The Theater Plays the Body. Replication of the Canon of Beauty among Young Actresses in the Theater

Bibliographic Data

ID12875662
AuthorsAnna Dwojnych (Nicolaus Copernicus University, corresponding author), Katarzyna Kuczkowska-Golińska (Nicolaus Copernicus University)
Year2018
Volume14
Issue2
Pages78-94
Publication date2018-08-28
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueQualitative Sociology Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1733-8077 • E-ISSN: 1733-8077
PublisherUniwersytet Lodzki (University of Lodz) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.18778/1733-8077.14.2.05
OpenAlexW2892030439
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited3

The article presents the results of our independent qualitative research conducted in Polish theater circles. In-depth interviews have been conducted with fourth-year female students of acting faculties from four state theater schools and with lecturers working at these faculties. The aim of the study was to answer the question whether the theater has currently become a place where bodily images are being standardized and beauty canons reproduced. The research material gathered allows for the formulation of the following conclusions: 1) studying at a theater school significantly impacts the perception of one’s own body, 2) there is a widespread belief among the students concerning the importance of the body (and the beauty thereof) in the profession of an actor, which results in subjecting the body to some regimes, often destructive ones, 3) the pressure to have a perfect body is so strongly internalized in the theater circles that it becomes imperceptible to those who yield under this pressure

Aesthetics · Art · Beauty · Canon · Perception · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Visual arts · Diverse Academic Research Studies · Polish-Jewish Holocaust Memory Studies · Psychology

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