Repatriated and Repaired: Gender’s Happy Ending

Abstract

It’s fitting that this book summarises and concludes with a discussion of the ‘after’ stage of the journey of transformation. The ‘after’ is the conclusion of a self-help book or the surprise ‘reveal’ of the makeover TV show. The ‘after’ appears as a solid and unproblematic moment of success where dreams come true, where the inner self beats the external self into compliance, bodies are sculpted, esteem is supercharged and people get the look/home/confidence – the self – they always wanted. Yet, this success is only short-lived because the ‘after’ is temporally fragile; the ceaseless momentum of the makeover culture rolls these moments into new beginnings and new projects of the self. As Meredith Jones has argued, successful selfhood lies not in ‘being’ but rather in ‘becoming’. She says, ‘in the makeover culture the process of becoming something better is more important than achieving a static point of completion’ – good citizens are always on the move, engaged in ‘never-ending renovations of themselves’ (2008, p. 1). The ‘after’ then maybe fleeting and momentary, but it’s interesting because it is the point where bundles of desires, aspirations and needs, the fuel of transformation, are most densely concentrated.

David, do you like the new you, David? Yep. Better than the old one. Ten Years Younger. Cultural literacy is intimately linked to visual media.

(Mitchell, 2005, p. 1052)