How makeover television participate in cultural debates about body modification, empowerment, gender roles, and personal responsibility

In 2004, roughly 25 makeover-themed reality shows aired on U.S. television. By 2009, there were more than 250, from What Not to Wear and The Biggest Loser to Dog Whisperer and Pimp My Ride. In Makeover TV, Brenda R. Weber argues that whether depicting transformations of bodies, trucks, finances, relationships, kids, or homes, makeover shows posit a self achievable only in the transition from the “Before-body”—the overweight figure, the decrepit jalopy, the cluttered home—to the “After-body,” one filled with confidence, coded with celebrity, and imbued with a renewed faith in the powers of meritocracy. The rationales and tactics invoked to achieve the After-body vary widely, from the patriotic to the market-based, and from talk therapy to feminist empowerment. The genre is unified by its contradictions: to uncover your “true self,” you must be reinvented; to be empowered, you must surrender to experts; to be special, you must look and act like everyone else.

Based on her analysis of more than 2,500 hours of makeover TV, Weber argues that the much-desired After-body speaks to and makes legible broader cultural narratives about selfhood, citizenship, celebrity, and Americanness. Although makeovers are directed at both male and female viewers, their gendered logic requires that feminized subjects submit to the controlling expertise wielded by authorities. The genre does not tolerate ambiguity. Conventional (middle-class, white, ethnically anonymous, heterosexual) femininity is the goal of makeovers for women. When subjects are male, makeovers often compensate for perceived challenges to masculine independence by offering men narrative options for resistance or control. Foregoing a binary model of power and subjugation, Weber provides an account of makeover television that is as appreciative as it is critical. She reveals the makeover show as a rich and complicated text that expresses cultural desires and fears through narratives of selfhood.

"“[Weber’s] book blends the enthusiasm of a fan who has thought through her own connection to the genre with a high degree of scholarship that will be of considerable value to students and scholars alike. . . . It is the combination of redemption and coercion that make lifestyle such a fascinating genre and Weber’s book such an engaging read.”" - Celebrity Studies

"“The book is an engaging work that is as humorous as it is horrifying. While Weber’s very personal conclusion still questions the processes of humiliation and painful surgical procedures endured in the name of reality TV, she remains quietly optimistic about the role of the makeover genre because, after all, we all want to feel better about ourselves.”" - Media International Australia

"“Weber sees in these makeover programs a strange new world—or, more accurately, a strange new nation, one where citizenship is available only to those who have made the transition ‘from Before to After.’ . . . Weber’s makeover nation is an eerie place, because no one fully belongs there, and, deep down, everyone knows it.”" - The New Yorker

"Makeovers are everywhere in today’s society, though I had never really given much thought to them until I read Brenda R. Weber’s Makeover TV. Weber points out that we are making over everything: bodies, houses, cars, hair, lifestyles, wardrobes, and even pets. . . . It was a bit scary to realize how right Weber is, and that so much ‘entertainment’ on TV is focused on making people conform to the norm. Makeover TV is a good, eye-opening read.”" - Feminist Review blog