Glee- Diversity of Body Images

The new Fox sitcom Glee hit the air this fall and has instantly become a success. Part of the reason for that success is the showcasing of diversity of body types amongst the cast members. 

Although there is the traditional cheer leaders and jocks who all showcase the stereotype of body image in America- males with washboard abs and cut physiques and females with a well toned body- there are other examples of main characters with alternative body types. 

For example their is an "overweight" girl who sings and is one of the major talents in the Glee club. There is also a skinny homosexual male who at first is picked on but then finds belonging in the Glee club. The major theme of the show is that no matter who you are or what you look like, you deserve to belong to something and find happiness. 

Here is a promo from Glee that shows the diversity of body image in the show. 

Under Armor Commercial

This commercial for the brand Under Armor, showcases the stereotype for the ideal body image of males in America. 

Furthermore, the advertisement implies that if you wear their apparel, a body type similar to the men in the commercial can be achieved. 

 

Dove Campaign For Real Beauty

A recent Dove advertising campaign showcased one of the major issues facing body and image in today's popular culture. 

With the advent of photoshop and other editing tools, it is now easy for ad agencies to create their own version of true "beauty". 

The ads take a look at just how easy it is to manipulate images and video to create a completely different look of a person. 

Another one of the ads takes a look at how media can distort a women's perspective of their own body

image and end up hating different parts of themselves. It exposes these insecurities and shows how

everyone is truly beautiful in their own right.

Dolce and Gabbana Advertisements

High fashion brand Dolce and Gabbana has several commercials that showcase the American ideal of body image. 

In this advertisement both males are toned and built to an almost "perfect" degree. Their image is

almost identical in terms of body type; six pack abs, muscular physique and short well kept hair.

The woman is very slender and petite with little body fat at all, which makes her desirable to the 

two men. 

This commercial also shows people with similar toned body types. It focuses on the slender and

well built physiques of the actors to sell there time pieces.

In this final advertisement the same body type is used once again as a selling tool to make the

product more attractive and desirable.

Real Bodies?

A Look at Body Image in Reality Television

Over the past ten years, reality television has become a mainstay in American popular culture. From shows like Survivor and Dancing With the Stars to The Hills and The Real World, many Americans are either familiar with or a fan of a few of these shows. 

However in analyzing these "reality" shows and observing the types of people that appear on them, one must ask what sort of message producers and executives are sending to the general public of what "normal" body image is. 

In this post, I will look at several reality shows and through analysis of these shows as well as reaction from a variety of people to the shows with respect to body image we will be able to answer a very important question. 

What is the "reality" of body image that these shows convey?

The Hills 

The Hills is a reality television show that follows the lives of young people in Los Angeles. It first aired in 2006 and the show was based around the life of Lauren Conrad, who became famous in the reality television show Laguna Beach. The show is now in its 6th season and although Conrad has left the show, another former Laguna Beach star Kristin Cavallari has taken center stage and signed on for two more seasons. 

Watching many episodes of this reality show, it becomes clear that the body image showcased is not that of average mid-twenties Americans. Rather the men and women in the show are in shape and toned to a degree that makes them appear more like models and movie stars. 

The Cast of MTV's The Hills 

In an essay for the Genders OnLine Journal entitled Living The Hills Life, Alice Leppert and Julie Wilson discuss how MTV turned these ordinary people into an image and brand. 

"As The Hills constructs Lauren as a soap opera heroine, it simultaneously makes her a star and thus an image to aspire to for young women navigating U.S. consumer culture. Through branding Lauren's lifestyle, MTV provides the viewer who aspires to be Lauren or be like Lauren with never ending opportunities to consume as Lauren does. The articulation of Lauren's star image to a feminine fashion and consumer culture creates a prized form of female celebrity, whose value to MTV is immeasurable for its ability to marshal a young female consumer-audience. While critics commonly acknowledge what Graeme Turner describes as "the mass production of celebrity" via reality TV, MTV has retooled and refined the practice of celebrity mass production. The result is the emergence of Lauren as a reality star, whose status as soap heroine of "real life" in the Hollywood Hills makes her at once a compelling point of identification for young women and a potent new form of lifestyle brand."

According to Leppert and Wilson, Lauren Conrad is not supposed to be representative of a "real" person, only when it can be used to tie viewers closer to her brand. MTV uses all aspects of Lauren and the other cast members, including there body image, to create not accurate depictions of normal Americans but to create a brand used for revenue gaining. 

Reactions To Body Image in The Hills

"They all look like low end movie stars. All the same, with dyed hair and fake tans."

Shawn Heavlin-Martinez, 17

"They are all anorexic thin, they don't look healthy at all. Kristen looks pretty realistic and normal to me though."

Taylor Rogers, 20

"The all probably have personal trainers and diets and stuff."

Lauren Small, 19

"Woah, what are you looking at over there? She is a looker."

Mike Reed, 55

"Hip, up to date with the American standard of beauty as represented in fashion magazines and movies. They are way typical and all look a like in a way. All of them are obviously concerned with how they look."

Ali Dorri, 30 

In the next post, I will analyze two more reality television shows and the message of body image they convey. After that analysis a conclusion should become apparent.