Europe vs. Latin America

While watching the various clips of the different Bettys, it was very clear that when it comes to standards of beauty, wearing glasses and braces don't make the cut. What was also very clear, was how different the standards of beauty were in Europe versus Latin America and how serious each region took the "lack" of beauty in their characters.

The clips from the Latin American Bettys were colorful and comical, while those from Europe were much more dark and serious. While this may be a testament to how each responds to those who they find less than attractive, I also saw it as clear evidence of how different the cultures of the regions are. I noticed when we were watching the clips from Latin America, there was an emphasis on the look of the character, not just the "nerdiness" of the character. In the clips from Europe, there was more of an emphasis on the actual personality of the character, but no much the outward appearance.

This signaled a few things to me. Number one, that Latin American writers and producers wanted to have fun with the concept of "Ugly Betty" and saw this telenovela as an opportunity to do that. While, beauty is important in Latin America, writers gave Latinos someone they could fall in love with. Their characters seemed more like someone with a quirky personality, but was lovable. On the other hand, the European versions made it seem like European writers had an agenda that they wanted to pursue. European Betty seemed as though her "ugliness" was a disability that needed to be fixed. I didn't see the same quirkiness that I saw in Latina Betty.

Don't get me wrong, I am in no way bashing European styles of telenovelas, but I do feel that they could make Betty a little more... happy. Perhaps the style of programming of each region reflects what is going on in that part of the world. Maybe Latin Americans want to get away from the problems that are going on around them and Betty gives them a way out. Whatever the case, each region is just a reflection of what consumers want... and customers are always right.... Right?