is the only feasible way to save humanity from their self-destructive tendencies. Before she can turn her captives into Pretties, one of the commune members, Croy, swoops down in a chopper to destroy the facility, allowing Tally, David, and Maddy to escape, taking Shay along with them. Peris confronts the group later on, and as Tally tries to appeal to his senses, David, fearing for her safety (also enraged by the trauma of losing his father at Peris’ hands), attacks him. Peris easily overpowers him, prompting Tally to tackle Peris away, until he’s clinging for his life on the edge of a waterfront.
In his final moments, Peris remembers Tally as his best friend and falls to his death—although it is not confirmed whether he truly lost his life. As the group reaches safety, Maddy reveals that she has stolen part of the cure from Cable’s lab and can use it to revert the Pretties to their original selves. Tally is relieved to consider the possibility that Shay will be saved at last, but contrary to her assumption, Shay refuses to return to her old self. Taking the responsibility on her shoulders, Tally states that she is willing to become a Pretty in order to become a test subject of the cure. Apologizing for her mistakes, Tally pleads with David to look for her and bring her back to a rebuilt Smoke to use the cure on her. Asking the group to take leave with Shay, Tally surrenders to the authorities and later on gets transformed into a Pretty as the Uglies movie comes to an end. David had previously asked her whether she would maintain her stance about using the cure after transformation as well, and Tally had assured him that she would. As a reminder of her past life, a transformed Tally looks at the scar in her hand, the one she shared with her late best friend, Peris. Before transforming into a Pretty, Tally had decided to keep her scar intact so she could remember her past life. Thereby, she can remember her connection with David as well, and keeping her promise, she can use the cure upon herself.
