F06 :: Feminist Film Studies

I watched an episode of America’s Next Top Model. A group of supermodel hopefuls compete, one being eliminated each week, through photo shoot critiques. The women are judged solely on their looks, what is desirable, sexy, or cute in their physical features. Not only does the show promote objectification, but also brings the ideals and standards for a woman’s physical appearance into pop culture. The judges exploit what a model should and should not look like and have a set of standards for the women’s appearances. Iris Young, in “The Scaling of the Bodies� writes about many of the hierarchical standards that cultural imperialism imposes on women and other groups, that they are “assessed according to some hierarchical standard.� She explains that beauty standards are instilled by a hierarchy and that “the normalizing gaze of science focused on the objectified bodies of women.� It is cultural imperialism that has decided what a “normal� or ideal woman should look like. The judges on America’s Next Top Model are looking for the ideal woman’s body. The six models remaining all have long hair, are tall and very thin.
All the contestants on the show are thin and tall. I believe the show starts out with one plus-sized model, but she never lasts long. Sujata Moorti and Karen Ross, in “Gender and the Plus-size Body� discuss “size acceptance� in our media, “it seems clear that ‘size acceptance’ is limited only to the average rather than all sizes. This troubles me despite that acceptance of bodies rounder or shorter than those of straight-sized models is underway.� The models on America’s Next Top Model that make it through many shows, enforce a standard involving “size-acceptance�; promoting what is an ideal and most accepted body for a woman. Moorti and Ross express their concern with the trend of “size acceptance� and its current meaning, “movement to a middle-ground rather than true size acceptance- the acceptance of all shapes and sizes of all people, rather than the idealization of some, the acceptance of the average, and the denigration of others.� This show exploits the standards for a woman’s body and then marginalizes other, “less desirable� bodies beneath it.