As reality television swept its way across screens and into our living rooms we could not help but become addicted to its drama filled episodes, as well as the variety among such shows. Reality television has branched out into many arenas, one of those including the always popular make over show. Some may resort to more drastic changes; including extreme weight loss and plastic surgery, while others will provide a new wardrobe. One example of this type of show is the Style Network's How Do I Look? Much like TLC's What Not to Wear, this show takes a contestant whose appearance is seen as unfitting within society's standards and they are given a whole new look.
How Do I Look? picks women who generally fall into two categories of social unacceptability: the "tomboy" or a woman whose style could be described as "frumpy" and the overly sexual. Throughout the course of the show these women are torn apart from people who are close to them as well as complete strangers and then built back up in the image created by their peers. Their new wardrobes are picked by three people: two that they know personally and one stylist and it is from these three new images that they must pick one.
Upon watching this show, one immediately sees how this plays with the gendered gaze. How Do I Look?, along with other make over shows, emphasizes what is feminine and what is not; what is acceptable in this society and what is not. As women, being labeled with the female gender, we are expected to dress, look, and act in certain ways. The entire make over process takes women who fall outside of that and squeezes them into a mold that places them into the proper category. In Judith Mayne's Women, Representation, and Culture, she states: "Representation can function both to reinforce oppressive standards of feminine behavior and to imagine possibilities not typically available to women" (Mayne, 163). While looking through the before and after stories of these women, many talked about how this woman has transformed from "frumpy" to "classy" and her husband is "happier than ever" or how she may have more luck with romance, emphasizing a woman's duty to satisfy or please a man. For these woman, they did not improve their appearance for their own sake, but rather to attract men, to be perceived in a certain way that is desirable to a man. However, this was not the case for all. Others, upon receiving this make over, were able to excel in their profession or being single mothers, provide a better life for their child; which is very likely to include finding a suitable father figure. This expands on the notion that woman can be powerful in business, one that is still relatively new in our society, but how does she get there? By looking the right way.
This show also touches on ideas of female sexuality. A woman's body, through the male gaze is already sexualized and therefore, should not be played up in an extreme way. Women should dress to enhance their features, but not in a way that reads only sex. Women described as dressing as "streetwalkers" are transformed into more modest looking women. I think this is reflected in how women, both young and old, are expected to behave. Today, it is more acceptable for women to have sexual relationships and be in touch with their sexuality, but more so behind closed doors; it should not be visible within the public eye. Therefore, woman can dress in a sexy way, but it should still be classy.
From the standpoint of the viewer, How Do I Look? provides its audience with an ideal notion of beauty and femininity. According to Gallagher and Pecot-Herbert this is something that all women can achieve as long as they wear the right clothes and makeup, making a distinction between the right kind of beauty as opposed to the wrong kind. This ideal notion of beauty is generally associated with a certain female identity and body type, one that is slender. Women who do not have that body type are taught how to dress in ways that flatter their body shape and hide their flaws, which further emphasizes a hegemonic femininity and beauty (Gallagher & Herbert, 66).
As a result, women will internalize these messages sent out and buy into these notions of the ideal feminine identity. We base a large part of our identity and who we are on how we look. In a way, make over shows like this one are reducing women simply to their appearance. They do tell women that by dressing the proper way they will be taken more seriously both inside the workplace, as well as outside, but the only way to do so is through the right dress. This idea of "reality" television, gives young girls and women the impression that there is a realness to dressing right, looking right, and acting right and many will take drastic measures to fit the requirements. By bringing women onto How Do I Look? the people that she knows and loves, as well as, society as a whole is suggesting that there is something wrong with her, that there is something that needs to be fixed. Those who watch the show, will buy the make up products and the clothes in order to also "fix" themselves and fit themselves into that ideal feminine role.
Works Cited
Mayne, Judith. Women, Representation, and Culture. pg. 161-165.
Gallagher, Amanda Hall and Lisa Pecot-Herbert. "You Need a Makeover!": The Social Construction of Female Body Image in A Makeover Story, What Not to Wear, and Extreme Makeover. pg. 57-77.
I'm not going to lie, I've always loved make over shows. They take a person and turn her into a beautiful, successful woman. But I think they do miss out on a lot. As Jamie said, they base the woman's self-worth largely on how she looks. She cannot be considered successful until she looks the part. These shows only perpetuate a hegemonic femininity. This is what a beautiful, successful woman is suppose to look like. But who says that a "tomboy" cannot be beautiful or the "overly sexual?" Why does beauty have to be so limited in these shows? It only shows these woman that they weren't enough the way they are and they have to be someone they're not in order to be truly accepted.
ReplyDeleteI have always hated make over shows. Not because im a guy and I love different kinds of shows, but because people are making themselves out to be something they are not. When a person puts make up on in the morning they are doing this in order to make themselves look better on their own. The problem is that people are telling others how to dress, and how to fix the problems with their face. Often this shows pay the make over contestant to throw out their ward-drobes. In doing so you are telling that person that they have failed up untill this point, and that they need professional help. I truly believe that make over shows tell people that if they cant look good on their own, that they need to seek help from a professional.
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