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Flesh impressions: Television texts of cosmetic surgery and audience negotiation

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Date Issued:
2004
Summary:
Both incredibly personal and inherently social, cosmetic surgery procedures intended to reconfigure the body toward a more culturally acceptable physicality and the increase in television representations of the phenomenon provoke a complex debate regarding the social, psychological, medical and ethical implications of such practices. This thesis raises the question: Do television texts of cosmetic surgery and their potential consumers reproduce or challenge the hegemony of cosmetic surgery as a cultural practice? Using qualitative, social scientific methodology to analyze current examples of such television texts and study viewer negotiation of these texts, the study concludes that television texts are most likely to present cosmetic surgery in ways that perpetuate hegemonic notions of beauty, and that while viewers may negotiate readings that suit their preconceived notions of cosmetic surgery, they are unlikely to condemn such messages for fear of compromising an individual's power to choose cosmetic surgery for "acceptable reasons" such as improved self-esteem or social acceptance.
Title: Flesh impressions: Television texts of cosmetic surgery and audience negotiation.
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Name(s): Hutton, Heather O'Neil.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Scodari, Christine, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 2004
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 151 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Both incredibly personal and inherently social, cosmetic surgery procedures intended to reconfigure the body toward a more culturally acceptable physicality and the increase in television representations of the phenomenon provoke a complex debate regarding the social, psychological, medical and ethical implications of such practices. This thesis raises the question: Do television texts of cosmetic surgery and their potential consumers reproduce or challenge the hegemony of cosmetic surgery as a cultural practice? Using qualitative, social scientific methodology to analyze current examples of such television texts and study viewer negotiation of these texts, the study concludes that television texts are most likely to present cosmetic surgery in ways that perpetuate hegemonic notions of beauty, and that while viewers may negotiate readings that suit their preconceived notions of cosmetic surgery, they are unlikely to condemn such messages for fear of compromising an individual's power to choose cosmetic surgery for "acceptable reasons" such as improved self-esteem or social acceptance.
Identifier: 9780496239351 (isbn), 13127 (digitool), FADT13127 (IID), fau:9990 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2004.
Subject(s): Surgery, Plastic--Social aspects
Body image--Social aspects
Mass media--Research
Mass media--Audiences
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13127
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.