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{{trope}}
[[File:
'''Producer''': I wanted Mary Ann on ''[[Gilligan's
|'''''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'''''|"Pygmoelian"}}
Dramatic situations sometimes require a character (usually female) who is unappealing, unattractive, and has a hard time finding dates. However, unattractive or even average-looking women are often dissuaded from even trying to get acting jobs in Hollywood, so the person cast in the role ends up being more gorgeous than anybody you'll ever meet in real life. Likewise, producers know that "beauty is money," and so they're disinclined to cast ''genuinely'' unattractive people even as villains or extras, but would rather simply ''imply'' homeliness to the character via character-
▲{{quote|'''Producer''': What were you thinking?<br />
▲'''Casting''': Well, you said you wanted gritty. In other words, ugly.<br />
▲'''Producer''': I wanted Mary Ann on ''[[Gilligan's Island (TV)|Gilligans Island]]'' ugly, not Cornelius on ''[[Planet of the Apes]]'' ugly. TV-ugly, not ... [[The Grotesque|ugly-ugly]].|'''''[[The Simpsons (Animation)|The Simpsons]]''''', "Pygmoelian"}}
She'll also be much thinner, since women of average build are considered to be lumbering oxen by most Hollywood producers even if they're as fit as an Olympian. They make her "plain" by giving her some or all of the following: thick glasses, braces, freckles, unfashionable clothes, an unflattering hairstyle, and an even-better-looking sibling or friend. A more subtle method involves giving the actress clothes that clash with her natural skin color, making her look pale or
▲Dramatic situations sometimes require a character (usually female) who is unappealing, unattractive, and has a hard time finding dates. However, unattractive or even average-looking women are often dissuaded from even trying to get acting jobs in Hollywood, so the person cast in the role ends up being more gorgeous than anybody you'll ever meet in real life. Likewise, producers know that "beauty is money," and so they're disinclined to cast ''genuinely'' unattractive people even as villains or extras, but would rather simply ''imply'' homeliness to the character via character-reactions -- regardless of the irony presented in attributing such to the fairly good-looking person playing the role.
▲She'll also be much thinner, since women of average build are considered to be lumbering oxen by most Hollywood producers even if they're as fit as an Olympian. They make her "plain" by giving her some or all of the following: thick glasses, braces, freckles, unfashionable clothes, an unflattering hairstyle, and an even-better-looking sibling or friend. A more subtle method involves giving the actress clothes that clash with her natural skin color, making her look pale or blotchy -- a method also often used in "[[Before and After Pictures|before-and-after]]" shots for diet-pill commercials. Bad lighting can help.
[[Generic Cuteness]] is the animated equivalent of this trope, and the result is a very [[Informed Deformity]]. Naturally, this all leads to [[Unfortunate Implications]].
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[[Adaptational Attractiveness]] is when this trope is applied to characters who were plain, unattractive, old, etc. in the source material a show is based on. [[Beauty Inversion]] is the use of makeup or prosthetics to successfully avert this trope. Attempts to avert this may result in an [[Unnecessary Makeover]].
Compare [[Beautiful All Along]], [[Cool Loser]], [[Hollywood Dateless]], [[Hollywood Nerd]], [[Hollywood Pudgy]]. Contrast [[Informed Attractiveness]] and [[Gorgeous Gorgon]].
Please keep in mind that this trope only applies if the character is actively stated to be or treated as unattractive. A handsome actor playing a geek doesn't count if nobody on the show has a problem with his looks. Similarly, a good-looking actor who is actually made less attractive is an aversion of this trope.
{{examples}}▼
{{noreallife|many women and girls in real life have body image issues. There's no reason to trigger their anxieties.}}
▲{{examples}}
== Advertising ==
* [[Microsoft]]. Sent up in the Windows 7 "My Idea" series of ads. When the normal people in question flashback to having their idea, they're ''always'' portrayed by someone several times prettier than them by Hollywood standards, while an angelic chorus plays in the background. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLAO9YnlJSU Such as this one], where a fairly pretty woman is portrayed by an absolute ''stunner''.
* Teleflora. The theme in their 2010 Super Bowl commercial is ''supposed'' to be "Hot but bitchy girl gets the bad flowers; frumpy but [[Plucky Office Girl|hard-working girl]] gets the good flowers." Apparently, "frumpy" now means "not willing to wear short skirts and go-go boots to work".
* In its early days, the [[Disney Channel]] used to run a PSA that was all over this trope. A very attractive teenager is sitting in front of a poster of a pop star, lamenting how plain and unattractive she is. The pop star springs to life from the poster and tells the girl that she shouldn't worry, because it's all Hollywood magic. The pop star is then magically stripped of all the makeup, fancy clothes, etc, and reduced to being... really attractive. And the teenager is reassured. [[Broken Aesop|About something.]]
== Anime and
* [http://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/Ganju_Shiba Ganju Shiba] is a male example from ''[[Bleach]]''. In a world where most of the young male characters are [[Bishonen]], [[Hunk|Ganju]] is considered a [[Gonk]]. The real world does not always work that way.
* ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' When Mayu is introduced, in both manga and anime, she is derided/described as looking every inch the homeless child she has been for perhaps several weeks at that point. Problem is, virtually nothing about her physical appearance suggests this. Even a week's time would have her looking a lot worse than she comes across as.
* ''[[Genshiken]]'' Ohno is called an "Ordinary person who is cute" and that Saki is "like a model", but Ohno is just as attractive as Saki is. In universe, Saki is seen as constantly caring of her appearance (implied by her dyed hair and her fashionable clothes and makeup), while Ohno only pulls that level of effort [[Cosplay Otaku Girl|when doing cosplay]], and when she does she's considered stunning.
* ''[[Godchild]]'' In the ''Scold's Bridle'' story arc, Drew is supposedly so plain that other upper-class girls won't give her the time of day - something which the mangaka illustrates by giving her [[Meganekko|quite good-looking round glasses]], freckles and a braid. (She also seems to have real curves compared to the waifish characters) The art style may be partly at fault, but the fact remains that she looks no less pretty than any other girl in the manga. In the same story arc, Viola wears a mask because she is disfigured, but when she takes it off
* ''[[Gokusen]]'' Quite a few characters like to point out how "plain" the protagonist is. This also comes into play in the drama, however, here she is played by [http://www.yellowcinema.com/yukie-nakama/ Yukie Nakama]
* The Princess of the Diamond´s Country in ''[[Sailor Moon]]''. In both versions (manga and anime), the princess suffer short-sightedness. Her glasses create in her a manga-version of Velma in Scooby Doo, until she drops her glasses. In the manga version, Amy and Rei discuss the true aspect of Umino (Melvin) if he take off his glasses.
* ''[[
** Of course, the movie also shows that Lettie is very sociable while Sophie is very reserved, which might explain a bit of it. The soldiers at the beginning of the movie and Howl himself seem to find Sophie quite attractive. Given the nature of the curse, there's also the implication that a lot of Sophie's "homeliness" are self esteem issues on her part.
** In the movie it's never quite explained why Sophie can change her age at will, but in the book it is stated that, as soon as Hollow saw her, he took away the curse; yet she unconsciously used her own powers to remain an old crone as a means to stay in the comfort zone that "ugly-ness" gave her.
* In ''[[Inuyasha]]'', Kagome is stated several times to be "average" in looks and appearance (by Inuyasha). However, it is noted (even the anime characters state it), that she looks almost exactly like Kikyo,
** Honestly, it's a [[Rumiko Takahashi|Takahashi]] anime, no-one is ugly.
** And Inuyasha is just being a [[Jerkass]] with a Heart of Gold.
** Inuyasha recognizes Kagome by smell, not sight. He probably finds the scent of things like body wash and shampoo strange and off-putting.
* ''[[Monster (
* Akane Tendo, at least if her erstwhile
* ''[[Earthsea|Tehanu]]'' a novel by [[Ursula K. Le Guin]]. Young girl Therru is so disfigured by third-degree burns that people avoid looking at her. In the anime adaptation ''[[Tales from Earthsea]]'', she's a sweet young girl who appears to suffer from a bad sunburn.
* ''[[Yotsuba&!]]'': Fuuka is often compared unfavorably to her older sister Asagi, with Yotsuba referring to her at least once as "the not-pretty sister". Fans [[Perverse Sexual Lust|tend to disagree with this assessment]].
* In ''[[Absolute Boyfriend]]'', Riiko is often described as either ugly or not as pretty as her [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|best friend Mika]]. This, of course, was the point, since Mika went a long way to ruin Riiko's self
* While not "beautiful" or "handsome", [[media:
* Uozumi and Akagi of ''[[Slam Dunk]]'' who are described as "gorillas". While they sure as heck aren't [[Bishonen]], a chiseled jaw, full lips, and defined cheek bones are hardly hideous flaws, and that's not including the fact that they're both extremely built.
* Yuri from the Kodansha-winning shoujo manga, ''Bara no Tame ni'', who is constantly referred to as fat and ugly despite looking only slightly pudgy and having the same "pretty girl" face as the supposedly more attractive girls in the story. The Taiwanese drama based off of this is even more egregious, as she's played by girl group member and actress Ella Chen.
* [[Nations
* Shouma of ''[[Mawaru Penguindrum]]'' is said to be merely plain-looking but if you look at his design he's actually quite [[Bishonen]].
* ''[[
▲== Comics ==
* ''[[Sandman]]'' [[Depending
▲* ''[[Ms. Marvel (Comic Book)|Ms. Marvel]]'' A current running joke in the books is that she's fat. [http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/3/32540/1073324-10n56xl_super.jpg It eventually gave birth to one of the biggest out of character moments in the history of Marvel Comics].
▲* ''[[Sandman]]'' [[Depending On the Artist]], several of the female characters either avert or play this straight. Particularly notable is [[The Fair Folk|Nuala]]'s true form with the glamor spell that made her look like a blonde princess removed, who looks genuinely scraggly and rather underfed, [[Progressively Prettier|though subsequent artists usually make her more cute and childlike]]. The interesting thing is that despite this, she actually comes to prefer her true form (probably because Dream prefers it, and {{spoiler|it's implied she's in love with him}}). Thessaly usually looks genuinely plain, as even without her [[Nerd Glasses]] she has a very odd-shaped face. Then there's [[Gonk|Despair]]. Thessaly's spin-off comics, however, make her look rather adorable.
* The Sentry's wife, Lindy Reynolds, in [[Marvel Comics]], is apparently supposed to be frumpy and unattractive, yet is never drawn any less gorgeous than the superheroines, most of whom have been acknowledged repeatedly as being hot. You could probably take this with a grain of salt, since the only person to call her that to her face is the [[Ax Crazy]] [[Psycho for Hire]] Bullseye, but it's been pointed out in narration before as well.
* ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' The short-time member Marrow had the mutant power to grow bones out of her body which became knives, little spikes or armor (inspired by piercings no less), resulting in calling herself ugly all the time. Despite some body horror implication, most of the time Marrow's bones were merely a cosmetic detail. Most
** There's a specific reason for this. In her original appearances as a Morlock terrorist and her initial [[Heel Face Turn]], she ''was'' quite ugly (to varying degrees [[Depending
* ''[[Wanted]]'' In the graphic novel, Wesley Gibson's girlfriend is repeatedly described as fat, and implied to be fairly unattractive, though she is not drawn this way at all. Seeing that she's knowingly cheating on him, [[Unreliable Narrator|this might be his way of expressing his anger with her]].
* In ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers Academy]]'' Tigra bemoans the fact that she's single, stating that it's hard to get a date "with classified that say 'Single Mom That Sheds'". For context, people, ''[
** This strange scene might count as [[Hollywood Dateless]] since Tigra has had many lovers over the years and has been called attractive in-universe.
== Film ==
* [[Audrey Hepburn]] personified this trope for a while; her characters were supposed to be embarrassingly frumpy and unattractive in such movies as ''[[Sabrina]]'' and ''[[Funny Face (
* The remake of ''[[Sabrina]]'' plays this straight. Sabrina, played by Julia Ormond, is initially portrayed as plain and frumpy, with long hair and glasses. By the time she returns from Paris, with [[The Glasses Gotta Go|the glasses gone]] [[She Cleans Up Nicely|and a chic new haircut and wardrobe]], her crush is so stunned at the sight of her that he nearly walks into traffic.
* In ''[[Be Kind Rewind]]'', [[Melonie Diaz]]'s character, Alma, is played up as ugly when the male film-makers are forced to take her over her (apparently) more attractive sister. This is achieved by... having her sniff and rub her nose a couple of times. It's quickly forgotten and she's the hot girl for the rest of the movie.
* ''[[Beastly]]'': Two cases.
** Lindy is supposed to be a Plain Jane-type, and the witch, Kendra, is supposedly genuinely
** [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/2/28/ Then there is the beast.] In the book, he actually gets turned into a real beast (fur, fangs, etc). In the movie he just [[Adaptational Attractiveness|loses his hair and gets a lot of tattoos]]. Not ideal, but nowhere near as bad as being an actual beast. The way he reacts to this updated appearance adds a lot of new implications about his character.
* ''Can't Buy Me Love'': Uber-dork Ronald, in this 1987 film, takes off his glasses, fluffs up his hair, and turns into Patrick Dempsey.
* Charlotte Gainsbourg, while no centerfold, is not unattractive by conventional standards, but seems to have made a career out of this trope, playing specifically unattractive characters in some of her biggest roles:
** She plays the title character in ''[[Jane Eyre]]'', whose plainness is a major aspect of her character.
** In ''[[The Science of Sleep]]'' she plays the plain woman whom the main character initially ignores in favor of her more attractive roommate.
** In ''[[21 Grams]]'', she plays a cuckolded wife whose sick husband acquires a more attractive mistress.
* ''Circle of Friends'' Minnie Driver's character is supposed to be dowdy and heavyset (at one point she refers to herself as a "heifer"). Even playing her against the gorgeous Saffron Burrows doesn't quite make this work.
* ''[[The Comic Strip Presents]]:'' ''[[The Movie|The Supergrass]]'' concerns a guy (Adrian Edmondson) who has so much trouble getting a date that he lies to a girl about being a big fish in the drug trade to impress her ''within earshot of the police'', thus setting in motion an [[Idiot Plot]] supreme. [http://www.geocities.ws/adeappreciation/super20.jpg This] is what Edmondson looked like at the time. Of course, the character’s real problem is more likely that he’s the village idiot who lives with his mother, rather than his looks.
* ''[[Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister]]'': Used blatantly. Iris is supposed to be unattractive as part of the plot, yet she is played by Azura Skye, who is very (albeit unconventionally) pretty.
* ''The Courtship of [[Andy Hardy]]'' (1942) has the title character mercy-dating the daughter of a divorcing couple whose case his father, a judge, is working on. She's depicted as such a "droop" that at one point Andy has to actually pay his chums to dance with her at a school prom. She's also played by Donna Reed, for crying out loud.
* ''Dogfight'', starring River Phoenix and Lili Taylor, is about a crew of Marines who challenge each other to a 'dogfight' -- finding the ugliest girl they can and bringing her to a party. Phoenix's character selects Taylor's character in order to win this 'dogfight'. By Hollywood standards, she's ''hideous''. By any real world standards, she's a reasonably attractive woman.
* ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'': The 2007 [[Backstory]] movie ''The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning'' features a young Daisy Duke as a social wallflower, wearing heavy sweaters, baggy jeans, her hair in a bun and thick-rimmed glasses in the first half of the film ... although a stunningly attractive babe lies underneath all those layers (as they are peeled off later in the movie).
* ''[[
* ''[[The Enchanted Cottage]]'': Doubly bad. The main woman is so "homely" that no guys will dance with her, young boys comment on her looks, and she generally limits her social life in despair. Later, a man breaks off with his fiancee and considers suicide over a barely visible war scar. As the two fall in love, they become beautiful in each others'
* ''[[Enigma]]'': [[Kate Winslet]]’s character is a good example - even anti-dolled to look ordinary, she's still prettier than the "hot chick".
* ''[[Wanted (film)|Wanted]]'': The producers considered [[James McAvoy]] the runt of the litter when it came to casting Wesley Gibson's character, but ultimately chose him because he looked so regular that viewers would be able to relate to him more. Many fangirls disagree.
** [[Even the Guys Want Him|Just fangirls?]]
* ''Little Children'': Another Kate Winslet role, where her supposed frumpiness is a plot point. Of course, no one buys her being unattractive because it's still Kate Winslet, and even [[Roger Ebert]] in his review of the film found that pretty laughable.
* ''Frankie and Johnny'' is a particularly [[Egregious]] example. In the stage original, the plain girl was played, to great acclaim, by Kathy Bates, who fits the casting requirement by being not particularly physically attractive. For the movie version, the part was recast. To Michelle "Catwoman" Pfeiffer. Again: uh... right.
* Michelle Pfeiffer also plays this straight in ''[[
* Halle Berry is also presented as plain in [[Catwoman (
* ''Hollywood's Ten Best'' did a countdown of the 10 best "Beauty to Beast Transformations" in which beautiful actresses got ugly for parts. True the list included Hilary Swank for ''Boys Don't Cry'' and Charlize Theron for ''Monster'' but also on the list was Halle Berry for ''Monsters Ball''. Even with frumpy hair Halle Berry is still stunning in that film. Also was [[Jennifer Aniston]] for ''The Good Girl'' where all she is doing is wearing baggy clothes (her character works at a checkout in a supermarket), oh, yes, how hideous.
* ''[[The Ipcress File]]'': [[Michael Caine]] is playing a British spy who's supposed to be a complete subversion of the [[James Bond]]-style spy - instead of being suave and gorgeous, he's supposed to be a funny-looking Cockney who seduces women by cooking for them. Unfortunately, he wasn't unattractive - [http://www.fanpop.com/spots/michael-caine/images/7378235/title/young-michael-caine-photo he was Michael Caine, in glasses]. And he even loses his glasses for the second half of the movie.
* [[
** Oddly, in ''Cats and Dogs'' [[Uma Thurman]]'s role as The Knockout is undermined by her looking as if she hasn't slept in a week.
* [[Uma Thurman]] gets this treatment in the film ''Final Analysis'', where a lack of makeup is enough to make her the supposedly mousy and plain younger sister to the glamorous [[Kim
* ''[[Jennifer's Body]]'' stars [[Megan Fox]] as a beautiful cheerleader (certainly plausible) and [[Amanda Seyfried]] as her "plain jane" best friend. ''[http://www.freewebs.com/wildfire-fansite/Amanda_seyfried.jpg Amanda] [http://www.collider.com/wp-content/image-base/People/A/Amanda_Seyfried/Amanda%20Seyfried%20%281%29.jpg Seyfried!]'' In case fans couldn't tell that she's unattractive and unwanted, they named her Needy. It's also parodied
* ''[[Last Action Hero]]'': Lampshaded, when Danny Maddigan tries to prove that they're in a film by pointing out that none of the women are ugly, to which Jack Slater responds:
{{quote|
* ''Love Potion Number Nine'': Even Hollywood isn't usually shameless enough to pass off [[Sandra Bullock]] as "ugly", but she is that town's go-to actress when they need an approachable, plain, girl-next-door type. "Usually" is the key word there, as she is supposed to be the ugly type in this film.
* ''[[Marty]]'': Ernest Borgnine (no prize himself in the looks department, although that's admittedly acknowledged in the film) goes on a date with a "dog" played by former model Betsy Blair,
* ''[[
* ''[[Never Been Kissed]]'' has two examples. [[Leelee Sobieski]] as the nerdy girl, especially when she strips down to that spandex blue cat suit at the prom, and [[Drew Barrymore]]. She's supposed to be a bookish, nerdy girl as well... but she's Drew Frikkin' Barrymore! That said, they ''do'' manage to make Drew look pretty bad in her prom flashback. More than the majority of these examples, anyway.
* ''[[Now, Voyager]]'': Bette Davis spends the first few scenes being unconscionably unattractive by having... baggy clothes, unplucked eyebrows, bun hair and glasses. An early example of how to 'do an Ugly Betty', the film having come out in 1948.
* In ''Only the Lonely'', Ally Sheedy's character was supposed to be considered unattractive.
* In ''Only You'', Andrew McCarthy's character has to make a choice between two potential girlfriends, one who is beautiful and one who is supposedly not as good looking but is otherwise perfect. The supposedly non-beautiful woman is played by Helen Hunt. So McCarthy has to face the dilemma of whether he should settle for a woman whose worst flaw is she is only as attractive as Helen Hunt.
* ''[[Penelope]]'': [[Christina Ricci]] actually looks cute with a pig's snout, but some of her suitors are so horrified by the sight of her that they jump out of second-story windows to get away.
* In ''Portrait of a Lady'' from Jane Campion, Isabel and Henrietta go on about how ugly Caspar Goodwood is. That's Viggo Mortensen. Viggo Mortensen with slightly silly hair, but still...
* ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'': In the 2005 movie, Lizzie Bennett, described by Mr. Darcy as 'tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me' is played by [[Keira Knightley]]. Of course, it could have just been that Darcy was being a jerk.
** Likewise, in the miniseries of 1995
* ''[[The Princess Diaries]]'' Mia is supposed to be an ugly duckling before her princess makeover. However, wearing glasses and having a bad perm isn't enough to make [http://static.thehollywoodgossip.com/images/gallery/anne-hathaway-photograph.jpg Anne Hathaway]{{Dead link}} look ugly. Sure, she looks a lot better after her princess makeover, but she never looks that terrible.
* [[Anne Hathaway]] gets this treatment again in ''[[The Devil Wears Prada]]'' where she is called unattractive and fat by her new co-workers, when her only "problem" is not having a designer wardrobe. Though at least here the [[Word of God|screenwriter says]] this attitude is a [[Invoked Trope|comment on the ridiculous standards of the fashion industry]] and not the movie trying to convince the audience that Hathaway is ugly.
* ''[[Psycho]]'' features a joke where a man fawns over Marion at the bank, completely ignoring her supposedly plainer co-worker who says afterwards "He must have seen my wedding ring." The co-worker is played by Pat Hitchcock, who is not only pretty cute herself but the daughter of the director, making this doubly awkward.
* ''The Quiet'' Camilla Belle's character is described as being unattractive by several characters. One character even goes as far to say that she is a hermaphrodite. The only thing that makes her "ugly" is the fact she has short hair, minimal make-up on and wears boys clothing. In real life, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130929010843/http://www.popcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/camilla-belle-100.jpg Camilla Belle] is as beautiful as Elisha Cuthbert.
* ''[[Shaolin Soccer]]'': Mui also counts as a [[Beautiful All Along]], as she finally looks better after her [[Bald Women|second makeover]], about 15 minutes before the end of the film. Her initial appearance was the very pretty actress being given a long fringe covering most of her face and heavy acne on the parts that were actually visible; her first makeover was putting her under all the fashion excesses of [[The Eighties]], with a gigantic perm and a garish makeup and a power suit in neon colors that make her look genuinely offputting.
* ''[[She's All That]]'' A teenage film take on the Pygmalion story involves a bet to try to get the "ugly" girl to win as prom queen. After scanning the whole school, they settle on the obviously attractive Rachel Leigh Cook as the least likely to be named prom queen.
* ''[[Not Another Teen Movie]]'' parodies ''[[She's All That]]'', having the gus scan the crowd and decide the conjoined twins, hippy albino, hunchback, and others are not ugly enough, but that the girl with glasses, a pony tail, and paint-covered overalls (played by the clearly attractive Chyler Leigh) is the ugliest by far.
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* ''Starter For 10'' Brian (James McAvoy) is enamored with Alice (Alice Eve), who is conventionally but blandly pretty, and ignores Rebecca (Rebecca Hall) who he has much more in common with and a far easier time speaking to despite her sarcastic personality. While Eve is pretty, Hall is also quite beautiful, and it is hard to believe that she would ordinarily be second banana to anyone.
* ''Tamara'': The eponymous character is considered unattractive before she undergoes her [[Evil Is Sexy]] makeover. Before that it is just the very attractive Jenna Dewan with no make-up on and unflattering clothing.
* [[Thora Birch]] plays a lot of characters like this. Hilariously, her character in ''[[American Beauty]]'' has [[A
* ''[[Thoroughly Modern Millie]]'' Miss Dorothy is drop dead gorgeous while Millie pales in comparison. Miss Dorothy is believable enough as she's played by Mary Tyler Moore but Millie is played by ''Julie Andrews''. Young, cute Julie Andrews whose wearing flashy flapper dresses.
* ''[[She's Out of My League]]'' plays this straight. Jay Baruchel is apparently a 5, but if anything, he's just a bit dorky looking and still fairly cute. To give another idea of just how warped that movie's idea of attractiveness is, Mike Vogel is supposedly only an 8.
* ''A Walk to Remember'': The character of Jamie Sullivan. Although the character was never intended to be unattractive (merely unconcerned with her appearance) the audience has a hard time believing the shock of the other characters during her [[Beautiful All Along]] moment given actress Mandy Moore's natural beauty.
* In ''[[Sorority Boys]]'', most of the girls in [[Fun
* Bessie Love's character in ''The Broadway Melody'' is supposed to be the "talented but plain" sister in a singing and dancing duo. [http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/Love,%20Bessie/Annex/Annex%20-%20Love,%20Bessie_05.jpg This] is Bessie Love.
* Parodied in ''[[The Other Guys]]''. Will Ferrel is constantly apologizing for his wife, even calling her a "battle-axe," when she is played by the obviously stunning Eva Mendes and he is the only one who doesn't realize how hot she is.
* Actress Ann Revere really ''was'' homely, but played admirable characters (often mothers) who had for lack of a better term a lot of inner beauty, allowing Ms. Revere to display hers. She tended to glow quietly. There is something of this about Dame Edith Evans as well.
* [[Ashley Tisdale]] played a nerdy girl in ''Picture This''. Yes, ''[[High School Musical|Sharpey Evans]]' actress''. It becomes jarring that one of the earliest shown pieces of 'evidence' that she's a nerd is a scene that makes a big deal about her wearing 'granny panties'. Except, its not grannie panties, its clearly a thong, you can see the leg holes of it. It's a [[Goofy Print Underwear|cartoon print thong]], but still a thong. The most the film does is give her tomboy looking clothes, big glasses, and that's it, really.
* ''Failure to Launch'': Justin Bartha is the ugly one. Not the plain one and not played as a joke, repeatedly throughout the movie he is referred to as being ugly. So is [[Zooey Deschanel]]; in fact they are hooked up by friends on the theory that since they are both so ugly neither would be able to find anyone else.
* [[Ashley Tisdale]], as Maddie on ''The Suite Life of Zack and Cody'' is ''supposed'' to be the homely one in comparison to London - though to be fair, they did establish early that Zack had a crush on her, and they dropped the homely act by season two. ▼
* ''[[The Help]]'': a plot point in both the book and movie, is the plainness of Skeeter. However, in the film version, Skeeter is played by the lovely Emma Stone. Most viewers find it difficult to believe that a character as beautiful as that would have trouble attracting men, even if the movie tried to make her "ugly" by giving her "frizzy" hair.
▲* ''Failure to Launch'': Justin Bartha is the ugly one. Not the plain one and not played as a joke, repeatedly throughout the movie he is referred to as being ugly. So is [[Zooey Deschanel]]; in fact they are hooked up by friends on the theory that since they are both so ugly neither would be able to find anyone else.
▲* ''[[The Help]]'': a plot point in both the book and movie, is the plainness of Skeeter. However, in the film version, Skeeter is played by the lovely Emma Stone. Most viewers find it difficult to believe that a character as beautiful as that would have trouble attracting men, even if the movie tried to make her "ugly" by giving her "frizzy" hair.
* Matilda in ''[[Zoolander]]''. (Probably a deliberate joke.)
* ''[[Princess Protection Program]]'' has Selena Gomez playing the unpopular tomboy girl role. Does [http://welovesel.weebly.com/uploads/2/7/8/8/2788070/7283692_orig.png this] looks tomboyish to you?
* ''[[The Ten Commandments]]'' goes on (and on and on) about the noble choice Moses makes to marry the plain Sephora over the gorgeous Nefretiri. Yvonne De Carlo is made "plain" by putting some dirt on her face in most scenes, and not giving her the sparkly dresses that Anne Baxter gets. But she's still [http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/De%20Carlo,%20Yvonne/Annex/Annex%20-%20De%20Carlo,%20Yvonne_02.jpg Yvonne De Carlo].
== Literature ==
* ''A Nameless Witch'' by A. Lee Martinez parodies this:
{{quote|
"But what about these?" I cupped the large, fatty mounds on my chest.
"Those are breasts," Ghastly Edna said. "They're supposed to be there."
"But they're so...so..."
"Round. Firm." She sighed. "That's how they're supposed to be. Ideally." }}
* ''[[Twilight (
** Bella Swan. She is terribly self-deprecating, describing herself as a skinny, big-eyed, clumsy, [[Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette]]. Mind-reader Edward even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] this when he tells her that she should have heard what the entire male student body was thinking when she first came to school. Depending on your opinion, it's made either worse or better in the movie: Better because you don't hear as many of her thoughts and therefore don't have to hear about how "plain" she is as often, or worse because she's being played by [[Kristen Stewart]]. It's indicated that Bella is actually pretty, and just feels ugly because of a lack of self confidence.
** James as well. He was described as being ugly as a vampire yet being played by Cam Gigandet makes you think that he's only ugly by Bella's standards.
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* A subversion: artist Stephen Fabian illustrated some of Keith Roberts' fantasy short stories about a 20th-Century witch named Anita. The editor told Fabian that Roberts had complained about previous illustrators drawing Anita as "a sexy babe," when she was actually "a plain, homely girl." But when Fabian went through the manuscript to get an idea of Anita's appearance, he found the passages "related to Anita’s looks were all describing her as a really beautiful sexy babe; young men whistled at her as she walked by, their eyes popped out at the sight of her luscious figure, their hearts broke if she didn’t smile at them, etc, etc." He wound up drawing Anita as a beauty ... and Roberts wrote him a complimentary note, with no reference to his earlier instructions.
* ''[[
▲== Live Action TV ==
▲* ''[[Absolutely Fabulous (TV)|Absolutely Fabulous]]'': There was a constant stream of fat jokes at the expense of Jennifer Saunders, even though she didn't even ''look'' fat.
** This may actually be more of an intentional satire of body image and the fashion industry than the trope being played straight. The fat jokes were often from people who had eating disorders, were incredibly insensitive (or in Bubble's case, just flat out stupid), or [[My Beloved Smother|well-meaning but terrible parents]]. The only person showing genuine concern over her weight was her daughter, Saffy, who didn't find the jokes very funny and was generally just worried about her mother's overall health (physical and mental).
*** Almost certainly a parody, since Jennifer Saunders was best known at the time as the thin comedy partner of the larger Dawn French.
* ''[[The Andy Griffith Show]]'': Andy and his girlfriend help out a farmer's daughter by giving her dresses and makeup in order to make her look good. Of course, her "non-beautiful" state consisted of the (beautiful) actress with a few dirt smudges instead of rouge.
* ''[[
* ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'':
** Ann Veal. Although Ann's not really played as "ugly," more that she's incredibly boring/unmemorable.
** Played for comedy with Kitty Sanchez, played by the notably attractive [[Judy Greer]]. While George Bluth Sr. keeps her as a mistress, [[Lovable Sex Maniac]] Gob finds her repulsive. Her "ugliness" is achieved by crossing her eyes when she's not wearing her glasses and having frizzy hair when she lets it down. Perhaps to play the ugliness up further, she also gets a pair of extremely unfortunate breast implants.
* ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'': None of the characters are especially unattractive, but a combination of not being especially tall, muscular or fashionable in addition to being socially awkward and you can see why they aren't very lucky with the ladies. For Raj the actor is stuffed in horrible clothes, has his hair done badly, and is a [[Hollywood Nerd]]... and then you see Raj's actor, Kunal Nayyar, off the show, and... he's HOT.
** Bernadette is extremely attractive and is recognized as being pretty, but the fact that she has glasses and is rather mousy makes [[Anything That Moves|Howard Wolowitz]] not sure how committed he wants to be, as being rather shallow he is looking for a glamorous supermodel. He eventually recognizes how lucky he is to have her. Even Simon Helberg (Howard) is a lot more attractive off the show, just look at his picture on the [
* The third ''[[Blackadder]]'' series has the Prince being frequently referred to as fat (as historically he was) and having trouble with women, in spite of being played by the very thin (and rather popular with women) Hugh Laurie.
* ''[[Bones]]'':
** [[Lampshaded]] when Booth describes himself and Brennan as the "sexy FBI agent and the sexy scientist".
** In the episode "The Witch In the Wardrobe" Booth and Brennan spy on a group of Wiccans who perform their ceremony naked and Booth asked "why doesn't this ever happen with people you'd want to see naked?'. Yet when we see coven members in the full light of day (and clothed alas) none of them register as less than slightly above average in looks.
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** They had gone through very visible pubescent awkward stages through the series but by the last season had gotten so clearly attractive that now episodes were written where Peter was juggling a date with two girls on the same night and Jan ran for "Most Popular Girl" at school, and won.
** Greg and Marcia also deal with this trope (indirectly). In the late third-season episode "My Fair Opponent," Marcia plays the sympatheic friend when an awkward and butt-ugly classmate named Molly is nominated (as a cruel joke) for hostess of Filmore Junior High's Banquet Night ... only for the makeover to work out too well and Molly becomes an insufferable snob. Greg's instance (in Season 5's "Peter and the Wolf") is averted: He merely is led to believe, based on old photographs and memories of his girlfriend, that his girlfriend's cousin still wears pigtails and braces and horribly undesirable; the cousin turns out to be a total hottie.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'':
** Xander, despite actor Nicholas Brendon being an incredibly attractive guy, and the character rather witty, he is supposedly the bottom of the social barrel at Sunnydale High, and numerous cracks are made at his inability to get girls. He dates the cheerleader Cordelia from Season 2 onwards. Doing so sent Cordelia's social status straight from 'most popular girl in school' to 'nonexistent'. Every acquaintance she had considered her completely insane for choosing to give Xander the time of day, and she ended up entirely exiled from her former social circle. Joss actually mentions this trope in the DVD commentaries:
{{quote|
** Willow Rosenberg (played by the very attractive [[Alyson Hannigan]]); interestingly, in the original, never aired pilot, Willow was played by Riff Regan, who ''is'' decidedly more plain.
*** Not to mention Tara, played by the absolutely gorgeous [[Amber Benson]].
*** [[Word of God]] is that Willow was always intended to blossom in more or less the manner she did (although whether she or Xander was going to turn out to be gay was up in the air until Season 4), so it helps that she's played by someone who's totally all that. The fact she's also another supermodel who can also outact most of Hollywood helps too.
* ''[[
* ''[[Chuck]]'' put Anna into punk/goth outfits and gave her character a perpetual sneer, probably to distract people away from the fact that [http://www.listal.com/viewimage/2646892 Julia Ling] is every bit as gorgeous as Yvonne Strahovski.
* ''[[Criminal Minds]]''
** In the episode "Legacy", a [[Serial Killer]] is preying on impoverished streetwalkers and homeless people. But his victim ''du joir'' in the episode is played by an actress with the most perfect, straight, gleaming-white
* ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'': Eva Longoria is supposedly over the hill and has to play [[The Mom]] when she tries to return to modeling. Eva Longoria is considered a "Hag". Sadly, this is just a reflection of the modeling industry. High-Fashion models obviously have a short shelf life, and ''26'' is considered old and many retire (if they're lucky) or never find work again (if they're not).
* [[Disney]] loves this trope - ''all'' parts of the Disney Empire. Look around for the [[Mitchel Musso]] music video 'The In Crowd' for a textbook version of this. [[Big Time Rush
** Most, if not all, of the actresses playing "geeky sidekicks" ([[Emily Osment]], [[Ashley Tisdale]] and [[That's So Raven|Anneliese Van Der Pol]], for example) in many of the channel's series are arguably ''at least'' as attractive and charismatic as the shows' stars, but tend to play awkward or [[Cloudcuckoolander]] characters in nerdy clothes or glasses.
* ''[[Dollhouse]]'': The [[Girl Next Door]], Mellie, played by the actress Miracle Laurie, complains that she's [[Hollywood Pudgy]] and can't get dates because she lives in LA and has to compete with all the girls that ''aren't''. Her love interest doesn't care, and neither does the audience, because by any realistic standard, she ''is'' beautiful.
** She's acknowledged as hot {{spoiler|because she turns out to be a doll herself.}}
** There's also Bennett saying that she could never be a Doll because "Actives are beautiful." Commentary on [[Television Without Pity]]: "Honey, I know you've been fucked up something good but you are [[Summer Glau
* ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'': In the non-canon ''The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning'', Daisy is portrayed as incredibly unattractive – wearing thick glasses, oversized sweaters, her hair in an unkempt bun and acting socially awkward. As it turned out, she was simply insecure and socially awkward, something that – along with her previous homeliness – instantly is cured when she gets a job at the Boar's Nest.
* Steve Urkel in ''[[Family Matters]]''. As proven by the 'Stefan' persona, Jaleel White is by no means unattractive, but give him thick glasses and a funny voice and everyone treats him as a totally repellent geek.
** That one's simply a case of bad luck in casting. When Jaleel started as Urkel, he was a lot shorter, scrawnier, and was usually portrayed as really annoying instead of repulsive. By the time they started creating the Stefan Urquelle persona, puberty had been very kind to him.
* ''[[
* ''[[The Fresh Prince of Bel
** Also the episode with [[Queen Latifah]]. ''Queen Latifah''.
* ''[[Friends]]'': Averted in a different way where the ''[http://glamtings.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/friends.jpg gorgeous]'' main cast are given character flaws to give them dating problems, because otherwise, no one in their right mind would ever dump people as attractive as they. Their good looks are mentioned within the show too, which makes the equally hot [[Girl of the Week|girls and guys of the week]] much more reasonable than those on other shows.
** Actually played straight for Chandler and Ross, though, who are consistently described as being not attractive enough for the girls they date. In fact, people are continually saying "Rachel could do better" or "Monica could do better" when we're talking about ''Matthew freaking Perry and David Schwimmer''. Joey, on the other hand, is [[Informed Attractiveness|supposed to be much hotter than them]].
* ''[[General Hospital]]'': Part of the backlash on Spinelli is that he's a greasy-haired, geeky nerd with [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]]...on a [[Soap Opera]], where anyone under a 9 is ugly. This was stretched even more when they brought in a similarly geeky girl...and hid her behind glasses, [[Girlish Pigtails]], and clothing that went out in the mid-90s.
* ''[[Glee]]'':
** [[Genki Girl|Rachel Berry]] is supposedly less attractive than [[All Guys Want Cheerleaders|Quinn Fabray]]. Now, Quinn's actress, Dianna Agron, is a cute girl, but Rachel's played by Lea. ''Friggin'.'' '''''[http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/8400000/Lea-Michele-on-The-Letterman-Show-05-10-09-glee-8493600-691-1222.jpg Michele]'''''.{{Dead link}}
** In one episode, Quinn's boyfriend Finn describes Rachel has having "a smoking hot body... if you don't like boobs." Rachel is noticeably much, much curvier than Quinn.
** In an [http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-en-lea-michele2-2009dec02,0,6625011.story interview] with the actress she mentions how the character is supposed to be considered not attractive in the show.
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* ''[[I Love Lucy]]'': Ethel was the source of constant fat jokes, despite being about the same build as Lucy. To compensate for this, the producers had her wear clothes that were several sizes too small. The [[Urban Legend]] that she was contractually obligated to gain 20 pounds is untrue.
** This was intentional on the part of Vivian Vance. She reasoned that if Fred threw fat jokes at Ethel, and she were actually fat, people would feel bad for her; however, if she was called fat while actually slender, the hypocrisy and dissonance would make it funny.
* ''[[
* ''[[Inspector Lynley]]'': (BBC Homely?) A mild case in the televised version of the mysteries; in the books, DS Barbara Havers is ''committedly''
* ''[[
** Averts this trope with Margaret McPoyle is hideous. As it turns out Margaret McPoyle is actually played by the very attractive Thesy Surface under ''a lot'' (cannot stress that enough, ''a lot'') of makeup. Don't believe it? [http://chataboutit.com/actress-thesy-surface-reveals-the-secrets-of-her-its-always-sunny-in-philadelphia-character-margaret-mcpoyle-with-mr-media-july-8-73/ Margaret McPoyle] vs. [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2316545/ Thesy Surface]
** All the male members of the gang use hyperbolic criticism to describe Sweet Dee's appearance. She's said to have a "five-head," compared to a giant bird with "stork-like" legs, and even said to have eyes so far apart that she looks like a fish. However, she doesn't have much of a problem getting boyfriends, suggesting that her friends and family are just being mean. It's interesting to note that actress Kaitlin Olson says she prefers playing "the ugly Dee" over a standard [[Women Are Wiser|closer-to-Earth]] female character.
* ''[[Just Shoot Me]]'':
** Maya conducts an experiment to prove beautiful people get social perks by sending both an illiterate male model and a well-qualified "ugly" guy to a job interview. She ends up [[Hypocritical Humor|proving herself as shallow as everyone else]] by rejecting the charming "ugly" guy and dating the clueless
** Maya herself was treated like this in the show's first season. While this was possibly justified by the show's setting (a high-fashion magazine), by season two they stopped trying to make anyone believe that Laura San Giacomo was in any way "homely".
* ''[[Kamen Rider OOO]]'': episodes #23-24. Sakura is tempted by a Yummy because she doesn't want to be "ugly", which is shown by wearing a lab coat, thick-rimmed glasses, and covering her hair. It was blatantly obvious that she was attractive under all that and it was just covered up. {{spoiler|[[Just the Way You Are|Date seems to agree.]]}}
* ''[[King of Queens]]'': Doug and his friends find out that an attractive female worker at the bowling alley is quitting and being replaced by a less attractive woman. The men mock this woman like she's the deformed lovechild of [[Star Wars|Jabba the Hut]] and a toad, and is even given a "mercy flirt" by Doug, but of course, many people [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0237222/ find the actress to be rather pretty].
* ''Legend Of The Condor Heroes'': The protagonist, Guo Jing, is mainly described as being rather stout and muscular, and is ''not'' known for being very handsome or refined. As a matter of fact, to go even further, there were actually several characters who make the comparison of his relationship with Huang Rong as "[[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife|A beautiful flower planted in cow dung]]" - yes, he was even likened to ''cow dung''. This becomes rather wince-worthy when he ends up being played by Chinese teen heart throb Hu Ge, who is pretty much a [[Real Life]] equivalent of a [[Bishonen]]. And in order to underplay his looks, he ended up [[media:
* ''[[Mad Men]]'': Peggy Olson is supposed to be deliberately keeping herself dowdy in order to be taken seriously at work. Of course, she's played by the gorgeous [[Elisabeth Moss]]. The character was also shown [[Hollywood Pudgy|gaining weight]] throughout Season One, presumably for the same reason. {{spoiler|As we learn in Season Two, though, she was actually pregnant with Pete Campbell's child}}. It should be noted, however, that {{spoiler|once Peggy has her "date" with Kurt in season 2 and starts dressing herself more fashionably and wearing her hair differently}}, the show tends to present this as her harnessing the power of {{spoiler|"being a woman"}} as Bobbie had advised instead of it merely being that it's opening doors for her all on its own.
* ''[[Married...
** Marginally justified in that, for all the women turned off by his looks, far more are repulsed by his personality. As he matures both physically and emotionally (and stops trying far, ''far'' too hard) he starts having more success.
* ''[[The Mary Tyler Moore Show]]'': Rhoda Morgenstern, although it was finally inverted in the Season 3 episode "Rhoda the Beautiful". When Rhoda got her own show, she was given a supposedly less attractive sister to make sure everyone knew that now that she was the star she was now officially pretty.
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* ''[[NCIS]]'': A weird case where, in a 6th season episode, a young, hot woman's attraction to [[A Father to His Men|Gibbs]] is portrayed as odd, apparently thinking the audience doesn't notice that Gibbs is played by [[Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!|Mark Harmon]] Who is one of the few people named EW's Sexiest Man of the Year ''twice'', at least back in the eighties.
** Maybe that one was simply the "young" part. Mark Harmon is nearly 60, and for most people, regardless of how hot both parties are, it can be slightly strange to watch someone hit on a person old enough to be their father, especially when he acts as a [[Team Dad]]. A [[Grumpy Old Man]] Team Dad.
* ''[[The New Adventures of Old Christine]]'': The beauty and shapely figure of Julia Louis Dreyfuss is totally ignored by the people around her, even though her wardrobe often shows off what one would consider damn fine assets.
* Parodied on the Adult Swim show ''NTSF:SD:SUV::''. Jessie, the head lab tech, is called ugly by everyone else on the show. Jessie is played by [https://web.archive.org/web/20121012015917/http://poptimal.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/RebeccaRomijn-300x225.jpg Rebecca Romijn wearing a lab coat and glasses (the latter not worn in this photo)]. A later episode reveals that the other lab techs are similarly viewed as unattractive and are all played by male models.
* ''[[The OC]]'': Seth Cohen.
* ''[[The Office]]'' (US version):
** Andy and Michael flirt with a couple of waitresses at a restaurant and attempt to get them to come to a party. They show up at the party with two ''different'' waitresses, the joke being that the first two refused and they had to settle for supposedly less attractive ones. Unfortunately, as co-creator Greg Daniels admitted, poor casting meant the actresses hired were ''too'' good looking and the joke fell flat.
** ''The Office'' can actually be commended for inverting this trope. In the early seasons, the makeup/hair team would spend hours making the very gorgeous [[media:
** Also averted, in the sense that, on any other show, Kelly would be considered [[Hollywood Pudgy]]. This is played with when Ryan refers to Kelly as having a little junk in the trunk.
** Except for Kevin:
{{quote|
'''Kevin''': Yes! [[Completely Missing the Point|Because then the models would come here and work with us!]] }}
* ''[[One Tree Hill]]'': Marvin McFadden (AKA 'Mouth') is constantly tormented about his average looks, which are perfectly normal standing next to normal people, but in the presence of the ultra beautiful cast of OTH, are shunned. Another example from this would be Millie, his girlfriend, who in all rights appears completely and utterly gorgeous, except for a thick pair of glasses.
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* ''A Pocketful of Rye'', an ITV adaptation of the [[Miss Marple]] story had the supposedly-plain Elaine Fortescue played by the decidedly beautiful Hattie Morahan, looking her best in fashionable clothes and an elaborate hairdo. Despite this, the other characters were at pains to point out how unattractive she was.
* ''[[Popular]]'': Of the two lead characters, one is supposed to be an extremely beautiful [[Alpha Bitch]] who leads a [[Girl Posse|posse]] of popular blondes, and the other is supposed to be a frumpy, unattractive, unpopular nerdy girl. As far as the audience can tell, they're both very attractive, and viewers can't agree on which one is hotter.
* ''[[Queer
** And also Michael Novotny's self-depreciation, despite that Hal Sparks is unendingly adorable no matter what Sears-type button up shirts they put him in.
* ''[[Reaper]]'': In episode "Business Casualty", Sock is set up with a friend of Nina's. His reaction to her is that she is hideous beyond all imagining, to the point that he tries to get away from her as quickly as possible. In fact, the character is simply played by a beautiful woman wearing a minimal amount of make-up wearing average clothes with her hair in a pony-tail. There isn't even any of the usual
* ''[[Rules of Engagement (TV series)|Rules of Engagement]]'' has Liz. Descriptions of the character indicate that she's overweight and highly unattractive. Visual inspection begs to differ.
* ''[[Scrubs]]'': Ted the lawyer is a well done aversion, created with makeup and an ill-fitting suit. The actor has been quoted as saying that after seeing him in the pilot episode, his mother called him up and asked if he was ill.
* ''[[Sex and
** The character Miranda (played by Cynthia Nixon) is apparently supposed to be the ugly one of the four lead characters.
** Charlotte's second husband Harry. While played up as [[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife]] due to him being bald and a bit chubby with bad table manners, his actor Evan Handler does have a rather cute face, and is hardly less attractive than many of the character's [[Girl of the Week|guys of the week]] over the years (of course it also helps that he's one of the nicest characters in the whole series.) In the last season, they pretty much dropped the [[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife]] angle.
** Charlotte was this for exactly one episode, when she turns 36 and is freaking out about being an "old maid". She may be the most prudish of the bunch, but it is highly unlikely she would really wear a frumpy button up blouse on a trip to Atlantic City!
* ''[[Strangers
* ''[[That '70s Show]]'':
** Big Rhonda was made up to look homely, but the actress ([https://web.archive.org/web/20130928040238/http://cynthialamontagne.com/ Cynthia Lamontagne]) who played her wasn't actually bad looking. This is seen in the episode "It's a Wonderful Life", where in an alternate timeline she was dumped by Eric and appears at the gang's ten-year reunion without the whole Big Rhonda look. She also played a fembot in ''[[Austin Powers]]''.
** Somewhat inverted with Donna ([[Laura Prepon]]), who's frequently mocked as a "giant" and a "lumberjack" by Jackie, while alternately depicted as a "hot redhead" whom Eric could never hope to date otherwise. He even considered her his equivalent of the actual Brooke Shields dating Donna's father.
* ''[[30 Rock
{{quote|
* ''[[The Tudors]]'':
** In Season 3, [[Joss Stone]] appears as Anne of Cleves. Henry VIII claims he cannot tell her from his horse (which speaks either very poorly of his eyesight or very well of his horse) and is unable to consummate his marriage to her, supposedly because she is so ugly. This is based on something Henry actually said, but contemporary reports suggest that she was quite pretty. An alternative explanation suggested by other characters is that he's turned off because Anne is a virgin who doesn't know what to do. We also know that Henry was almost 50 years old and as heavy as 400 pounds, so he may have had performance anxiety of his own. Either way, it's most likely all in his head.
** This is used in Philippa Gregory's novel, ''The Boleyn Inheritance'', where Anne of Cleves seems very frumpy at first because she is wearing incredibly modest (read: baggy) and unflattering clothing that she brought with her from Germany. After Henry VIII divorced her, however, she was free to wear English clothing and hold her own court in her own household. The next time she showed up at court, everyone thought that she looked very pretty. There are several historical accounts that support this theory. Henry did end up sleeping with her in Season Four.
** Case can be also made for Henry himself who is played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Especially in his later years, King Henry was an obese, very unattractive man, Jonathan Rhys Meyers still make him look hotter than he ever was. Although this is more a result of keeping the same actor who played the young Henry (who actually was fit, attractive and a famous sportsman) to play the old Henry with only very light cosmetic changes even though many years are supposed to have passed.
* ''[[Ugly Betty]]'':
** In Hollywood, ugliness is apparently defined by braces, [[Hollywood Pudgy|a bit of a belly]], bad eyesight and a complete lack of fashion sense. The show tries to justify it by having her work at a fashion magazine. She subverted it in "Real Women Have Curves". While she and her mother seem to consider her ugly, no one else has that problem (one supposes a show called "Cutey Betty" would [[Cutey Honey|seem derivative]]).
** Interestingly, season four had a [[Dream Sequence]] in which Betty is beautiful. The beautiful version of Betty was, of course, just America Ferrera without her "ugly" accessories.
** Not ugly, but certainly trying her damnedest. That kind of gaudiness doesn't come from simply not caring.
** David Spade did a monologue in the show on how this seems to not only make the standards of beauty unrealistic but the standards of ''ugly'' as well.
{{quote|
*** This man obviously never watched the actual show and criticized it on it's premise.
** Actually, the show kind of averts this more often than not. While Betty is not exactly a super model, people around her usually recognize, both verbally and non-verbally, that she's pretty much an average looking woman and that, when she tries, she can look stunningly beautiful. The main problem with the girl is not her actual appearance but her awkward customs and fashion sense, which of course are something people in the fashion business will mock to death. Some characters, including ex-womanizers Matt and Daniel, as well as shallow Amanda even develop crushes on her, along with a series of seriously good looking, if nerdy, guys.
* The Venezuelan soap ''Vieja yo?''
* ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'': Justin. In one episode his family couldn't believe that a pretty girl would consider dating him. At one point, Alex said that Justin was not cute all. And we are supposed to believe this? Especially since he is played by the ridiculously hot ''David Henrie''.
* ''[[WKRP in Cincinnati]]'': Many male fans insist this one was (unintentionally) inverted wherein Jan Smithers as [[Hot Librarian|shy]], [[Hollywood Nerd|nerdy Bailey]] apparently came off as a whole lot hotter than 'blonde bombshell' Loni Anderson. Loni Anderson stated that the trope was being intentionally subverted and that she enjoyed playing on a show where the two attractive women were loyal co-workers and good friends.
* ''[[Wonder Woman (TV series)|Wonder Woman]]'': Give Diana glasses and her hair in a bun and suddenly she's nowhere near as attractive as her superhero counterpart. As with the Maya/Just Shoot Me example, the second season (which fast-forwarded 30 years) stopped all attempts of claiming that even a bespectacled, ponytailed Lynda Carter was homely. Her supposed homeliness is highlighted in a brutal exchange between Steve and Diana in the season 1 episode called Beauty on Parade, where nazis have infiltrated a beauty pageant.
{{quote|
'''Steve''': ... it might flush them out. It would take a really beautiful girl, though. Someone with all the right qualifications.
'''Diana''':Well, I'd be willing to try.
''Steve''': Thanks, Diana. I know you'd do a wonderful job. But I'm afraid this calls for a really gorgeous girl. Someone who looks great in a bathing suit. Say, I won't be needing you for awhile, is there anything you'd like to do?
'''This Troper''': [[Big OMG|Wow!]] }}
* ''[[Yo Soy Betty,
** Also in universe, this is also the crux of the secretarial staff: they are aware that, for normal person standards, they are attractive and even hot (the younger secretaries were played by very pretty actreses and even an actual model), but they work for men like Lombardi and Gutierrez who are surrounded by very pretty but homogeneous looking models, so if you get sightly outside that mold you'll get shunned by them, if they ever noticed you at all.
* ''[[Zoey 101]]'': [[Hollywood Nerd|Quinn Sanders]]
** Or Coco Wexler. She is neither so fat nor so horrible as they say in the series. The fact that his supposed ugliness is accompanied by a series of romantic failures, which appear to be deserved for it, ultimately has [[Unfortunate Implications]], even though her role is kinda the [[Butt Monkey]].
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* Lilith on ''[[Cheers]]'' is uptight, prim, and withdrawn. And she is played by [[Bebe Neuwirth]].
** It's somewhat of a running joke both on ''Cheers'' and ''[[Frasier]]'' that Lilith ''is'' hot, but insists on donning hyper-conservative, frumpy, old-fashioned clothes, refusing to cover her pale skin with makeup, and wearing her hair in an abominably tight bun. Lampshaded in that whenever she unpins her hair, Frasier becomes so overcome with lust he completely loses his composure.
* ''[[Picket Fences]]'' - Kenny can't seem to appreciate Maxine's physical beauty because she's a fat tomboy with a weird face, so he has to learn to love her [https://web.archive.org/web/20160909081506/http://s.sfwgifs.com/img/upld/boys-dream.gif personality].
* Zelda Gilroy on ''[[The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis]]'' even said there's nothing to love about her appearance. Really, the only problem was she wasn't as super-model hot as the other gals Dobie would chase.
* ''[[Smallville]]'': Lampshaded, as Clark thinks of himself as plain but, as the high school reunion and even his friends (such as Pete) have mentioned, he is quite handsome.
* Edith, the extremely adorable middle sister in ''[[Downton Abbey]]'' looks like a blonde Betty Boop. However, the men constantly pass her over and the rest of the family despair that she will never marry. When a man who everyone describes as old and dull actually shows interest in her, it is supposed to be cause for celebration. It is possible that this is a [[Justified Trope]] as she does have the most dull personality of the three sisters and appears somewhat needy, so it may simply be her personality that men find uninteresting.
* Sketch from ''[[Skins]]'', who everyone is constantly saying is ugly. She doesn't get all dolled up like most of the other girls on the show, but she is definitely pretty.
* Annie in ''[[
** However it should be noted that the only one to have to be told
** In one Season 2 episode, she complains about being used as "bait and distraction" in various schemes, only to realize Troy and Abed didn't hear her because they were distracted by her breasts
* In ''[[Victorious]]'' when Trina offers to kiss a kid who previously came on to the other three main female
** Trina gets this a lot on the show - in the episode "Wifi In The Sky" Beck and Andre are horrified at getting a close-up shot of her behind as she leaves her seat. Several male viewers would probably be gratified if they were in their place.
* In [[Stephen King]]'s novel ''[[The Stand]]'', Harold Lauder is a fat acne-ridden teenager. So when it came time to make the TV-miniseries adaptation, they cast.. [[Parker Lewis|Corin Nemec.]]
** Partly justified, since the novel mentions that Harold trims down and becomes fairly attractive thanks to physical labor and the relative lack of junk-food in his post-superflu lifestyle.
* ''[[Horrible Histories]]'' had a sketch where King Philip of Spain married Queen Mary of England. Mary was supposedly quite ugly, but the actress they had portray her was actually somewhat attractive. Subverted with their portrayal of Elizabeth I, where they use make-up to make the actress look quite ugly.
▲* [[Ashley Tisdale]], as Maddie on ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]'' is ''supposed'' to be the homely one in comparison to London - though to be fair, they did establish early that Zack had a crush on her, and they dropped the homely act by season two.
== Music ==
* [[Avril Lavigne]]. In the video for "Girlfriend", we're supposed to believe that Avril's bratty punk-like "bad girl" character is more desirable than the nerdy girlfriend. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ25-glGRzI Er...] ([[Word of God]] says it's supposed to be satirical, but if that's true, it sure has one hell of a [[Misaimed Fandom]].)
* Saving Jane. The whole point of the song "Girl Next Door".
* [[Taylor Swift]]. In the video for [https://web.archive.org/web/20100117072901/http://www.cmt.com/videos/taylor-swift/377889/you-belong-with-me.jhtml "You Belong With Me"], they put her in [[Hollywood Nerd|really big glasses and a band uniform]] and we're supposed to believe she's The Plain Girl. Yeah, right. And then when [[Beautiful All Along|the glasses come off...]] Just to drive the trope home, the 'hot cheerleader' is played by... [[Taylor Swift]], in a brunette wig.
* Bill Kaulitz, lead singer of [[
== Newspaper Comics ==
* [[Luann]] is typically assumed in her world to be plain, at best (at least as compared to the local high school [[Alpha Bitch]], Tiffany), even though as drawn she is quite attractive. In one arc boys lined up around the block to throw baseballs at a dunking machine so as to get Tiffany wet; when it was Luann's turn, all the boys mysteriously vanished (which was in fact the [[Punch Line]]). And it's not like her boob size (again, as drawn) is any less ample than her rival's, either.
== Professional Wrestling ==
* [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] spoofed this when they had [[Alpha Bitch|LayCool]] mock Mickie James claiming that the extremely fit Diva was fat and calling her Piggy James. Even though they were doing it for some cheap heat, and the announcers pointed out how ridiculous it was some people apparently thought the WWE was seriously calling her fat, talk about [[Completely Missing the Point]].
** Probably not even that they really thought it was serious, just that it was an unbearably stupid angle.
* [[Cody Rhodes]] adopted a vain pretty boy gimmick and came out to cut a promo on how "dashing" he is. He then referred to Todd Grisham as "overweight" and "plain". [http://onlineworldofwrestling.com/pictures/t/toddgrisham/01.jpg Yeah], not getting oxygen to the brain there Cody.
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* [[Chick Busters|AJ Lee]] on NXT was a form of a [[Hollywood Nerd]] and people were constantly remarking on how she'd have a hard time getting dates. The aforementioned [[Cody Rhodes]] even remarked that she'd probably never kissed a boy before. She's a hot girl who loves cars and playing video games - she's probably had boys lining up down the street for the chance to kiss her hand for a while now. [http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/pictures/a/ajlee/17.jpg Need anything else said?]
== Radio ==
* You'd think that in a non-visual medium this couldn't happen. One episode of ''[[The Shadow]]'', ''The Voice of Death'' manages the equivalent. The villain is a man whose voice is so harsh that he was laughed out of university and can't live normally. The audience gets to hear the voice and it clearly a normal voice spoken slightly hoarsely, the audio equivalent of dressing a pretty person in bad glasses.
== Theater ==
* ''[[Legally Blonde]]'' the musical version: The first actress to play the supposedly plain Vivian was Miss America 1998 Kate Shindle.
** In the original movie, Vivian was played by the beautiful Selma Blair. Elle even admits that Vivienne herself isn't bad looking, but she did have some unflattering clothes and hair.
* ''Passion'' When the [[Stephen Sondheim]] musical was in previews, the director James Lapine had great trouble settling on a make-up look for the character Fosca. Fosca is ''supposed'' to be ugly, or at least exceedingly
* ''[[Wicked (
** Her father can't look at her because SHE IS GREEN! It doesn't really matter how tolerant you are, if your child was born and their skin was the colour green, you'd probably freak out a bit too. Plus there's the fact that in the book, her green skin colour is supposedly the result of her mother's unfaithfulness, which must smart him a bit.
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' Given Japanese media's issues with [[Generic Cuteness]], it's noteworthy that the first game avoids this. Will Powers, the defendant in the third case, is, while not a [[Gonk]], genuinely rough-looking and unattractive. Maya, who has never seen him out of his Steel Samurai costume, is more than a little stunned. There are many who find Will's cragginess rather appealing, and the constant hullabaloo about how "frightening" he looks a straight invocation of this trope. The sequel has some more good times on this subject: Will, who lacks the skills or training for anything but television, has been reduced to hosting a children's exercise program in a rabbit costume that hides his face, Will's successor, Matt Engarde, usually looks about as attractively sixteen as you can get (until {{spoiler|he pushes back his hair and reveals the rather extreme scar across his eye, which also signals his switch into his real personality as an inhuman, manipulative monster}}), and Matt's supposed rival, Juan Corrida, is frequently mocked for being ugly and looking so much older than Matt (ie he looks to be in his early-to-mid twenties, which he is, and he looks pretty good for it too). Straight as an arrow.
* ''[[Condemned]]: Criminal Origins'' Ethan Thomas is somewhat of an aversion as he looks believable as an average police detective. In Condemned 2: Bloodshot, however, he somehow has become built like a football player despite the fact that he's been spending the year between the two games living as an alcoholic vagabond. The only signifier of his degenerate status is his scruffy facial hair.
** He also [[Race Lift|became much paler]] than his originally [[Ambiguously Brown|bronzed skin tone]].
* In the 2012 ''[[Twisted Metal]]'' remake, this trope is [[Deconstructed Trope]] with Dollface. In the new version, she is a former supermodel who gets a (minor) scar on her face, decides that [[Beauty to Beast|her beauty is ruined]] (even though everybody, including her doctor, can plainly see that she's wrong), and starts wearing a mask to hide her "imperfection." David Jaffe said that her story is a satire of the extreme standards of beauty that are presented to women by pop culture.
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* In ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'', Solid Snake is supposed to be so ugly as a result of his accelerated ageing disease that at one point, when he takes his shirt off, he actually makes a grown woman cry. (His younger self was supposed to be a [[Sliding Scale of Beauty|World Class Beauty]], and women immediately show interest in him when he's wearing [[Latex Perfection|makeup to look like his younger self]].) In practice, he still has a great body and finding him more attractive than his younger self is ''not'' a niche opinion amongst Solid Snake's generous [[Estrogen Brigade]]; people frequently remark that his younger self as it was rendered in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'' looks [[Uncanny Valley|awkward-looking]] or even outright ugly, but as an old man he is extremely charismatic.
* In [[Dragon Age]] 2, Aveline asks Isabela how she's able to attract men, given that she's not especially good looking. The tone of both Aveline's question and Isabela's response indicates that this was a serious question, despite Isabela's character model being an [[Up to Eleven]] [[Ms. Fanservice]] and Aveline herself is quite attractive.
* In ''[[Until Dawn]]'', we're introduced to Hannah. [[Word of God|Allegedly]] she's a plain-looking, nerdy geek. In reality, she's a [[She's Got Legs|leggy]], [[Spicy Latina|tan-skinned]], [[Brainy Brunette|raven haired]], [[Buxom Is Better|well-endowed girl]] who could be a bitchy egotistical cheerleader in any other setting... but apparently, even the hunky jock guy finds Hannah undesirable for some undisclosed reason.
==
* in ''[[Better Days]]'', both [http://www.jaynaylor.com/betterdays/comic/BD235.05-07-15.gif Marvin] and [http://www.jaynaylor.com/betterdays/comic/BD225.05-06-10.gif Marissa] are treated as being pretty unattractive. Fisk is shocked the instant he sees Marissa, having assumed she got some of the "hereditary hottability" that her cheerleader sister had, and Lucy reacts with pity the instant she sees Elizabeth with Marvin. The trouble is, both of them are drawn in the standard cute animal style, so it's really impossible to tell that they're supposed to be that undesirable.
* In ''[[Nip and Tuck]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20120512011240/http://www.rhjunior.com/NT/00772.html objecting to this trope is one reason to avoid movie romances.]
== Web Original ==
* ''[[Gaia Online]]'' has a rather odd example. When Timmy came down with "[[Plot
** Admittedly, just as many users are complaining about the [[Flanderization|stupidity]] that began when he grew up, or have simply [[The Scrappy|gotten tired of Timmy altogether]].
* Nella from team [[The Nostalgia Chick
** The Chick sees ''herself'' this way. In fact, it was once revealed that she hired Nella to hang around her specifically so she could feel better about herself.
* [[Troll]] Douchey Mcnitpick is still just [[
* ''[[A Very Potter Musical]]'' Intentionally used for humor, when Harry, Dumbledore, and especially Ron, will deliver entire ''monologues'' about the horrid ugliness of Hermione, who is played by a very pretty actress. Draco tries this as well, but the most scathing thing he can come up with is that she's an 8 out of 10 (Maybe an 8.5...No more than a 9.8!)
{{quote|
** Of course, a few minutes after that she enters [[Beautiful All Along|looking so beautiful]] that Ron and Draco break into a [[Counterpoint Duet]] about how they're falling in love (falling in love, falling in love) with Hermione Granger (Danger...)
** Happens to Ginny as well. Harry calls her a "butterface" (in the sequel, though) and Harry makes it clear that he doesn't find her attractive, though she's played by a pretty actress. Sally in [[Me and My Dick]], played by the same actress, is treated the same way. It's even lampshaded when after Joey realizes that she's the one for him, and he says "You know, I don't know why I ever thought she was that ugly, she's really not that bad".
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** Example: Aquerna. She's hardly worth a second glance on campus, but the devisers think she's hot, and when she goes home for the holidays with her pal Rhiannon, lots of guys are hitting on her.
* Feena's avatar of ''[[The Gungan Council]]'' could be viewed as pretty, yet her character in narrative is described as being borderline ugly.
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Batman:
{{quote|
'''Batman''': She can't see that anymore. All she can see are the flaws.
* ''[[Daria]]'' is a reasonably-attractive girl to anyone with functioning eyes. Subverted in the episode, "Quinn the Brain"; while Daria is generally described as plain or even ugly (by people who believe that [[All Guys Want Cheerleaders]]), and usually shows disdain for makeup and clothing, she proves that she can match her fashion-crazed sister Quinn to make a point to her. Extra points for being a [[Spoof Aesop]], since Daria did so in order to [[We Want Our Jerk Back|set Quinn back on the shallow, airheaded lifestyle]] Daria so loathed her for, because Quinn being seen as intelligent was a threat to Daria's own self-image.
** Note that Daria and her pal Jane are the only girls in the school who are drawn with no bust ''at all''.
** In the episode, "Too Cute", Quinn was convinced that she needed plastic surgery after another girl in school had some work done, and was threatening her position in the Fashion Club. By the episode's climax, Daria had enough and flat out told Quinn she was beautiful and did not need plastic surgery. Quinn, of course, thought she was being sarcastic.
* ''[[The Fairly
** Cosmo is also considered very ugly.
*** Wanda as well, or at least, [[Hollywood Pudgy|fat]].
* ''[[Family Guy]]''
** Meg Griffin, who was originally supposed to be rather plain but has been flanderized into being monstrously hideous based on the reactions of those around her. Characters have committed suicide by fire upon sight and have (claimed to) kill family members to generate excuses to avoid her. Of course in the episode, "Don't Make Me Over" all that was easily fixed with a new hairstyle and color, fashionable clothes and make up.
** The trope is parodied in one episode in which the Griffins star in a reality TV show. Meg is recast and her part played by a gorgeous starlet, but her character is otherwise unchanged. The starlet complains that she'll "never have full beautiful breasts like these," as she gestures toward her generous assets.
** If there's a [[Cutaway Gag]] is about a famous woman, half the time it'll be about how she's an absolute hag.<ref>The other half are about her being a giant bitch</ref>
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'''s [[Sidekick]] Ron Stoppable was supposed to appear as a nerdy type of character, but he ended up appearing cute to the viewers. DNAmy is supposed to to be desperately unattractive.
* ''[[Scooby-Doo]]'': Velma Dinkley used to be decidedly plain; her hairstyle was unflattering at best, her face was nothing to get excited over, the sweater she always wore was shapeless, and her figure could generously be described as resembling a barrel on legs. Then (probably because the actress who played her in the live-action movies was pretty good looking herself), when they were making ''[[What's New, Scooby
** In the recent (
** In the second season episode ''A Tiki Scare Is No Fair'', Shaggy and Velma dress up as Tarzan and Jane. It might not be up to Daphne standards, but she's definitely been hiding [http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/9355/atsinf12.jpg something] under that sweater. She wasn't hard to look at doing the hula at the end, either.
** Of course no one in the series ever explicitly states that she is unattractive so in this case Velma might not represent this trope
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* ''[[South Park]]'': Subverted in an episode where Kyle is determined to be the ugliest boy in his class by the girls and is forced to hang out with the other ugly kids. Kyle leads an impassioned speech about how they're just as good as anyone else, and what they need is a makeover. He turns to the girl of the group and starts with the time-honored [[The Glasses Gotta Go|Hollywood tradition of taking away her glasses]]... which reveals that she has small, squinty eyes. Kyle just slowly puts the glasses back on, his plans utterly destroyed. This is further subverted by the fact that {{spoiler|Kyle really ''isn't'' the ugliest kid in the class; furthermore, an unaired clip reveals that Cartman was the ugliest kid on the list, which makes sense, because he actually ''does'' look ugliest}}.
* Fiona's ogre form in the ''[[Shrek]]'' movies (and Shrek himself, to some extent). Apparently, she's supposed to be hideous, but she merely looks slightly chubbier and green. In this case she was beautiful to Shrek, and by the end of the movie she preferred the Ogre form, so it was more of a case of in-universe [[Values Dissonance]].
* ''[[
{{quote|
'''Donatello''': Irma? Beautiful?
'''Raphael''': The poor guy got konked harder than we thought. }}
* In one episode of [[The Simpsons]], Moe auditions for a role on a soap opera.
{{quote|
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Dead Horse Trope]]
[[Category:The Makeover]]
[[Category:Body Image Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Home Page/YMMV]]
[[Category:Characters and Casting]]
[[Category:YMMV Trope]]
[[Category:Hollywood Style]]
[[Category:Romance Novel Plots]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]
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