Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

The performances today on theatrical presentations of the body made me think about costuming and masquerading in general.  I have never been to a strip club, but hearing the second group talk about their experience made me think of celebrities and supermodels, these body images that people (mainly women) post on their refridgerators for motivation to lose weight.  I think it is cruel and ironic to think about how these images are airbrushed, tweaked, and polished; the realization is eventually made that one cannot attain such perfection because such perfection was manufactured and applied; in fact, such perfection does not exist without the help of imaging programs and photo-doctoring tools.  Furthermore, these "body idols" must invest in the production of their bodies through means of personal trainers, food specialists, stylists, and even surgeons.  It all reminds me of a quote by Dolly Parton in which she says, "It costs a lot of money to look this cheap."  Because people do not see what goes on behind the scenes of these movie stars' and models' lives, people incorrectly assume that they can reach levels of flawlessness exhibited in magazines and on television.  There is so much complexity surrounding the body types people strive toward and the actuality/truthfulness of their visual presentation.