the cure
what do you get when you combine the substance and a different man?
One night as my partner and I were looking for a movie to watch, we came across the 2024 adaption of Uglies directed by McG, the same director of the iconic movies Charlie’s Angels and The Babysitter. I started laughing when the trailer started playing because I, like almost every teen girl in the 2000s, read the book series growing up. But, my partner hadn’t so I had to explain the concept of the book — which, for the record, sounds absolutely insane and I can’t believe I let a book have such a hold over me that I truly believed I was ugly. Fast forward to a few days later, I came across A Different Man on streaming and promptly lost my mind while watching.
Even in 2025, we’re still obsessed with finding a cure for “ugliness.”
A Different Man is to men what The Substance is to women. Both discuss self-hatred, body dysmorphia, losing yourself to hatred, and how far you’re willing to go just for the sake of beauty. They’re both absurdist movies that show how insane humans can feel when they’re losing themselves to this. Cosmetic procedures have been “in” for a while, but the combination of that with these movies coming out around the same time causes me a bit of worry.
I’m not hating on anyone who gets a cosmetic procedure. I fully believe that they can change someone’s life for the better in so many different ways. But what worries me is the “Love Island” effect — the increase of plastic surgery to live up to certain beauty standards. Who makes those beauty standards? Who knows! But, I think we can all take a guess and we all know that it’s not one gender that is affected by this.
Hear me out.
I’ve already mentioned that both The Substance and A Different Man dive into the intricacies of body dysmorphia and self-hatred, but what does that mean for us, the watchers? How do we watch these movies then walk away with the knowledge that a “cure” doesn’t exist? That we’re only hurting ourselves if we try to seek out this cure? That there is no miracle way to change our lives to abide by the standards we’re trapped in? These questions are enough to make any of us lose our minds. Just thinking about this makes my mind spiral because what is the answer?
Well, there isn’t one. There is no cure for our “ugliness” because it’s a manufactured concept. Any cure we find might possibly harm our bodies in the long run — I’m looking directly at you, Ozempic — while also creating a cycle of self-hatred that we won’t be able to escape. We end up hurting ourselves more than the “cure” would. Take it from someone who had an eating disorder and still struggles with having a healthy relationship with food. It’s a never-ending battle of trying to come to terms with my own body dysmorphia. To be honest, it’s a headache to deal with.
I love media that discusses this topic. Feeling ugly and seeking out “a cure” for it is something so many of us can relate to. Even now at 30, there are days I stand in front of the mirror and pick out all of the things I would change about my body in order to be “pretty” if I had the money to spend on it. Our society is built around the pursuit of beauty and those who change the standards of beauty of a whim.
Just for the record, Demi Moore deserves all of the awards for The Substance and both Adam Pearson and Sebastian Stan deserve all of the awards for A Different Man.