After the after: The Biggest Loser and post-makeover narrative trajectories in digital media

ABSTRACT

In an age of media convergence, television makeover narratives increasingly extend beyond their traditional boundaries into digital media. The author identifies three main narrative trajectories “after the after”: (a) the saga continues (subject continues makeover, often in different form), (b) the student becomes the master (subject becomes a mentor to other makeover participants), and (c) joining the rebel alliance (subject questions or rejects makeover logic). This final trajectory, which provides valuable critique of the makeover’s treatment of fatness and weight loss, is particularly important. Examining the stories of particular The Biggest Loser contestants, the author shows how digital media both extend makeover discourse and enable resistance to its logics.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital media
• makeover television
• media convergence
• The Biggest Loser
• weight loss

Notes

¹ In comparison, Rachel Frederickson’s “public figure” page on Facebook has 19,227 “likes” at the time of this writing, while Danni Allen, popular winner of season 14, has 48,737.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Margaret Hass

Margaret Hass earned her BA in English and European Studies from Amherst College and MA in International Literatures from the University of Tübingen in Germany. She has recently completed her PhD in the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate program “Cultural Studies in Literary Interzones,” receiving her degree from the University of Bergamo in Italy and Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India. Her dissertation focuses on weight loss in television narratives from the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany.