Summary

In this paper, we assess the adaptation of the Colombian soap opera Yo soy Betty, la fea to the US TV series Ugly Betty, and explain the process of symbolic construction of ugliness, based on the ethnic condition of the main character. We examine the discourse built around Betty Suarez, which works as a resource to forge a narrative of national identity on the Latino population in the United States. The resulting series makes it possible to point out the televized proposal of a represented society that constitutes an alternative symbolic construction of Latinos as a social group. This narrative analysis explains the reformulation of the symbolic oppositions in both worlds (Latino and Anglo) which shows the gradual acceptance of Betty not only in terms of her physical non-beauty, but also of her ethnic and social condition.