Ugly Betty ‘The Box and the Bunny’

Ugly Betty – TV Series. ‘The Box and the Bunny’

The moral and ethical dilemmas faced by the main character and the approaches taken by other characters to resolve the situations within which they find themselves.

Betty Suarez is sweet, smart and hardworking; she is virtuous in the fact that she is a ‘right-doing person.’ The only thing that sets her aside from her colleagues at the high-fashion magazine, Mode, is that she is not slim and beautiful. Seen as the ‘ugly duckling’ character, Betty has braces, curves, bushy hair and geeky glasses, despite this, she is always cheerful. Average and optimistic would best describe Betty Suarez. The title character of the hit TV series, Ugly Betty, is an ambitious young girl who breaks the mould of the stereotypical Latina.

As well as looking different, Betty’s honesty makes her stand out from the backstabbing beauties working for Mode. Do-gooder Betty tells the truth without thinking about the consequences, as she would love to live in a world where everybody tells the truth. In Betty’s world the only right thing to do is tell the truth. Betty’s moral actions are those that live up to principles such as honesty, justice and respect for others. Betty definitely believes in Karma, therefore treats people how she would like to be treated herself. Betty sees that she has a duty to be honest; and lives by the maxim ‘treat every man as an end in himself and never as a means only’.

Betty has attracted a following because her character is the unlikely Hispanic heroine and she challenges Hollywood’s perception of beauty. Can she be successful in the fashion industry without being beautiful? ‘Perfection sells fashion’ is the motto of Mode, which Betty is set to change.

The character of Betty Suarez is positive role model for young women. She dreams of running her own publication and is prepared to start at the bottom and work to get to the top, although she may seem shy, she does have self-confidence. Before she goes into her first business conference at Mode, in the pilot episode, she tells herself with a smile “you are an attractive, intelligent, confident business woman.”

In the episode ‘The Box and The Bunny’ (Season 1. Episode 3.) Betty faces a moral dilemma when she has to find ‘the book’ she lost which is the complete new edition of Mode, containing un-retouched photographs of a popular actress. These are original images of the actress, which are not supposed to be published in the magazine. ‘The book’ is stolen by Betty’s ex friend, Gina, who holds the book hostage in order to get money from her. Betty’s moral approach starts to change in this story as she begins to stand up for herself, more than she thought herself capable of.

When in a meeting with the Editor in chief, Daniel Meade, and the actress, Natalie, Daniel demands that the photographs be manipulated to make the model look thinner in order to compliment the image of Mode, this upsets Natalie; she asks for Betty’s opinion, but when she is about to speak her mind and say she thinks the model looks stunning, she is interrupted, and later told by Daniel that when asked for her opinion in those type of situations she must go with the majority in the room in order to fit in. After being told “This is Mode, and we are not about normal” Betty sees Natalie sat alone at a computer downsizing her picture until she disappears, connoting that she feels invisible and does not have a voice in the powerful world of the magazine industry. Slim, beautiful, airbrushed images are seen as aspirational, but Betty would like the girls of the fashion industry to see and aspire to real images of beautiful women.

There are many similarities between the moral dilemmas faced in Ugly Betty and the ones we are faced with in real life. Here is a quote from Mode TV – “We only make others feel bad to make you feel good.” This, sadly, seems to be true of society in general.

The character of Daniel Meade is seen as continent as he struggles against his desires. Although he is a very selfish person, but it is evident that he does have a conscience. Daniels priority is his reputation; his actions compliment his reputation, even if it means hurting the people around him.

Daniels reaction when he finds out that there are un-retouched photographs of Natalie in the mock up of the magazine makes Betty, as well as the viewer realise that this is serious within the magazine industry, both in this programme and in real life. It seems the worst thing they could do is publish original images of a beautiful woman looking ‘normal’. Daniel makes it clear that if these images are associated with Mode, then their reputation is ruined.

Journalism has a social obligation to the public which is to tell the truth. Betty believes that all publications should tell the truth, by whatever means necessary. Betty Suarez has a Kantian outlook on life and being truthful is compulsory.

As seen in this episode, Betty is much more confident and comfortable when at home with her family. Betty comes from a loving home and has a strong relationship with her father, she has a moral background in which her family all look out for one another; this has shaped Betty into the bright, honest young lady she is.

Betty is a very moral and noble person, but is forced into situations at Mode where being herself is just not enough. Betty is forced to ‘twist the truth to fit in’. Even Betty’s sister, who knows Betty well, forces her to be untruthful; she tells Betty to lie to Daniel about the whereabouts of ‘the book’. ‘The will is good when it acts out of duty, not out of inclination.’ Betty does not act because it would make her feel good, or because she hopes to gain something from it. During this point in the episode, it is clear that Betty is uncomfortable with lying to her boss, but she knows by looking at the bigger picture that it is best that she tells a ‘little white lie’. Does this make her a better person?

“You can take my bunny, but you can’t take my spirit” says Betty, when her fluffy pink bunny is stolen from her desk by bully, Amanda. The bunny is a metaphor for Betty. Her innocence is crushed all the way through the episode, but is fixed at the end. This sums up Betty perfectly, she is constantly being knocked down by beautiful people around her who think that they are above Betty because they are more attractive and successful, but Betty rises above the negativity.

Amanda has no struggle of desires, and no weakness of will she is seen as vicious and, not to mention, a little dumb; when Betty realises that Amanda is the person who stole her bunny, she tells her “I truly hope you get everything you deserve” Amanda thanks her and takes it as a compliment.

During the drama where Betty and Daniel are trying to get back ‘the book’ Betty half jokes to Daniel, “If you could twist the truth one more time and give me a good recommendation, I would appreciate it.” This shows that Betty is becoming a much stronger person throughout the episode thanks to the situations in which she has been faced. As before, Betty definitely would not have been cheeky enough to ask this of her boss.

Throughout the course of this episode Betty switches from being a Kantian to Utilitarianism which states that ‘an act is morally right if it causes the greatest happiness for the greatest number’. The dilemma with the un-retouched images of Natalie changes Betty’s approach dramatically when she confesses all to Natalie about it being her fault that ‘the book’ went missing.

At the end of the programme Betty tells her “I would kill to look like you.” which inspires Natalie to publish the original pictures to make a “new and nicer Mode.” This is an uplifting end to the episode; the atmosphere at Mode is much more positive and all the characters become less uptight. This part of the show gives the viewer the ‘feel good factor.’

The moral of the story? … Tell the truth!

This episode is full of moral and ethical issues that we can all relate to; we can put ourselves in the shoes of the characters and decide what we would do in those particular circumstances.

Which character can you relate yourself to?

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