UNRAVELING THE MECHANISMS OF THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY: Concretizing Discourse

Analysis
Author(s): Josje Weusten
Source: Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy , Fall 2008
/ Winter 2009, Vol. 19, No. 2, TEACHING THE BODY (Fall 2008 / Winter 2009), pp. 129-
134
Published by: Penn State University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43505856

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 JOSJEWEUSTEN I2Ç

MEDIA REVIEW

UNRAVELING THE MECHANISMS

OF THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY
Concretizing Discourse Analysis

Josje Weusten
The western beauty industry thrives on the production andthe
Over circulation
Hill.
of body images. Several studies indicate that the continuous stream
The People vs. the of
idealized and sexualized images can have a negative effect on the
Beauty Industry. way
women view their bodies (see American Psychology Association, Task
Dir. Sunny Bergman.

Force on the Sexualization of Girls). As a lecturer at the Centre

Viewpoint Productions for

Gender and Diversity of Maastricht University in the Netherlands,

Valerie Schuit. I have
Viewpoint Productions/
found that many of the male and especially female students in our cours-
VPRO, 2007.
es on gender studies and cultural studies (which are taught in English to
an international group of students) feel that their lives and identities are
influenced by these images, and they are looking for critical
Na Beperktperspectives
and ways to deal with them. Houdbaar.
The 55-minute documentary Over the Hill : The People vs. the Beauty
Dir. Sunny Bergman.
Industry by the Dutch philosopher and director SunnyViewpoint
Bergman is a use-
ful resource for addressing questions concerning beauty ideals in peda-
Productions/VPRO,

gogical contexts and takes issue with images of female2007.

beauty produced
by the beauty industry. Bergman suggests that the beauty industry dic-
tates a normative and one-sided ideal of female beauty: young, thin, and
Campaign
sexy. The documentary argues that this normative ideal of female beauty
for Real Beauty.
has a grave effect on the body image and self-esteem of Dove.
women. It also
suggests that the all-encompassing presence of these images
2006. contributes
to a lopsided focus on the physical appearance of women: contemporary
Unilever United States.

Western societies measure a woman's worth in terms 3of her

March 2008.physical

beauty rather than her contribution to society. The original Dutch title
< www. campaignforrealbeau
ty.com>.
of the documentary, Beperkt houdbaar (which could be translated as "a
limited shelf life"), refers to this phenomenon (in the Netherlands, these
words are used as a label for fresh products, referring to their short expi-
ration period).
The documentary starts with the 33-year old Bergman claiming that
she, too, worries about the wrinkles on her face. Trying to unravel the soci-
etal causes of her lack of self-esteem, Bergman exposes certain mechanisms
and effects of the beauty industry in the United States and the Netherlands.
For instance, we witness how images of women in advertisements and
glossy magazines are manipulated through Photoshop. Bergman criticizes
these unrealistic images because they set an unattainable norm for every
woman. Moreover, she links these unrealistic representations to body-alter-
ing practices in commercial clinics for cosmetic surgery.

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1 www.beperkthoudbaar.info
2 Although not every scene
in the documentaries is
suitable for high school
students, such as the surgi-
cal scenes, parts of the doc-
umentaries can definitely
be used in class to acquaint
students with the ways in
which beauty images are
produced.
84.193.238.224 on Sun, 10 Dec 2023 13:26:24 +00:00
130 řra«5FORMATIONS
The most shocking and intri
shot in a Los Angeles clinic spe
vulva (labioplastic) to achieve
mentary calls the "Playboy loo
teenage daughter (the latter o
procedure) is especially grippin
is something wrong with the g
portrayed in the media. Bergm
(plan to) undergo cosmetic surg
ination table - while still hold
and shoot the consultation f
intriguing scene in which the
package": everything, from he
Bergman breaks down and cri
explains that she had hoped -
"expert" on female beauty would
adoxical moment, Bergman ma
ent on the norms of female be
industry, while also trying to
critical and feminist document
not always succeed in escaping be
whom I watched the documen
tion, which prompted them to
ship to the beauty industry.
Over the Hill was broadcast on Dutch national television for the first
time on International Women's Day (March 8, 2007). It generated much
national, and also some international media attention, partly because
Bergman called upon viewers to do something about the beauty industry
by legal or other means. She referred her audience to the documentary's
website (Bergman & Mollenhagen) to find out more about activism
against the beauty industry.1 In the months following the broadcast, more
than 160,000 people visited the website (the Netherlands' population is
about sixteen and a half million people). The success of the documentary
led to the release of a DVD version with English subtides. In addition, a 25-
minute sequel to Over the Hill was broadcast in the Netherlands on
September 6, 2007 called Na beperkt houdbaar ("After Over the Hill"). Na
beperkt houdbaar has not been released on DVD and there is no version with
English subtitles, but it can be viewed in Dutch on the website of the first
documentary. In this second documentary, Bergman focuses on the
actions and reactions resulting from the first documentary: for example,
her call for legal action led to the creation of the Beperkt houdbaar foun-
dation, which focuses on banning misleading beauty advertisements.
Both documentaries can be used as pedagogical resources for
addressing questions concerning beauty ideals. They could serve, for
example, as an ethical case study for medical students, enabling them to
reflect on their positions as doctors.2 I have used the documentaries to
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JOSJEWEUSTEN I3I

raise awareness about the so

to encourage discussion abou
we experience our bodies. I
social constructionist views
the documentaries. In a sem
beauty ideals were represent
ceptions of female beauty,
Since discussions following
turn, as was the case follow
about cosmetic surgeries th
important that instructors
freely discuss personal expe
fore, to discuss the docume
fewer students - or to take
ers have become well acqua
I used Over the Hill as a to
a second- year course in cu
leagues Maaike Meijer and R
takes as its theoretical frame
work in Representation , Sara
Discourse , and the analysis of
entist Maarten Haj er. The c
course are: discourse (by wh
that structure specific uttera
and subject positions. We wa
sis does not only apply to la
produce particular subject
inscribe themselves onto our
discover that the relationsh
Discourse produces ways of
knowledge relationships, an
specific discourse is the pro
practices, power-knowledge
Students often find it har
Moreover, they find it difficu
Hill can serve as a concrete ill
students to grasp the mate
inscribed onto bodies. We ask
and Haj er, and The History of
in groups of twelve. In a subs
documentary and considered
dominant discourse on fema
dents to analyze the docume
discourse, subject position, p
to point out the inter-relat
in particular scenes of the d

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 132 řrattSFORMATIONS

about the ways in which a parti

out scenes in which this becomes detectable

The students pointed out several scenes in which the discourse mate-
rializes - from scenes in which the discourse literally gets inscribed onto
the body on the surgeon s table to scenes concerning other practices, such
as the use of Photoshop. Through careful analysis of Over the Hill students
realized how difficult it is to escape the regulating effects of the discours-
es in which we participate. Pointing out the scene in which Bergman lies
on the examination table in the cosmetic clinic one student observed that
the filmmaker takes up the subject position of a client/patient here and as
such becomes subjected to the doctor who examines her. Even though
she is highly critical of cosmetic surgery, Bergman ironically participates
in the discourse she is describing in the film. I explain to students that,
although discourses can be very compelling, they are not hermetic bas-
tions but penetrable and, thus, changeable. One of the ways in which I
attempt to make this clear is by pointing at the effects and origins of the
critical responses by Bergman on the dominant discourse on femininity in
the beauty industry. Bergman criticizes the dominant discourse on female
beauty by drawing on a feminist-inspired discourse.
What is striking is that some branches of the beauty industry partial-
ly incorporate these kinds of criticism and are now drawing on a more
feminist-inspired discourse on female beauty. Although it predates Over
the Hill , an excellent example of this is the Campaign for Real Beauty by
Dove. In this campaign, Dove claims to criticize the idealized images of
beauty produced by the industry. The website for the Campaign for Real
Beauty, launched in 2006 (Dove), includes an educational package that
can teach parents how to make their children less vulnerable to idealized
beauty images. One can also find several film clips that adopt a striking-
ly similar approach to that of Bergman in her documentary. In one of the
clips, called "Evolution," we see images of females altered with the help
of Photoshop to match the idealized images, just as in Over the Hill. In
the clip "Onslaught," a little girl is bombarded by sexualized, manipulat-
ed images of women in advertisements to the rhythmic beat of music.
The following text appears on the screen: "talk to your daughter before
the beauty industry does." Dove also opted for a different approach in the
advertisements for its beauty products by using fuller and more mature
models than those previously used in their advertisements. They launched
a series of products under the name "pro-age" instead of "anti-age."
The campaign as a whole is rich enough to be used as a case study for
students in cultural studies and gender studies. Students could perform a
semiotic reading of the advertisements or a discourse analysis of the entire
campaign, including the education package on the website. The pro-age
campaign can also serve as useful material for introducing students to age
studies. In my class, I showed students "Onslaught" and "Evolution" and
we discussed them from the vantage point of discourse theory. Students
were quick to point out that although the advertisements seem to draw

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 JOSJEWEUSTEN I33

on a feminist-inspired discour
conventionally considered to b
extent. The girl in "Onslaught" i
ful: she is white, thin, and has r
dent pointed out that most co
dominant discourses on femal
Unilever, the holding compan
advertisements in which wom
stereotypically sexual way, as
deodorant brand for men. These ads illustrate that while discourses can
alter, changes are often slow and hardly ever come about univocally.
Working with the documentaries by making use of discourse analysis
allows students to understand and apply abstract theories to lived experi-
ence. The advantage of the documentaries and the Campaign for Real
Beauty is that they revolve around a topic to which students can relate.
They feel they are - for better or worse - affected by the beauty industry
themselves and that they are confronted with specific norms concerning
their appearance - norms that dictate who "fits in" and who does not.
Students, especially female students, are often familiar with this discourse
as individuals who have been subjected to it. Many have found ways to
resist this discourse, for instance by drawing on feminist theories or reli-
gion. Analyzing the documentaries and the Campaign for Real Beauty can
help students to better understand how discourses work, and to feel
empowered to create alternative articulations and practices of beauty.

I would like to thank my colleagues Lies Wesseling and Maaike Meijer for their
engaging lectures on discourse analysis and Roel van den Oever for sharing his
insights in teaching discourse analysis with me. Furthermore, I want to thank the
students in our courses on cultural studies at the University College Maastricht for
their inspiring discussions , presentations ; and papers on discourse analysis and on
the beauty industry Last but not least , I would also like to thank the students
who attended my public lecture on beauty ideals, which was organized by the oec-
umenical chaplaincy of Maastricht University: Taf elstraat 13.

Works Cited

American Psychological Association, Task Force on the Sexualization of

Girls. "Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls."
2007. American Psychological Association. 20 Dec. 2007
<www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sexualization.html>
Bergman, Sunny and Debbie Mollenhagen. 2007. "Beperkt Houdbaar
Website"Viewpoint Productions. 20 Feb. 2007
< www.beperkthoudbaar.info >

Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality. Trans. Robert Hurley. New

York: Vintage, 1980.

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 134 frattSFORMATIONS

Haj er, Maarten. The Politics

Modernization and the Policy Pr

Hall, Stuart, ed. Representation

Practices. 7th ed. London: Sage

Mills, Sara. Discourse. London: R

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