This is an extract from the section of my thesis I am currently working on/editing. Three x25 minute twitter #shutupandwrite sessions have got me to this still rather rough stage, but on the basis that a done blog is better than no blog here it is.
Makeover Practice –
Visual/Visualisation Technologies
Whereas the question used to be about how women were
represented, in visual art, media or film for example, now we need to consider
that what stands for ‘representations’ of women are virtualised, hyperreal
simulations of women. They no longer re-present women, they (re)create them.
These simulated bodies can be developed from scratch without taking into
account any actual female bodies, they represent not what women are (passive)
but what women could be (active).[1]
They really are ‘dream’ women.
By allowing the simulation of women’s bodies computer
imaging technologies create new expectations of womanliness and femininity as
bodies are coded and recoded in the virtual arena. They enable the creation of
bodies from nothing, and these bodies simulate the female body, rather than
represent it, that is to say that the creator is not constrained by the actual
physical dimensions of an initial image, as they would be if using Photoshop or
similar technology to manipulate an image. As Balsamo discusses, the creation
of virtual bodies is limited only to the imagination of the creator. “The
virtual body is neither simply a surface upon which are written the dominant
narratives of Western Culture, nor a representation of cultural ideals of
beauty or of sexual desire. It has been transformed into the very medium of
cultural expression itself, manipulated, digitalized, and technologically
constructed in virtual environments”. (Balsamo
1996, 131)[2]
The simulated, or virtual woman’s body is coded female, it needs only to be
read by the viewer as a female body, not to be an accurate representation of
what a female body actually is. The laws
of physics need not apply to the simulated woman, thought she may seem real at
first glance, we have to consider whether she would actually be able to stand
up and move around if she were made of flesh and blood. Could Lara Croft (Tomb
Raider), the original simulated woman, really have fought like she did with those breasts.
Makeover Context
In terms of Makeover
Culture Visualisation technologies are the technologies of dreams,
fantasies and futures. They range from something as simple as a mirror, to
sophisticated medical imaging equipment, to visual media technologies and play
a key role in creating dissatisfaction with what is and driving the desire for
constant improvement that is the heart of neoliberal makeover culture. Through visual
media technologies, women are bombarded not only with (heavily edited) pictures
of real women but with simulations which represent what women could be, not
what they are. So much so that ‘real’ women’s bodies can no longer be defined,
indeed may no longer exist. Our technological ability to conform to virtualised
ideals means that real bodies have been dieted, exercised, plucked and excised
out of existence to comply with the expectations set by the virtualised hyperreal[3]
bodies of media, film and computer games.
Visualisation technologies enable users to see what
was previously unseen; in the context of this study they enable the
visualisation of makeover outcomes. Through the mediation of experts, these
technologies enable women to visualise the potential of their bodies. The technologies
are therefore implicit in the creation of new bodies.
Even the simple mirror enables the body to be seen in
ways that it cannot be seen without and a common device used in makeover
television is using mirrors, photographs or video to enable the participant (and
the expert) to see the body from all angles and in great detail. [Ten Years
Younger – puts the participant on view in a glass box, Trinny and Susannah make
participants stand in front of a full length mirror in their underwear, How to
look good naked uses mirrors and video footage to get up close and personal
with women’s bodies].
Visualisation Technologies and Cosmetic Surgery
The use of imaging technologies in medical situations
is another important area. Many of these technologies were developed for
medical reasons such as ultrasound scanning and CT scanning which enable
doctors to look at what would previously have been unseen.
Cosmetic surgeons, and their sales teams, make
excellent use of visualisation technologies. Starting from the before and after
advertisements in the back of popular women’s magazines the visual image is
critical to the cosmetic surgeon’s trade. Lo-tech methods include the use of
mirrors to and tape measures to examine the body and drawing the changes
directly on to the customer’s skin.
In the hi-tech arena photography and video shows the
body as it is and computer based imaging is used to design, visualise and
materialise the post surgical body – the after body – to help convince the
customer to go through with the surgery. The technology - its expensiveness, its modernness, its
exclusiveness - contributes to the authority of the ‘expert’ surgeon, as if their
authority is developed/evidenced through this technology.
[1]
The move from passive to active involvement in makeover practice is key to my
thesis and is developed in depth elsewhere
[2] Balsamo, Anne. Technologies of the Gendered Body:
Reading Cyborg Women. Durham: Duke University Press, 1996.
[3]
This section will be developed to reference Baudrillard on simulation and
hyperreality.
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