Makeover TV: Selfhood, Citizenship, and Celebrity

Description

In 2004, roughly 25 makeover-themed reality shows aired on U.S. television. By 2009, there were more than 250, from What Not to Wear and The Biggest Loser to Dog Whisperer and Pimp My Ride. In Makeover TV, Brenda R. Weber argues that whether depicting transformations of bodies, trucks, finances, relationships, kids, or homes, makeover shows posit a self achievable only in the transition from the “Before-body”—the overweight figure, the decrepit jalopy, the cluttered home—to the “After-body,” one filled with confidence, coded with celebrity, and imbued with a renewed faith in the powers of meritocracy. The rationales and tactics invoked to achieve the After-body vary widely, from the patriotic to the market-based, and from talk therapy to feminist empowerment. The genre is unified by its contradictions: to uncover your “true self,” you must be reinvented; to be empowered, you must surrender to experts; to be special, you must look and act like everyone else. Based on her analysis of more than 2,500 hours of makeover TV, Weber argues that the much-desired After-body speaks to and makes legible broader cultural narratives about selfhood, citizenship, celebrity, and Americanness. Although makeovers are directed at both male and female viewers, their gendered logic requires that feminized subjects submit to the controlling expertise wielded by authorities. The genre does not tolerate ambiguity. Conventional (middle-class, white, ethnically anonymous, heterosexual) femininity is the goal of makeovers for women. When subjects are male, makeovers often compensate for perceived challenges to masculine independence by offering men narrative options for resistance or control. Foregoing a binary model of power and subjugation, Weber provides an account of makeover television that is as appreciative as it is critical. She reveals the makeover show as a rich and complicated text that expresses cultural desires and fears through narratives of selfhood. TITLE PAGE......Page 4 COPYRIGHT PAGE......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 11 INTRODUCTION INTO THE MAKEOVER MAZE: A METHOD IN THE MADNESS......Page 14 You—Only Better!......Page 21 Ideological Opportunism and Theorizing the Makeover......Page 29 Accounting for This Particular Makeover Madness......Page 33 Messages of Normalization?......Page 38 Why Now?......Page 40 Typifying the Genre......Page 43 Mapping the Makeover Maze......Page 49 1. MAKEOVER NATION: AMERICANNESS, NEOLIBERALISM, AND THE CITIZEN-SUBJECT......Page 52 Making (Over) the Citizen......Page 55 “I Am Living the American Dream!”......Page 61 90210......Page 64 Neoliberalism and the Makeover Mission......Page 66 Put Yourself First for a Change......Page 76 Exceptions That Prove the Rule......Page 82 Policing Citizens: Regulating Sameness......Page 86 “Clearly I need to be taken in hand”: Race, Cost, and Control......Page 90 Subject Formation for the Nation......Page 93 2. VISIBLE SUBJECTS: ECONOMIES OF LOOKING, PEDAGOGIES OF SHAME, SIGHTS OF RESISTANCE......Page 96 Visible Shame......Page 98 Shame as a Spectator Sport......Page 105 “I see all, I know all”......Page 107 Surveillance as Care: Affective Domination......Page 111 Visible Evidence......Page 116 Pathologies of Emotionalism......Page 121 The Shame of Emotional Incontinence on The Swan......Page 127 A Taste of Their Own Medicine......Page 133 Subjectivity or Subjection?......Page 142 3. “I’M A WOMAN NOW!”: RACE, CLASS, AND FEMME-ING THE NORMATIVE......Page 144 Making Over Women of Color: “I was always that cute little Filipino girl.”......Page 149 Classy Lady: Of Moneyed Looks......Page 156 Over the Top: Class Regulations through the Makeunder......Page 161 M2F: “She’s on the verge of looking masculine, and I need to feminize her face.”......Page 165 Toms: “If you’re not wearing a dress, how do you know if you’re a girl?”......Page 174 Moms: “She’s got mommy syndrome, bad.”......Page 179 Hets, Trans, and Gender Queer......Page 183 You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman......Page 188 4. WHAT MAKES THE MAN?: MASCULINITY AND THE SELF-MADE (OVER) MAN......Page 191 The American Manolith......Page 194 Making Male Bodies......Page 201 Manly Makeovers?......Page 204 “He’s a reluctant student”......Page 206 “I can take on the world!”......Page 210 The Man of Action......Page 213 “You’ve got a cute little figure. I mean, you’ve got a great body.”......Page 214 All in Favor Say (Queer) Aye......Page 220 “Usually I can tell who wears the pants”......Page 228 Concluding with Crisis?......Page 235 5. CELEBRATED SELFHOOD: REWORKING COMMODIFICATION THROUGH REALITY CELEBRITY......Page 237 Charting the Stars......Page 240 Of Narcissism and False People......Page 244 Producing the Star: The Celebrity as Product......Page 248 Style Her Famous: The Job of Being Looked At......Page 252 Star Power: Labor as Expiation for Fame......Page 256 Counterfeits and Impersonations......Page 261 Star Lovers......Page 269 “A fairy-tale red-carpet adventure”......Page 273 And They All Lived Happily Ever After......Page 276 CONCLUSION: CAN THIS MAKE OVER BE SAVED?......Page 277 Stumbling toward Ecstasy......Page 282 Confessions and Conclusions......Page 286 NOTES......Page 290 Introduction: Into the Makeover Maze......Page 291 Chapter One: Makeover Nation......Page 294 Chapter Two: Visible Subjects......Page 300 Chapter Three: “I’m a Woman Now!”......Page 303 Chapter Four: What Makes the Man?......Page 306 Chapter Five: Celebrated Selfhood......Page 308 Conclusion: Can This Makeover Be Saved?......Page 313 BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 314 VIDEOGRAPHY......Page 338 U.S. Network Abbreviation Legend......Page 340 Makeover Videography......Page 341