{"id":451,"date":"2019-07-01T09:35:24","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T09:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/engp16.epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/?post_type=chapter&p=451"},"modified":"2019-07-01T12:22:48","modified_gmt":"2019-07-01T12:22:48","slug":"body-in-popular-culture-case-study","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp16\/chapter\/body-in-popular-culture-case-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Body in Popular Culture (Case Study)"},"content":{"raw":"
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Section 1: Body and Identity<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

The body is understood within cultural studies as a site of meaning. This implies that the body is recognized as being significant for the expression of culture and cultural identity. Within cultural studies thus, the body is understood not merely as a fact of nature but is seen instead as a site where identity is expressed, articulated or performed. For instance, tattooing and piercing the body can be seen as individual, autonomous acts of conforming to or resisting cultural expectations\/understanding of one\u2019s body as \u2018limited\u2019 or \u2018unchanging\u2019. Members of particular subcultures (punk, skinhead) where tattooing and body piercing is seen as \u2018normal\u2019 and is necessary for \u2018acceptance\u2019 and \u2018recognition\u2019 within this group are thus \u2018conforming\u2019 to a particular cultural meaning\/value marked visibly on the body. Insiders view the tattooed and pierced body as \u2018normal\u2019 while outsiders see it as \u2018deviant\u2019. The \u2018identity\u2019 of a \u2018punk\u2019 thus draws from being recognized as both \u2018familiar\u2019 (by cultural insiders, members of the subculture) and \u2018unfamiliar\u2019 (by outsiders who view such practices of adorning the body as repulsive\/unhygienic). Tattooing is here a performance facilitated by the body and forms the basis for understanding one\u2019s location\/status\/acceptance within a particular social milieu.<\/p>\r\n

Social constraint and construction are important aspects of analyzing the body within cultural studies. For instance, sociologists and historians of medicine argue that the body is a subject of various kinds of disciplining practices. What this means is that the \u2018body\u2019 is understood within medical science as requiring constant monitoring and care on account of being an important site of social\/cultural norms. So a person can be seen as \u2018unhealthy\u2019 not only because he\/she is infected with a particular disease but also because he\/she has the potential to become infected. When we are shown the animated versions of otherwise invisible germs and microorganisms that inhabit our utensils, bathroom tiles and teeth in advertisements for toothpaste and household cleaning agents, we are made aware of how the borders of our bodies can very easily be breached. Our bodies are seen as requiring \u2018fortification\u2019, much like a vulnerable physical location one inhabits like the home, which requires up-to-date security systems and constant maintenance to ensure that it withstands the passing of time. It is our responsibility (advertisements selling toothpaste and bathroom cleaning agents often situate the responsibility of care and maintenance of the body as well as the \u2018home\u2019 on the individual) to ensure that the vulnerable borders of the body are strengthened by inculcating the discipline of washing hands, keeping our surroundings clean and monitoring the health of our families (through the use of particular heart-healthy, fat-free products). The body is thus also seen as being \u2018embedded\u2019 within a socio-cultural milieu and is understood within medical science as being both vulnerable to and as a source of threat.<\/p>\r\n

Another key aspect of the body being understood as a product of \u2018social construction\u2019 within cultural studies is that it is seen as determined by discourse. This implies that our notions of what constitutes \u2018healthy\u2019, \u2018beautiful\u2019, \u2018normal\u2019 and \u2018undesirable\u2019 or \u2018ugly\u2019 bodies is the result of a production and organization of meaning by various social practices and institutions like education, medicine, law and religion. Each of these institutions organize our experience of the social world in language and thus produce forms of knowledge that \u2018recognize\u2019 or privilege some ways of \u2018knowing\u2019 as opposed to others. Discourse is thus linked to power and particular \u2018authority figures\u2019 that interpret and organize our \u2018bodily\u2019 experiences. For instance, in toothpaste advertisements that visualize tooth decay and a lack of oral hygiene for viewers a particular image of \u2018healthy\u2019 human teeth are being constructed. What we seen on screen are often animated representations that attempt to approximate human anatomy. However, we associate not only the illustration of teeth on screen (what is normally visible to us and hence familiar in terms of structure) but also the underlying root that is not visible to us as being a part of all of our bodies. The advertisement achieves this through the operation of a discourse of health where the authority figure of the dentist (often visualized with a white coat and an institutional affiliation) interprets the representation of teeth on screen as being an anatomically correct model. Using this model as a medical proof of how all teeth are, the dentist demonstrates the presence of bacteria, plaque, decay and recommends immediate professional intervention in the form of an oral hygiene product. Bacteria and decay are thus seen as signs of weakening defenses and the viewer is reminded that his\/her body needs to be made \u2018secure\u2019 again through the removing of unwanted \u2018intruders\u2019. The toothpaste advertisement thus demonstrates how we are made to imagine dimensions of our body that are not otherwise visible in order to \u2018organize our experience\u2019 of bodily functions in language. We \u2018recognize\u2019 the dentist as an authority figure invested with the power to designate teeth as \u2018healthy\u2019 or \u2018unhealthy\u2019 while simultaneously \u2018learning\u2019 to associate white and unblemished teeth as beautiful. The toothpaste advertisement makes a smooth transition from the \u2018animated\u2019 model set of teeth to actors\/actresses displaying a perfect row of unblemished teeth (shown to be a result of using a particular product) thus \u2018teaching\u2019 viewers to make associations between white, unblemished teeth and \u2018health\u2019 or the \u2018absence of decay\u2019. Consider for instance, AV 1 where Sonam Kapoor is seen endorsing the Colgate Visible White toothpaste. The \u2018perfect\u2019 set of teeth and the \u2018beautiful\u2019 smile are thus constructed through discourse and performed in the language or visual grammar of the advertisement.<\/p>\r\n

Section 2: Body Image and Difference<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

So far we have considered how the body is understood as a site of meaning within cultural studies. It is seen to take on or form the locus of a set of cultural meanings. These meanings are produced and negotiated within a system of power relations - we make sense our bodies and bodily experiences through the language of various institutional discourses about the body. We can now consider the cultural implications of a social construction of and a constraint imposed on our understanding and experience of the body. Ideas about the \u2018beautiful\u2019 and \u2018healthy\u2019 body that circulate in popular media are responsible for influencing what is generally defined as a \u2018body image\u2019. Body image is a concept that refers to the attitudes and perceptions that one has towards their own body. While this sense of one\u2019s \u2018body image\u2019 is not exclusively restricted to appearance, it is determined in large part by how we appear to others and are recognized by others in social interactions. Popular media creates a \u2018body image\u2019 through a combination of visible identity markers that are manifested through the body. For instance, advertisements focusing on the importance of dyeing one\u2019s hair, whitening one\u2019s teeth and switching to low-calorie foods are creating an \u2018ideal\u2019 body image based on exclusion. In AV1, Sonam Kapoor is seen confessing a greater degree of confidence with whiter teeth while the advertisement explains to the reader that whiter teeth means \u2018looking your best\u2019. Here, while the advertisement is simultaneously constructing and \u2018teaching\u2019 readers that beauty equals whiter, unblemished teeth, the visualizing of a celebrity endorser also equates success and confidence with beauty. The \u2018body image\u2019 that readers take away from this advertisement is not just that beauty draws from routine \u2018work\u2019 (using the product regularly for a week) and \u2018maintenance\u2019 but that without this ideal of \u2018perfect\u2019 beauty, one cannot hope to achieve success and confidence.<\/p>\r\n

Similarly, in AV 2, the popular advertisement series for Clear anti-dandruff shampoo endorsed by Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma, the \u2018body image\u2019 constructed is one that exudes confidence subject to routine maintenance and inspection. Hair grooming advertisements, including other Clear shampoo campaigns are often constructed as a \u2018challenge\u2019 or \u2018acid test\u2019 that their celebrity endorsers take. Visually, this is represented through an animated close-up of the actor\/actress\u2019s scalp, seen to be free of any presence of dirt, signs of graying or dandruff. The tag line in AV 2 announces \u2018nothing to hide\u2019, echoing the confidence in the pose taken by both actors in the advertisement. The suggestion here is that an unkempt, shabby body should be \u2018hidden\u2019. While labor should be expended in the maintaining of the \u2018beautiful\u2019 and \u2018ideal\u2019 body (through the use of particular grooming products), no signs of this labor should be visibly marked on the body. These advertisements promote an \u2018ideal\u2019 body image and in the process naturalize the use and cultivation of labor to look a particular way. They render invisible and undesirable those aspects of the body that occur with the passage of time like the accumulation of dead skin cells, spots and blemishes, graying, wrinkles and hair fall among others.<\/p>\r\n

For instance, AV 3 and AV 4 attempt to minimize the \u2018labor\u2019 involved in stopping or slowing down processes that are made to seem \u2018undesirable\u2019. In AV 3, Kajol is seen to have erased \u2018seven signs\u2019 of skin ageing. The advertisement \u2018defines\u2019 ageing on the one hand exclusively in terms of external appearance - open pores, sagging skin, uneven skin tone among others while simultaneously defining these \u2018signs\u2019 as powerful intruders against which one must wage \u2018battle\u2019. Kajol\u2019s appeal in the advertisement is to join her in the \u2018battle\u2019 against ageing thus defining the \u2018ideal\u2019 body as one that is \u2018youthful\u2019 but also requiring constant \u2018battle\u2019 against the \u2018invading\u2019 and \u2018undesirable\u2019 signs of ageing. Similarly, in AV 4, Shahid Kapoor is endorsing a \u2018one-minute\u2019 ritual to be carried out daily to ensure that one\u2019s \u2018ideal\u2019 self is what is \u2018seen\u2019. The advertisement\u2019s tagline reads \u2018People see your face first, the spots get noticed soon after\u2019 and ensures readers that our body image is a result of the first, externally determined impression we make on others. To be recognized as \u2018desirable\u2019 and \u2018beautiful\u2019, the advertisement recommends ensuring that we spend time cultivating a particular appearance. In addition, the advertisement naturalizes time spent on \u2018perfecting\u2019 one\u2019s appearance and bodily maintenance by saying \u2018isn\u2019t it strange that while we spend hours on styling our hair, ironing our clothes or picking the right shirt, we hardly spend any time preparing our face?\u201d Here, the \u2018preparation\u2019 of the body to enter into\/exist in a social environment is seen to be normal as well as necessary - the \u2018hours\u2019 spent on preparing our \u2018appearance\u2019 is contrasted with the \u2018minute\u2019 required for our face. Thus, although the advertisement aims at minimizing labor required for caring for the face, it emphasizes and \u2018normalizes\u2019 the work required to make our bodies presentable and \u2018acceptable\u2019 for social interaction and recognition. Body Image is thus responsible for the creation of perceptions about an \u2018ideal\u2019 or \u2018perfect\u2019 body one can aspire for, while fostering attitudes about how \u2018differences\u2019 or \u2018deviations\u2019 from this \u2018ideal\u2019 are undesirable.<\/p>\r\n

In AV 5, various children, presumably consumers of the popular health drink Horlicks, are visualized in two separate categories. The advertisement promotes \u2018strength\u2019 and \u2018stamina\u2019 is two important characteristics of a \u2018healthy\u2019 body for children. In addition however, three of the children in the advertisement are visualized in the garb of various professionals, thereby aligning health with success and prosperity. The \u2018potential\u2019 for a professional career path is seen to exist only within children who are \u2018healthy\u2019, understood within the advertisement as those who possess \u2018strength\u2019 and \u2018stamina\u2019. Success is again associated here with a particular \u2018body image\u2019, seen as something that can be \u2018cultivated\u2019 and emulated with some effort. In addition however, the \u2018professional\u2019 career path visualized for the young girl in the advertisement is \u2018cooking\u2019 while the young boys wear a doctor\u2019s white coat and a lawyer\u2019s black coat respectively. This a marking of \u2018gender identity\u2019 on the body where a repetition of a gendered body image results in the normalizing of particular roles for men and women, the subject of the next chapter.<\/p>\r\n

Section 3: Body and Gender<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

The previous module discussed the importance of body image in fostering particular perceptions about and attitudes towards understanding our sense of \u2018self\u2019. This sense of \u2018self\u2019 is determined by how approximately our \u2018body image\u2019 or our perception of our external physical appearance corresponds to the \u2018ideal\u2019 or \u2018perfect\u2019 body represented in and circulated by popular media. We feel dissatisfied when we cannot \u2018recognize\u2019 the image of a flat tummy or a narrow waist as being like our own since this is a \u2018normalized\u2019 image of how the \u2018ideal\u2019 and \u2018beautiful\u2019 human form looks in popular media. This module will also consider gendered representations of this \u2018body image\u2019 where different \u2018ideals\u2019 are reproduced and circulated in the popular domain that designate men and women in particular ways. You will remember from the unit on Identity, particularly gender and identity, that gender is not an \u2018essential\u2019 property or quality that is inherent in an individual. It is instead \u2018performed\u2019 and naturalized through habitual repetition of certain roles and \u2018normalized\u2019 within institutions like the family. Gender is also \u2018marked\u2019 on the body in terms of lifestyle, clothing and physical attributes. This can be demonstrated clearly through AV 6 (a and b), AV 7(a) and AV 7 (b), all of which advertise two wheelers for a pre-determined target audience. While Scooty Pep is targeted at women customers, the Bajaj Avenger and the Bajaj XCD are intended for a male customer base. These advertisements however, also \u2018construct\u2019 the gendered bodies of the customers they target in specific ways. For instance, the Scooty Pep advertisement (AV 6 a) constructs the female body as requiring an \u2018easy-to-navigate\u2019 means of transport. The tagline in this advertisement is \u2018Ride Easy\u2019 which implies \u2018zero-effort\u2019 features like a \u2018clear- turn\u2019 navigation lamp and easy-to-operate center stand. The features emphasized here are \u2018ease\u2019 and \u2018comfort\u2019 rather than the \u2018strength\u2019 and \u2018power\u2019 emphasized by the Bajaj Avenger (AV 7 (a)) advertisement where the male customer is said to be able to \u2018feel like God\u2019. The male body in the Bajaj Avenger advertisement is thus constructed as being physical \u2018strong\u2019 and \u2018powerful\u2019, both features seen in the vehicle itself. The contrast between the all-powerful male body and the passive female is seen in AV 7 (b), where the man seated on the Bajaj XCD performs a \u2018stunt\u2019 that makes a spectacle of physical strength, while the woman is visualized merely as a passive \u2018observer\u2019. Her presence alone, without the expending of any physical energy or labor, makes her a \u2018distraction\u2019 for the man whose motorbike will stop for \u2018almost nothing\u2019. The Skore condom advertisement (AV 8) is also illustrative of designating no sexual agency to the female body, visualized in the advertisement merely to illustrate the glorious conquest of the \u2018bad boy\u2019. The \u2018good news\u2019 is for the \u2018bad boys\u2019 alone, who are further empowered by the product. The implication here is that it is the man who \u2018brings\u2019 the \u2018thrill\u2019 and \u2018excitement\u2019 into the bedroom, while the woman is a passive participant\/a measure of the man\u2019s \u2018performance\u2019. The female body is visualized here merely as an measure\/scale of the male body\u2019s capacity for performance and its potential for improvement.<\/p>\r\n

Similarly, the functionality of the Scooty Pep intended for young women in AV 6 b constructs the female body as requiring great maintenance and adornment and necessitates \u2018storage\u2019 for this reason alone. \u2018Come Prepped Up\u2019 is the tagline in this advertisement which posits \u2018preparation\u2019 as an imperative for the female body and the extra \u2018under-seat storage\u2019 space visualized in the advertisement is filled almost entirely with cosmetics and other personal grooming items. The Scooty Pep itself is visualized here as constituent \u2018parts\u2019 while the female body seen alongside is pictured in its entirety, making clear the link between the \u2018utility\u2019 of specific features built into the two wheeler model and the physical appearance of the woman. The \u2018prepped up\u2019 woman is equated with the \u2018extra storage\u2019 offered by the Scooty Pep, thus defining the female body as necessitating \u2018extra\u2019 attention to appearance. \u2018Feminine\u2019 ideals like the Scooty Pep advertisement find echoes in several lifestyle and cosmetic products that produce and circulate gendered body images that form the basis for perceptions and attitudes towards the body. Deodorants and other bath products for instance, in addition to making sweat and dirt undesirable elements in a \u2018perfect\u2019 body image, also routinely designate the masculine body as \u2018muscular\u2019 and the feminine body as curvaceous. The semi-nude actors\/actresses that promote body products (personal hygiene and maintenance products like shaving cream, body spray, moisturizer, shampoo) produce a gendered \u2018aesthetics\u2019 within which the naked body is interpreted. Masculine ideals of a \u2018beautiful\u2019 or \u2018perfect\u2019 body comprise a muscled, toned and hairless body just as how a narrow waist and curvaceous hips are essential to the \u2018ideal\u2019 female form. The female body is also rendered \u2018ideal\u2019 in its fulfilling of certain socially sanctioned roles - here, the female body is visualized only in terms of its \u2018functionality\u2019 and all individual markers are erased. For instance the advertisement for LifeCell, (AV 9) the first cord blood stem cell bank in India, features a female body only to establish a \u2018universal\u2019 social role for women. Here, the pregnant female form is devoid of any individual attributes (distinguishing features of a particular model\/actress or even the entire body) and is visualized only to draw attention to the \u2018life\u2019 harbored inside the womb. While the foetus cannot be seen here, it is implied in the visualizing of a pregnant belly, removed from the context of an individual woman. Here the \u2018pregnancy\u2019 is what becomes symbolic of the female body. The female body is here visualized in its absence and only in the fulfillment of a particular social role of \u2018motherhood\u2019. To be \u2018recognizable\u2019 as a female body in this advertisement, it is important to be \u2018marked\u2019 by the experience of motherhood - seen not only as the \u2018carrying\u2019 of a child in one\u2019s womb but in \u2018caring\u2019 for his\/her well being by planning for fortification against future illnesses. Here the mother\u2019s body is made invisible and passive to define the rights and the life of future generations.<\/p>\r\n

Section 4: The Body as Project<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

This module will deal with how the body is understood within popular culture in contemporary societies as \u2018project\u2019. The idea of a \u2018project\u2019 invests the body with a certain \u2018fluidity\u2019 and designates it as \u2018unfinished\u2019 and requiring constant work and maintenance. You will remember from the module on identity that the idea of the \u2018self\u2019 as a \u2018project\u2019 draws from certain characteristics of our contemporary era that have naturalized a \u2018fluid\u2019 notion of the \u2018self\u2019. The hybrid, global urban spaces we inhabit simultaneously as consumers and the many \u2018selves\u2019 we prepare and present online in addition to the many medical and scientific advancements that allow us to \u2018modify\u2019 and alter our bodies contribute to a sense of the \u2018project\u2019 that is our body. The \u2018one minute\u2019 routine and the \u2018hours\u2019 spent on \u2018preparing\u2019 the body for social interaction\/acceptability is familiar on account of this sense of the body-as- project. The sale of products that promote routine, habitual labor towards the maintenance of a particular kind of \u2018appearance\u2019 thus also feed into the construction of a body that is as yet incomplete. The use of anti-ageing products, skin and teeth-whitening products for instance, advocate the idea that the body can be rendered \u2018complete\u2019 through consistent \u2018maintenance\u2019 work. Any lapse in monitoring the body for signs of ageing, infection and decay is a lapse in the \u2018targeted\u2019 completion of bodily perfection. The body is thus seen as something that can be constantly \u2018edited\u2019 for flaws, possessing very fluid boundaries that are consequently also difficult to protect.<\/p>\r\n

Consider for instance, this VLCC advertisement (AV 10) where the customer is seen to have \u2018maintained\u2019 the regimen that allowed her to lose weight as part of the VLCC slimming treatment. The emphasis in the advertisement is on how Sheetal \u2018maintains\u2019 her weight and looks \u2018months\u2019 later. The \u2018treatment\u2019 offered by VLCC is not sufficient on its own, but requires consistent efforts on the part of the consumer to \u2018maintain\u2019 the \u2018normal\u2019 standards that are achieved. Permanent changes to the body are thus seen to be \u2018ineffective\u2019 without constant effort\/intervention, thus illustrating the \u2018fluidity\u2019 of the body\u2019s contours. Moreover, the body is seen here as illustrative of the level of \u2018discipline\u2019 one brings into one\u2019s life. While the onus is usually on excessive consumption within popular media, the individual is also constructed as \u2018responsible\u2019 for the maintenance of \u2018permissible\u2019 levels of consumption. The obese body is thus seen as a moral compass that is indicative of \u2018lack of control\u2019 or \u2018excessive indulgence\u2019. The VLCC advertisement also appeals to this idea of the body as an \u2018indicator\u2019 of cultivating personal standards of care.<\/p>\r\n

Audio Visual Quadrant<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

1. AV1: Colgate Visible White toothpaste where the idea of \u201cnormal\u201d teeth is constructed while linking notions of beauty to \u201cwhiteness\u201d<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n

2. AV 2: Clear shampoo advertisement emphasizing the aspects of the body that need to be \u2018hidden\u2019<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\n \r\n

3. AV 3: Olay advertisement featuring Kajol where the \u2018building\u2019 of a particular appearance is seen as a \u201cbattle\u201d against signs of \u201cageing\u201d coded here as undesirable<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\n \r\n

4. AV 4: Vaseline face cream for men advertisement describing the \u2018one minute\u2019 ritual that simultaneously naturalizes the \u2018hours\u2019 spent on preparing our body for social interaction.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n

5. AV 5: Horlicks advertisement naturalizing the link between \u2018health\u2019 and professional \u2018success\u2019<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\n \r\n

6. AV 6 (a): Scooty Pep advertisement constructing a female body through an emphasis on \u201cease of navigation\u201d and promoting minimal physical exertion. The female body is seen here as \u201cweak\u201d and requiring minimum effort to use the vehicle.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\n \r\n

7. AV 6 (b): Scooty Pep advertisement emphasizing \u2018utility\u2019 required for the woman and illustrating the use of \u201cextra\u201d storage space with cosmetics. Here the \u201cprepping\u201d of the body is marked as something \u201cfeminine\u201d<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\n \r\n

8. AV 7 (a): The Bajaj Avenger advertisement featuring the \u201cpowerful\u201d male body<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n

9. AV 7 (b): Bajaj XCD advertisement contrasting the spectacle of \u201cmale\u201d strength with feminine passivity\/coquettishness.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\n \r\n

10. AV 8: Skore condom advertisement constructing a lack of sexual agency for the female body<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n

11. AV 9: LifeCell advertisement featuring a universal maternal body shorn of all individual characteristics. Here the maternal body is constructed is thus constructed as being essentially female.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n12. AV 10: VLCC advertisement emphasizing the importance of \u2018consistent\u2019 labour to \u2018maintain\u2019 a healthy and slim body\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
you can view video on Body in Popular Culture (Case Study)<\/strong><\/td>\r\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\nReference<\/strong>\r\n