Transforming Bodies: Makeovers and Monstrosities in American Culture

273 Pages·2015·2.86 MB·English

by  Heike Steinhoff (auth.)

Transforming Bodies
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Transforming Bodies
Makeovers and Monstrosities
in American Culture
Heike Steinhoff
Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
© Heike Steinhoff 2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-49378-1
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2015 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-69713-7 ISBN 978-1-137-49379-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-49379-8
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Steinhoff, Heike.
Transforming bodies: makeovers and monstrosities in American culture / Heike Steinhoff.
pages cm
Summary: “At the turn of the twenty-fi rst century, American media abound with images
and narratives of bodily transformations. Transforming Bodies investigates how these
representations have become key sites for the negotiation of power. Focusing on the
representations of ‘extreme’ forms of somatic transformationsp, articularly cosmetic
surgery, this book examines iconicp opular cultural texts from diverse media and
genres. The reality TV show The Swan, the TV drama series Nip/Tuck, Chuck Palahniuk’s
(post-)postmodern novels Invisible Monsters and Invisible Monsters Remix, and Scott
Westerfeld’s young adult fiction series Uglies are read as expressions of the heterogeneous
biopolitical discourses that are articulated in the American mediascpae. In contemporary
American culture, representations of body transformations are often part of a makeover
paradigm that presents bodies as‘ beautiful,’ ‘individual’ and ‘improved’ if they adhere
to normative constructions of gender, sexuality, class, race/ethnicity, and able-bodiedness.
However, Transforming Bodies demonstrates that a number of popular cultural texts take
up narrative structures, representational stratgeies and ideological underpinnings of makeover
culture in order to re-write them. These texts link makeovers to images, practices adn
narratives of monstrosity and thereby challenge cultural norms. At the crossroadsf o
American, cultural, literary, media, gender, queer, disability and governmentality studies,
the book presents a timely intervention into criticla debates on body transformations and
contemporary makeover culture”.— Provided by publisher.
1. Human body in mass media. 2. Body image. 3. Human body—Social aspects—
United States. 4. Reality television programs—United States. I. Title.
BF697.5.B63S74 2015
306.4'613—dc23 2015003642
Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India.
Contents
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgments viii
Before
1 Transforming Bodies: An Introduction 3
2 Body Thoughts: Transforming Bodies in
the ‘New Body Theories’ 14
Transforming bodies in academic thought 15
Feminism, bodies, and their (trans)formations 18
Subjects, bodies, and power from a Foucauldian perspective 21
T e c gi h efn s to hfl,o e o ( sn geeo lov le ir byn, em r e a nl t) a l i t
a d n(t e l x ag)etncyu a 25
Monstrous bodies and the (trans)formation of the norm 29
Somatechnics and the trans formations of somatic selves 34
Transformations
3 Extreme Makeovers: Transforming Bodies in Popular Culture 41
Magical-biological metamorphoses 41
(Surgical) Makeover culture 44
(Surgical) Makeover reality television 47
G dee ndr boedi e she goi s lcn u mak er tao vle ev ri s ti eo n
show T h ae n S w 52
(De)Stabilizing gender on makeover television 59
S f-e tl for ra mn sa t i o n gs, , a u t h e n t i c b e c o m i n
a n d gno ev oe lr yin b m e e r na tl a l i t 6 2
fPe om si tn - i s t S w a n s 70
keM o a hve e rls bo,doy, acndt iAmaericanness 73
Preliminary conclusions 79
Re-reading The Swan 82
4 Monstrous Makeovers: Somatechnics of Resistance
in Postmodern Consumer Culture – Chuck Palahniuk’s
Invisible Monsters 86
Monstrous self-transformations 86
I n v i s ii nb l te h f Me c oo cnnosy t nt e et mer psx ot r oa r
fi c t i o n a n d s c h o l a 8r 9l y c r i t i c i s m
v
vi Contents
A world of hyperreality and consumer culture 93
E pox sg i t nh y)epo l ( ifb t bo iye dc aa s nu dto
m k ao eerv lt ceu ur 9 8
Mo n s t eor ervo u aelsf-ne sddmt ra ‘ uks c t i o n ’
a s f- c‘ os en ls t r u c t i o n ’ 1 0 7
A r f t es x io s t e n f c te h ea ny ( d i n t ) h v e i s p i ob l i i l t i i t c s o
of t h e ‘ m u t i l a t e d ’ 11b4 o d y
Ma k e o v e r ’ s m o fn s t r o u s e x c e s s a n d t h e p o l i t i c s o
t eh t dre barodyn s g e n 121
Mo n sbotdi r e od s um sao nn s t r o u s 1 t 2e 9x t s
5 T r o u b l i n g S u b j e c t s : B e a u t y , P l a s t i c S u r g e r y ,
a d n(N o)N n o - r mdi a e t s i v i en g e yBrC o o s m e t i c S u r
Cult u r ’s eN p Ti u/c–k F X 134
D i s Ns /eTi uckpc t i n g 134
Nip/Tuck in its media context and in critical studies 140
S gui cr a l i df ea ns tprsijeoot c imt e a s t : i 1c45t h e s e l
F e my, bi e nay, i u dn ta siginutlc rmake ao vlt eu r r e c 1u 5 1
Ma sli cn buei at yud ,t s y ul , rm kegaaoin vlct eau r r e c u6 1 5
N p/ i T fue cm k i ’ n s i s t v o i c e 15 9
Mo n sbotdi r e os u s– he mr os n s t r o 1 u 6 s 1 o t
Mo n sy t u r no ds ei pertfern cfae t ça ’ at dh e t h170e ‘
Mo n s t y r mofi ouc ds a i t b i oo dn s 175
D i s g bso eudac nr t i i en s 1 8 2
6 M f ioyg nd T i e e gn of As ge: in a DCystoopianm Worild n
of Beauty – Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Series 185
Dystopia of beauty 185
T ehU i gs e l s e r i e s f y o i u n t h t h ( ei n c ) o nl it te ex rt a to u r e
an d e o emrv a cek u l t u r 1 8 7
Ma k e ofa vi el re d a ’ s) (i ‘n i t i a1 t9 i 0 o n
Op op sg i t nh e m fo a r kg me i iodyn ve en r t : i t t r a n s
an d ens a r r a t i v 2 0 2
Pr a c t i c i fn rg e s io sm t a a t n e c c2e h1 n3 i c s o
Bo d y fi c ma ot di io n , e n v i r o n m e n t a l i s m , a n d
cult ul der ma o c r a c y 2 2 2
A r r i v a l a n d s e t t i 2n 3g 2 o u t a g a i n
Aft e r
7 F i e n aa enwl de o SfeB:r Nu tA u rC o n c l u 2 s 3 i 7o n
W o r d k s C i t e 2 84
Inde x 2 46
List of Figures
3.1 The Swan candidate Delisa is visualy fragmented. 53
3.2 The candidate’s body rotates like an avatar in
the selection scene of a computer game. 54
5.1 A red pen marks the breast o f a mannequin in
the opening sequence of Nip/Tuck. 135
5.2 Open boxes with mannequins in the opening
sequence of Nip/Tuck. 137
5.3 A mannequin in front of a skyline of houses built
along a beach in the opening sequence o f Nip/Tuck. 138
5.4 The abject bodily spectacle of surgery in Nip/Tuck. 176
vii
Acknowledgments
This book, which originated as my doctoral dissertation at the Ruhr-
University Bochum, cou ld not have been completed without t he
support of a number of people. Foremost I want to thank my doc-
toral advisor, Pro f. Dr. Kornelia Freitag, for her continuous support,
guidance, and confidence. I am particularly thank ful not only for her
textual feedback and helpful suggestions, but also for the freedom
she gave me to explore this project. Many thanks also to m y secon d
supervisor, Prof. Dr. Eva Warth, who sparked my interest in ‘makeover
culture’ and whose comments on this project have always ins pired
me. Moreover, I am dee ply grateful to my collea gue and friend,
Dr. Evangelia Kindinger, who walked this road with me. Dr. Katharina
Vester has always been a source o f scholarly guidance and moral sup -
port and I thank her for both.
A number of scholars, collea gues, and friends provided me with
material, ideas, and invaluable scholarly feedback at di fferent stages
of this project. I particularly want to thank: Dr. Elisa Edwards,
Julia Eckel, Verena Peters, Hanna Surma, Selma Bi dlingmaier, Sven
Lutzka, Anne Weiler, Pro f. Dr. Simon Dickel, Pro f. Dr. Ste fan Brandt,
Prof. Dr. Miriam Strube, Pro f. Dr. Astrid Deuber-Mankowsk y, and
Prof. Dr. Bernadette Wegenstein. I also want to thank the RUB Research
School and the Rector’s Office of the Ruhr-University Bochum for
research and travel grants. Man y thanks also to the doctoral students
and professors of the American/En glish studies and media stud-
ies departments at Ruhr-Universit y Bochum, Technical Universit y
Dortmund, and Duisburg-Essen Universit y, as well as m y students at
Ruhr-Universit y Bochum whom I asked to read man y of the texts dis-
cussed in this book and who were willing to share their thoughts on
them with me. This study is, of course, also indebted to all those
scholars and authors who inspired me through their writings, man y
of whom are mentioned in this book. I would also like to thank the
team at Palgrave Macmillan for their support and professional advice
throughout the publishing process.
My biggest debt of gratitude is to my parents, my sister, and m y
grandparents for their tireless love, confidence, patience, and support.
This book is dedicated to you.
viii
Acknowledgments ix
Finally, and most specially, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to
my partner Pierre, who transformed me and my life in more ways than
I could name. I thank him for his love, care, humor, and, foremost, for
sharing with me his passion for life.