Abstract
This dissertation examines one season of episodes of the television show Extreme Makeover. It focuses on the efforts of the show's producers, managers and staff as well of the majority of makeover candidates to frame their surgeries, training/instruction, and stylistic changes as transformative—of both the physical body and essential identity or self. My methods included watching and taking extensive notes on 18 one-hour episodes in the 2004-2005 season and then subjecting them to inductive analysis with a goal of understanding (a) how alterations of the body (particularly via cosmetic surgeries) and (b) how transformations of the self and (c) how femininity and masculinity were depicted on the show. The literature I use to frame my analysis reflects the central themes that I discovered—including the subjective feelings that the makeover candidates reported but also the differential experiences of women versus men. My two analysis chapters reflect these themes. I attempt to situate the study in literature on "reality" television shows, theories of emotions and bodies, and theories of gender. I am especially interested throughout in how the body, or embodiment, is represented in the discourse of the show's authorities and makeover candidates. At the conclusion of my study, I attempt so show how my findings can extend theoretical and empirical work in five areas: on theoretical debates of free choice versus false consciousness in cosmetic surgery, on men’s increasing investment in beauty practices, on discussion of hegemonic masculinity and hegemonic femininity, on the male gaze, and on the political economy of Extreme Makeover.
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