MAKEOVER TELEVISION AND THE BEAUTY MYTH

Text topic: Themes

Text author: Снежана Милин Перковић

The media have an important role in communicating cultural values and ideas, but they also affect the outlining and defining the concepts of beauty. Therefore, the media representation processes are key to forming cultural “norms” of a beautiful female body, while consumption oriented society finds esthetic surgery a simpler and faster way of democratizing and achieving this ideal. As a mixture of the mentioned motives, the makeover television is an example of media content whose analysis can uncover the meanings and affirmation mechanisms of the contemporary beauty myth - an idea suggested by Naomi Wolf. These TV shows can be viewed as particular media rituals, initiating into the myth and legitimizing its social role. Reality makeover TV show Moje novo ja, aired on Prva television, is analysed to uncover the key moments of media representation of current idea(l)s of a desired woman`s beauty, the consequences of such ideas and the social power relations which the myth itself portrays.