In the first episode of the New Year, the girlies investigate a cultural concept that plagues us all in the new year: The Makeover. From the transformative promise of the American Dream to hit shows like What Not to Wear and The Biggest Loser, they discuss how “the makeover” seeks to ease cultural anxieties, reify the status quo, and affirm that changing ones appearance can change ones life. Digressions include one listener who found Eliza’s twin at the Margaritaville restaurant in Orlando, another who hears our voices in their schizoaffective delusion, and the world’s need for a one dance. 

SOURCES:

Eliza

• Makeover Nation: The United States of Reinvention by Toby Miller
• The Makeover: Reality Television and Reflexive Audiences by Katherine Sender
• The Great American Makeover: Television, History, Nation by Dana Heller
• ‘Oh goodness, I am watching reality TV’ How methods make class in audience research
• Notes on What Not to Wear and Post-feminist Symbolic Violence
• Spirituality Among Americans: Spiritual Beliefs by Pew Research Center
• Americans Take Prescriptions a Large Portion of Their Lives
• Can I Please Give You Some Advice?: Clueless and the Teen Makeover by Alice Leppert

Julia

• Makeover TV: Selfhood, Citizenship, and Celebrity by Brenda Weber

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