Evan Petersand Ryan Murphy are teaming up again for the TV seriesThe Beauty, and its premise sounds very similar to a recentRotten Tomatoeshit with a 90% critics' score. Over the years, Ryan Murphy has built his team of frequent collaborators, who have been the stars of many of his TV shows. Among them is Evan Peters, best known for starring in mostseasons ofAmerican Horror Storyand most recently in the first season of the anthology seriesMonster, where he played Jeffrey Dahmer.
WhileAmerican Horror Storyprepares for its 13th season, Ryan Murphy continues working on other TV projects, though not all of them horror ones. At the time of writing, Murphy’s active TV shows are the mystery thrillerThe Watcher, the sports drama anthologyAmerican Sports Story,Monster, the medical dramaDoctor Odyssey, andGrotesquerie, the latter a horror drama. If he wasn’t busy enough already,Murphy is adding another TV project to his schedule withThe Beauty, starring Evan Peters, but this project sounds too similar to a recent body horror hit.
Ryan Murphy’s The Beauty Sounds Too Similar To The Substance
The Beauty Shares Its Core Themes With The Substance
According toVariety,Evan Peters will star in Ryan Murphy’s upcoming FX TV showThe Beauty, alongside Anthony Ramos, Jeremy Pope, and Ashton Kutcher. The show is based on the comic book series of the same name by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley, and though there are no plot details yet, the description of the source material offers a very good idea of whatThe Beautywill be about. According to it,The Beautyis set in a world where modern society is obsessed with outward beauty and poses the question ofwhat if physical beauty was a sexually transmitted disease.
This obsession and the way to obtain physical perfection will be the subject of an investigation by Detectives Foster and Vaugh.
Because of this, physical perfection is attainable in the world ofThe Beauty, with the majority of the population taking advantage of this. However, this obsession and the way to obtain physical perfection will be the subject of an investigation by Detectives Foster and Vaugh, who discover this perfection comes at a horrible price. Murphy later revealed in a separate talk toVarietythat the source of beauty is a mutated virus, andThe Beautyexplores how far people are willing to go and sacrifice to achieve “perfection.”
BothThe SubstanceandThe Beautytake shots at society’s obsession with outward beauty and the concept of “perfection.”
As interesting and intriguing asThe Beautysounds, it’s very similar to Coralie Fargeat’s satirical body horror movieThe Substance. In it, a fading celebrity decides to use a black market, cell-replicating serum that temporarily creates a younger and better version of herself. However,the use of the Substancecomes with strict and clear instructions that, if not followed, unleash horrifying consequences. BothThe SubstanceandThe Beautytake shots at society’s obsession with outward beauty and the concept of “perfection”,testing how far its characters would go to achieve this, even if it means risking their lives.
How The Beauty Can Be Different From The Substance
The Beauty Seems To Blend With Other Genres
Despite their similar themes,The Beautyalready has elements that differentiate it fromThe Substance. For instance, the source of beauty is a sexually transmitted disease, whereas inThe Substanceit’s a serum acquired from a mysterious source.The Beautyalso has an element of crime with the addition of the detectives investigating the diseaseand its consequences, whileThe Substanceleaves most things about the drug a secret, and even though its effects on Sue and Elisabeth become public, the source of it continues to be a secret.
The Substance Ending Explained
The ending of The Substance underscores the themes of the film and highlights the dangerous double standard that exists in Hollywood.
The Substancealso addresses ageism, which, so far, doesn’t seem to be among the topics covered inThe Beauty– or, at least, not as prominently as inThe Substance.The Beautyis continuing a trend in entertainment made big byThe Substance, and despite being similar at their core,The Beautycan address topics thatThe Substancedidn’t or couldn’t.
Source:Variety.
The Substance
Elisabeth Sparkle, a fading celebrity, turns to a mysterious drug that promises to restore her youth by creating a younger, more beautiful version of herself. But splitting time between her original and new body leads to horrifying consequences as her alternate self, Sue, begins to unravel her life in a disturbing body-horror descent.
