時尚怪胎秀：《超級名模生死鬥》與《模特王國》中的時尚美國夢與後身體政治

Fashion Freak Show: Fashion American Dream and Post-Body Politics in America’s Next Top Model and Modelland

本文將從美國流行電視節目《超級名模生死鬥》America’s Next Top Model）（與大眾青少年文學《模特王國》Modelland）之間的互文性，來探討當代大眾文（化中的時尚美國夢與對身體政治的再現。《超級名模生死鬥》為美國自2003年起，選拔有潛力的少女、培訓其成為超級名模的電視實鏡秀，由超級名模泰拉˙班克斯（Tyra Banks）所創辦，在美國和世界各地掀起驚人的收視狂潮，目前已播映了十九季。而《模特王國》則是班克斯在2011年所寫作的青少年奇幻小說，內容描述一名外表奇特的女孩泰琪（Tookie），如何被選入充滿魔幻色彩的模特兒培訓學校，和其他同樣有著身體缺陷的女孩經歷各式磨練，最終成功蛻變、重獲自信的故事。本文第一部分首先分析90年代以後興起的文化現象：後女性主義。這部分將點出後女性主義如何發展於消費社會，以及當代少女如何試圖透過商品文化與時尚產業來達成自我實現，並形塑新興的女性主體。本文試圖與過去主流女性主義的批評做出區別，不以新自由主義這個角度來批判後女性主義，而將精確拆解此節目與小說中所暗藏的成長小說線性敘事、美國夢意識型態與其殘酷幻滅。第二部分則進一步討論當代時尚產業的身體再現，從族裔身體的再現到怪胎身體的展示。不管在泰拉˙班克斯的電視實境秀或小說中，她都有意識地挪用前一波身體政治的口號與概念，試圖讓我們相信，前一代的身體政治與掙扎已成過去式，曾經承受創傷與被邊緣化的身體，現在都可以輕易獲得解放。任何身體缺陷，包括此書點出的畸態瞳孔色澤、過高的額頭、肥胖或短小的身軀、甚至是白化症，只要能夠成功被商品化與收編，就可以被納入時尚產業，成為可供展示的身體奇觀。少女們因此開始驕傲地展示各式各樣身體缺陷，積極將自己的「怪胎身體」從科幻創作視角探究非人生命的獨特知覺與超感智識轉化為文化資本。我認為這個文化現象透露出「後身體政治」的立場。本文最後將點出「後身體政治」的迷思與危機。 This current paper aims to analyze two major issues—fashion American dream and the representation of body politics in contemporary popular culture—in Tyra Banks’s young adult novel Modelland, along with her television phenomenon America’s Next Top Model. America’s Next Top Model is a hit reality television show in the United States. Founded by Afro-American supermodel Tyra Banks, this show aims to select potential girls and shape them into America’s future super models. The show has been extremely successful not only in the United States but also around the world, and it just finished airing its 19th cycle. Modelland is a teenager fantasy novel written by Tyra Banks and published in 2011. It is a novel about how Tookie, a girl with bizarrely-unique looks, goes through a series of trials in a modeling boarding school with her friends who also have certain physical flaws, and how they finally become confident models at the end of the story. In the first part of the paper, I will analyze the cultural phenomenon since the 90s—postfeminism. I will point out how postfeminism finds its base in the consumerist society and how young girls intend to shape their subjectivity and achieve self-actualization through commodities and the fashion industry. I also seek to go beyond previous mainstream feminist discourses—which usually criticize postfeminism in terms of neoliberal economy—by revealing the linear narrative structure and the hidden “American Dream” (and its possible disillusion) in both the show and the novel. The second part of the paper will move toward a discussion on the representations of models’s bodies—from the representation of ethnical bodies to the showcase of “freaky” bodies. In both her television shows and her novel, Tyra Banks consciously utilizes the slogans and concepts of the previous wave of body politics and attempts to make us believe that the previous body politics and struggles have already “passed,” and that all kinds of traumatized and marginalized bodies can be easily liberated now. She also tries to make us believe that any type of bodily flaws, including bizarre eye colors, over-sized forehead, plus-sized or petite bodies, even illnesses such as albinism, can become spectacles in the fashion industry as long as they can be commodified, domesticated and eventually framed into the consumerist society. Young girls start to proudly display their bodily flaws as long as their “freaky bodies” can be turned into cultural capital. What this popular cultural phenomenon reveals is a kind of position which I term “post-body politics.” This article will eventually conclude with the “myth” and danger of post-body politics.

This current paper aims to analyze two major issues—fashion American dream and the representation of body politics in contemporary popular culture—in Tyra Banks’s young adult novel Modelland, along with her television phenomenon America’s Next Top Model. America’s Next Top Model is a hit reality television show in the United States. Founded by Afro-American supermodel Tyra Banks, this show aims to select potential girls and shape them into America’s future super models. The show has been extremely successful not only in the United States but also around the world, and it just finished airing its 19th cycle. Modelland is a teenager fantasy novel written by Tyra Banks and published in 2011. It is a novel about how Tookie, a girl with bizarrely-unique looks, goes through a series of trials in a modeling boarding school with her friends who also have certain physical flaws, and how they finally become confident models at the end of the story. In the first part of the paper, I will analyze the cultural phenomenon since the 90s—postfeminism. I will point out how postfeminism finds its base in the consumerist society and how young girls intend to shape their subjectivity and achieve self-actualization through commodities and the fashion industry. I also seek to go beyond previous mainstream feminist discourses—which usually criticize postfeminism in terms of neoliberal economy—by revealing the linear narrative structure and the hidden “American Dream” (and its possible disillusion) in both the show and the novel. The second part of the paper will move toward a discussion on the representations of models’s bodies—from the representation of ethnical bodies to the showcase of “freaky” bodies. In both her television shows and her novel, Tyra Banks consciously utilizes the slogans and concepts of the previous wave of body politics and attempts to make us believe that the previous body politics and struggles have already “passed,” and that all kinds of traumatized and marginalized bodies can be easily liberated now. She also tries to make us believe that any type of bodily flaws, including bizarre eye colors, over-sized forehead, plus-sized or petite bodies, even illnesses such as albinism, can become spectacles in the fashion industry as long as they can be commodified, domesticated and eventually framed into the consumerist society. Young girls start to proudly display their bodily flaws as long as their “freaky bodies” can be turned into cultural capital. What this popular cultural phenomenon reveals is a kind of position which I term “post-body politics.” This article will eventually conclude with the “myth” and danger of post-body politics.