Six 'Ugly Betty' characters stolen from beautiful 'Cinderella': The modern woman and telenovela

Ugly Betty has become one of the most globally popular telenovelas. The Ugly Betty storyline is taken from the Cinderella plot structure and retold in a modern way. This research demonstrates that the Cinderella plot is still identified by adults and is continually reborn through mass media. As the story of Cinderella is continuously retold some elements in the story are changed. This work examines six characters from the 1950's Walt Disney's Cinderella and will compare them to the American version of Ugly Betty to identify the retelling of Cinderella. The overall theme of Cinderella changes with the more modern telling of Ugly Betty. This paper found that in Ugly Betty, the gender roles of the two main characters were reversed. In the Cinderella movie, the prince saves Cinderella. In Ugly Betty, the character of Betty saves the leading man.