Televisual pregnancy beauty

Bibliographic Data

ID12690272
AuthorsSarah Kornfield (0000-0002-3185-9163, Hope College, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume19
Issue2
Pages163-178
Publication date2018-02-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Media Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-0777 • E-ISSN: 1471-5902
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14680777.2018.1426620
OpenAlexW2792580710
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited20

Theorizing the contours of televisual pregnancy beauty, this essay demonstrates how televisual stylistics construct and communicate a political ideology of pregnancy. When the crime dramas Bones and In Plain Sight incorporated their star actors’ pregnancies, they produced different televisually styled portrayals of pregnancy; these medium-specific portrayals play an important role in how pregnancy itself is culturally conceptualized. Although pregnancy beauty, the commodification and sexual objectification of the pregnant and postpartum body, has been analyzed in ways that link it to post-industrial, neoliberal, capitalist, and patriarchal forces, this analysis demonstrates how televisual style sets the scene for this broader discourse. Specifically, I contend that the costuming, blocking and staging, cinematography, and editing determine how the pregnant body appears, and this then communicates a clear ideology to viewing audiences. Through these two case studies, I analyze contrasting televisual styles and argue that while Bones’ style disciplines the pregnant body and In Plain Sight’s style welcomes the pregnant body, both styles enact a televisual pregnancy beauty that commodifies pregnancy

Advertising · Aesthetics · Art · Beauty · Biology · Business · Pregnancy · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Media Studies and Communication · Media, Gender, and Advertising

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