Rose-Colored Lenses

Rose-Colored Lenses was written by Kara Wild in April 1999 and is the first installment of the Driven Wild Universe. Like most other installments, it is written in quasi-script form with three Acts and commercials.

Summary
Quinn gets a long-overdue eye exam and learns that her eyesight has suffered a major decline. She reluctantly gets glasses, but finds herself torn between fear of being called a "geek" and wonder at the new world opened up to her.

Commentary & Reviews
The title plays on the phrase, "seeing the world through rose-colored glasses," referring to the change of perspective Quinn undergoes when she is forced to wear glasses and begins a slow change in personality throughout the rest of the DWU series. Contrary to the meaning of the phrase, however, Quinn does not initially believe the world and her situation appear better; she feels quite the opposite. In startling contrast to the typical Hollywood treatment of women with glasses, Quinn starts out beautiful, cute, and shallow, and is transformed by her glasses into becoming beautiful and intelligent. This begins one of the many unexpected reversals of trope for which the DWU series is justly famed.