TY - BOOK ID - 581350 TI - The makeover : reality television and reflexive audiences PY - 2012 SN - 9780814740699 9780814740705 9780814738979 9780814771334 0814740693 0814740707 0814738974 0814771335 PB - New York : New York University Press, DB - UniCat KW - Mass communications KW - Sociology of culture KW - Reality television programs KW - Makeover television programs KW - History and criticism KW - Makeover reality television programs KW - Makeover shows (Television programs) KW - Makeover television shows KW - Reality-based television programs KW - Reality shows (Television programs) KW - Nonfiction television programs KW - History and criticism. KW - Reality television programs - History and criticism KW - Makeover television programs - History and criticism KW - Reality Television Programs KW - Performing Arts KW - LAW / Media & the Law. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:581350 AB - Watch this show, buy this product, you can be a whole new you! Makeover television shows repeatedly promise self-renewal and the opportunity for reinvention, but what do we know about the people who watch them? As it turns out, surprisingly little.The Makeover is the first book to consider the rapid rise of makeover shows from the perspectives of their viewers. Katherine Sender argues that this genre of reality television continues a long history of self-improvement, shaped through contemporary media, technological, and economic contexts. Most people think that reality television viewers are ideological dupes and obliging consumers. Sender, however, finds that they have a much more nuanced and reflexive approach to the shows they watch. They are critical of the instruction, the consumer plugs, and the manipulative editing in the shows. At the same time, they buy into the shows’ imperative to construct a reflexive self: an inner self that can be seen as if from the outside, and must be explored and expressed to others. The Makeover intervenes in debates about both reality television and audience research, offering the concept of the reflexive self to move these debates forward. ER -