Hey guys, I'm posting this here to see who else might be interested in forming a group focusing on the makeover in reality television for the teaching project assignment. It's a hugely broad topic, and super prevalent in today's media, in everything from America's Next Top Model to The Biggest Loser to Extreme Makeover. I don't want to narrow too much before we are able to establish a group because I think it can be useful to bounce ideas off of each other and find a focus together on something within that field we might want to hone in on. I did want to put forward one program I find extremely interesting in particular -- the British program 'Snog Marry Avoid'. It was huge in the UK and basically focuses on giving 'make-unders' to girls who are accustomed to walking around with fake tans, fake hair, heavy make-up, etc. The hosts go out into the street and ask random men if they would snog (kiss), marry, or avoid this girl before and after her 'make-under'. I find this program particularly fascinating because it proposes this whole 'natural beauty' message, which is veiled in a discourse of applying 'natural' make-up and wearing the 'right' and appropriately conservative (i.e. 'sexy but not slutty') clothes. I think it's incredible how it disguises this discourse as one that's trying to help girls get back 'on the right track' and avoid 'fake beauty' but it does so by putting forward its own agenda of what natural beauty should look like, and moreover uses male judgements to define this. It just brings forward a lot of interesting ideas to debate about how we define beauty, what are our standards for evaluating it, and emphasizes how women's bodies and styles have become commodities to be changed and shaped on our television screens (as in all makeover shows). I highly recommend checking out an episode as they are a lot of fun to watch; there are full ones on youtube. Here is one example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpBfy4amu7Y
Anyways, if anyone is interested in pursuing this topic let me know so we can form a group and start bouncing around some ideas.
Hi Ana,
ReplyDeleteI find this topic very intriguing. I’m especially interested in the makeover shows that have taken the idea of self-improvement to the extreme with plastic surgery – such as Extreme Makeover and The Swan. The idea that a woman is beautiful if she conforms to societal norms of “beauty” is a rich topic – especially considering that plastic surgery, in my opinion, can make a woman extremely unattractive in society’s eyes if taken too far. Contrasting this with the show Snog, Marry, Avoid that you mentioned above, its intriguing that this anti-makeover program still has this very same idealized form of beauty – promoting massed produced versions of femininity.
Ana & Ariana,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this I immediately thought of The Swan! Of course The Swan would be more of a contrast to "Snog, Marry, Avoid" as it encourages women to completely change themselves on the outside so that they fit a more idealized version of "beautiful." Many of the participants of The Swan claim that they want these extreme plastic surgery makeovers in order to feel better about themselves or to finally feel like their "true selves." However, is this what they really think or is it some idea that society has imposed into the minds of women? How did we go from women only wanting to get one thing fixed (like a nose job or boob job) to a show like this in which women feel the need to fix numerous parts of their body just to feel more comfortable in their own skin? No doubt there is an obsession with beauty in our society, as well as cultures all around the world. In places like Brazil, plastic surgery is extremely common and almost even expected. This obsession with beauty is in media all around us, magazines, movies, and especially TV with shows like The Swan, Dr. 90210, Nip Tuck. I would love to work in this group and research this makeover phenomenon further!
Sounds great, The Swan is definitely a very appropriate example here and a potent contrast to Snog Marry Avoid! There is a lot of territory we can cover in reality tv with this topic, and many other programs as well; I think we can explore some really interesting ideas and you guys have already brought up a lot to think about. Let's talk some more in class tomorrow and work out a time where we can go over brainstorming in detail and divvy up the research. :)
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