Promoting extreme fitness regimes through the communicative affordances of reality makeover television: a multimodal critical discourse analysis

IF 1.1 2区文学 Q3 COMMUNICATION

Critical Studies in Media Communication Pub Date : 2022-07-01 DOI:10.1080/15295036.2022.2091153

Göran Eriksson

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引用次数: 2

Abstract

ABSTRACT Taking off from the theory of social semiotics and using the methods of multimodal critical discourse analysis, this paper demonstrates how the communicative affordances of a Swedish reality makeover show, The Great Health Journey, are used to promote discourses normalizing extreme fitness ideals. It is a show that reduces health to body fitness and supports a particular health consciousness gaining prominence today, an ideology here depicted as fitnessism. Progressing the ideas put forward by Crawford with the notion of healthism, fitnessism accentuates the careful submission to strict fitness-related regimes as crucial for a healthy lifestyle. It turns the very fit body into a sign of good morals, indicating the values of self-discipline, self-control, and willpower, personal characteristics seen as crucial in the neoliberal era. But the healthiness of this fitness ideal can be questioned. Rather than serving the interest of public health, fitnessism seems to mainly encourage “aesthetic labour” and support commercial interests to exploit body dissatisfaction.

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通过真人秀改头换面电视的交际支持促进极端健身制度:多模态批评话语分析

本文从社会符号学理论出发，运用多模态批评话语分析的方法，论证了瑞典真人秀《大健康之旅》的交际启示如何被用来促进话语规范极端健身理想。这是一个将健康降为身体健身的节目，并支持一种特殊的健康意识，这种意识形态在这里被描述为健身主义。在克劳福德提出的健康主义概念的基础上，健身主义强调了对严格的健身相关制度的认真服从，这对健康的生活方式至关重要。它把非常健康的身体变成了良好道德的标志，表明了自律、自我控制和意志力的价值，这些个人特征在新自由主义时代被视为至关重要。但这种健身理想的健康性是值得质疑的。健身似乎主要是鼓励“审美劳动”，支持商业利益利用对身体的不满，而不是为公众健康服务。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Critical Studies in Media Communication COMMUNICATION-

CiteScore

2.10

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Critical Studies in Media Communication (CSMC) is a peer-reviewed publication of the National Communication Association. CSMC publishes original scholarship in mediated and mass communication from a cultural studies and/or critical perspective. It particularly welcomes submissions that enrich debates among various critical traditions, methodological and analytical approaches, and theoretical standpoints. CSMC takes an inclusive view of media and welcomes scholarship on topics such as • media audiences • representations • institutions • digital technologies • social media • gaming • professional practices and ethics • production studies • media history • political economy. CSMC publishes scholarship about media audiences, representations, institutions, technologies, and professional practices. It includes work in history, political economy, critical philosophy, race and feminist theorizing, rhetorical and media criticism, and literary theory. It takes an inclusive view of media, including newspapers, magazines and other forms of print, cable, radio, television, film, and new media technologies such as the Internet.