UWA Research Publication

Elfving-Hwang, J. (2013). Cosmetic surgery and embodying the moral self in South

Korean popular makeover culture. The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 11(24), [2].

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Figure 1. Cosmetic Surgery QR code advertisement at the back ofa Seoul taxi (centre) (photo: author)

Figure 2.

T he Asia-Pacif ic Jo urnal, Vo l. 11, Issue 24 , No . 2, June 17, 20 13.

Cosmet ic Surgery and Embodying t he Moral Self in Sout h Korean Popular Makeover Cult ure 韓国のイ韓国のイメージチェンジ文化における整形手術と道徳的主体の体現メージチェンジ文化における整形手術と道徳的主体の体現

Jo anna Elfving-Hwang

Send to KindleYo u o nly have to spend a day in Seo ul to realize that appearances do matter in co ntempo rary So uth Ko rean so ciety. Advertisementsfo r vario us co smetic surgeries are co nspicuo us everywhere—fro m taxis ( fig. 1) to public transpo rt and undergro und s tatio ns ( figs. 2and 3), all evidence that the indus try is bo o ming.

In their wo rldwide survey o f co smetic pro cedures perfo rmed in 2011by bo ard certif ied co smetic surgeo ns , the Internatio nal So ciety fo rAes thetic Plas tic Surgery (ISAPS) placed Ko rea in seventh place interms o f numbers o f surgical pro cedures . That said, Ko rea’s 250 ,000reco rded surgeries were eas ily o uts tripped by US and Braz il which

to pped the lis t with numbers clo se to the 1 millio n mark.1

Nevertheless , Ko rea to ps the lis t in the number o f pro cedures per

capita.2 (This is bo rne o ut by a mo re recent repo rt based o n theISAPS’s figures published in the Economist.)

Even so , the actual figures are likely much higher s ince a s ignificantnumber o f surgeries go unreco rded: no t o nly is the co smetic surgeryindus try badly regulated (Ho lliday & Elfving-Hwang, 2012) but theclinical data included in the ISAPS’s figures o nly takes into acco untsurgeries perfo rmed by accredited surgeo ns who fo rm a mino rity o fmedical o r medical-related s taff who perfo rm surgeries . Many beautysalo ns and ‘health clinics ’ o ffer smaller co smetic pro cedures such asfacial f illers (e.g. Bo to x® o r Retylin®), blepharo plas ty and mo leremo val laser surgery, which are no t reco rded as surgical pro ceduresand are thus no t included in the s tatis tics quo ted abo ve.

While research co ncerned with the representatio n o f co smeticsurgery in po pular culture and media in the Wes t tends to prio ritizegender o r neo liberal co nsumeris t des ires as the main explanatio nfo r individual subjects ’ apparent no n-res is tance and malleability to

co nfo rm to po pular beauty dis co urses (see mo re o n this in Ho lliday and Elfving-Hwang, 2012), this essay fo cuses o n So uth Ko reanpo pular dis co urses o n co smetic surgery to sho w that there are additio nal catego ries , ideo lo gies and even mo ral principles that gobeyo nd s implis tic no tio ns o f the bo dy as an inves tment fo r individual, perso nal gain in the co ntext o f neo liberal capitalis t so ciety. Inparticular, in co ntempo rary So uth Ko rean dis co urses o f beauty, care o f self and co smetic surgery increas ingly link no tio ns o f‘co rrect’ o r ‘appro priate’ appearance with perfo rming adequately in so ciety as a so cial subject.

These embo died ideas o f perfo rming o ne’s so cial s tatus thro ughappearance are certainly no t new to Ko rea. In many ways ,co ntempo rary practices can be said to build o n premo dern Cho sŏ n-era practice o f displaying so cial s tatus thro ugh class -appro priateclo thing and deco rum, and the ways in which they are interpo lated inneo liberal dis co urses o f self-impro vement and class mo bility areevident in the ways in which co smo po litan subjectivity is embo diedthro ugh co smetic surgery as a s ign o f a des ired class , so cial o rgendered identity (Ho lliday & Elfving-Hwang, 2012). In so me waysthe engagement with surgical practices can be seen as a‘demo cratiz ing’ practice, and the rate o f uptake in quite co mplexsurgeries , such as the chin and mandibular angle reductio n surgery(‘V-line surgery’), also sugges t so mething o f the trivializatio n o fasso ciated risks in po pular dis co urses abo ut co smetic surgery inSo uth Ko rea and fo cuses o n the po ss ibilities that it po rtends .

In this essay, I will analyze the narrative s tructure o f a po pular cabletelevis io n makeo ver pro gramme, Let Me In, so as to o utline thekinds o f so cial and cultural narratives the po pular media (andpo ss ibly the co smetic surgery indus try) put fo rward to jus tifyperfo rming po tentially life-threatening surgeries o n o therwisehealthy bo dies . Thro ugh a narrative analys is o f the reality TV sho w, Iwill illus trate ho w co ntempo rary Ko rean subjects are effectivelyinterpellated into a set o f mo ral dis co urses o f self-dis cipline, andeven filial piety, to jus tify the presumed necess ity fo r radical

co rpo real changes . These dis co urses co alesce to pro mo te the practice no t as an ins tance o f vanity, but as evidence o f mo ral fibreand respo ns ibility that o ne ‘o wes ’ no t o nly to o neself, but also to o ne’s parents o r children as an express io n o f filial piety o rparental duty. Within this co ntext, I argue that these dis co urses embedded in the narrative s tructure o f pro grammes such as Let MeIn can be read as sympto matic o f the ways in which glo bal beauty dis co urses can effect po tentially highly dis ciplinary (in aFo ucauldian sense) practices in culturally lo calized ways .

Co smet ic Surgery and Middle Class Ident it y

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Figure 3. Advertisement at a Seoul underground station, withbefore and after images of rhinoplasty (photo: author)

In

o rder to co ntextualise the narrative presented in Let Me In, it is useful to draw attentio n to the fact that co smetic surgery is , by andlarge, represented either po s itively o r neutrally in So uth Ko rean po pular culture and media (with so me no table exceptio ns , mainlyinitiated by feminis t activis t gro ups). While the facto rs invo lved in individual subjects electing to undergo co smetic surgery vary andcan rarely be pinned do wn to o ne specific reaso n (Ho lliday and Elfving-Hwang, 2012), the perceived necess ity to display the markerso f kwit’i (cultured appearance) as a s ign o f co nsumer middle class identity, emerges as a highly affective fo rce enco uragingindividuals to perceive aes thetic surgical interventio n as a practical and no rmative o ptio n fo r self-impro vement. Within this co ntext,it is telling that the phys ical evidence o f surgical enhancement (rather than hiding it) in itself is beco ming a marker o f so cial s tatusand wealth, further emphas iz ing the ins trumental way in which co smetic surgery is presented in po pular media and makeo ver

pro grammes in particular.3 Given that the co smetic surgery indus try is pro mo ting and actively selling a practice that perfo rmspo tentially life-threatening surgeries (such as facial co nto uring, o r calf muscle thinning that can po tentially cripple the patient fo rlife) o n bo dies that are no t in any co nceivable way ‘ill’ o r ‘diseased’, it sho uld be a hard sell. This way o f thinking abo ut co smeticsurgery is re-enfo rced in advertis ing as well, where ‘mino r’ surgeries , such as blepharo plas ty (do uble eye-lid surgery), tend to carrys imilar health warnings as ear piercing which emphas ize the impo rtance o f pro per hygiene and care o f self after pro cedures , thus

placing the burden o f respo ns ibility fo r success ful surgery o n the patient.4 Tellingly, while the Ko rean Co nsumer Agency repo rtsgro wing numbers o f cases o f co nsumer co mplaints filed agains t clinics (even if the number o f success ful claims is s till relativelysmall, aro und 70 per year), the Ko rean So ciety fo r Aes thetic Plas tic Surgery plays do wn po tential risks o f surgery, and s tresses the

impo rtance o f cho o s ing a regis tered ho spital (sŏnghyŏng woegwa ŭiwŏn) fo r pro cedures .5 The o nus here is entirely o n the patient todo their research well and to accept the respo ns ibility fo r any mis takes made in selecting a surgeo n. Rather than reco gniz ing thatany surgical pro cedure carries very real risks o f s ide effects that range fro m (but are no t limited to ) excess ive scarring o r las tingnumbness , heavy bleeding that requires blo o d trans fus io ns , haemato mas (blo o d clo ts ), seco ndary infectio ns o r necro s is (tis sue

death) to life-threatening co mplicatio ns such as heart attacks o r pulmo nary embo lism that can lead to s tro kes ,6 the emphas is isput o n cho o s ing o ne’s surgeo n carefully..

Pro mo tio nal co smetic surgery marketing material to o typically po ints to the po s itive psycho lo gical effects o f success ful surgery o nthe recipient, and sugges ts that patients will feel mo re po s itive abo ut themselves when so me aspect o f their bo dies that they areno t satis fied with is ‘f ixed’ to reflect particular no rmative beauty ideals (Orbach, 2009; Blum, 2003; Davis , 2003), further

emphas iz ing the trans fo rmative narrative put fo rth bo th in advertis ing and makeo ver pro grammes . 7

Reflecting this , the ques tio n fo r cultural and feminis t critics has revo lved aro und whether co smetic surgery is a co ns trainingdis ciplinary dis co urse which pro duces do cile bo dies (Haiken, 1997; Bo rdo , 2003; Blo o d, 2005) o r an empo wering o ne. Bo tharguments are, fro m the o utset, co mpelling. On the o ne hand, surgery can be perceived as an o ppress ive practice, implying that it isperfo rmed o n individuals who are unable to res is t the co mpelling fo rce o f prevailing beauty and health dis co urses . On the o therhand, co smetic surgery can be seen as an inherently empo wering practice and, at leas t in part, o ne in which individuals take actio nand are willing to risk their lives to guarantee perceived success within their individual circumstances , where certain appearancesmay be co ns idered as either a precurso r o r evidence o f so cial success (Bo rdo , 2003; Davies , 1995; Heyes , 2007b; Jo nes , 2008;Ho lliday and Elfving-Hwang, 2012; Sanches Taylo r, 2012). In co ntempo rary So uth Ko rea, the latter canno t be dismissed o ff-hand,particularly s ince appearance is no t seen s imply as a practical o r perso nal is sue but also , at leas t to an extent, a matter o f so cial

etiquette.8 Fo r this reaso n, the aim is no t necessarily to achieve beauty, but a lo o k that is ‘right’ fo r a particular o ccupatio n o r

so cial po s itio n (see further o n this in Ho lliday and Elfving-Hwang, 2012).9 Reflecting the wider reco gnitio n o f co smetic surgerypractices as a matter o f etiquette (yewi) and s tatus , many po pular celebrities in So uth Ko rea quite o penly co nfess to having had

surgery – and even endo rse the services o f a particular clinic that pro vided them with go o d service.10 These examples sugges t thatco smetic surgery is beco ming increas ingly accepted as a way o f achieving an appro priate appearance, but that is co ns idered as a

ratio nal inves tment in o ne’s appearance that is info rmed by very practical co ns ideratio ns (Ho lliday & Elfving-Hwang, 2012).Co nsequently, in co ntempo rary Ko rean so ciety, the marketing o f co smetic surgery is driven by the trans fo rmative pro mise o f thepro cess o f ‘befo re-and-after’, as a so urce o f so cial capital and psycho lo gical well-being. In co ntras t to Wes tern dis co urses ,ho wever, co smetic surgery is no t typically represented as an attempt to create an appearance mo re co ngruent to what is perceived

as patients ’ ‘true’ inner selves and ‘inner beauty’ (Feathers to ne, 2010: 195; see also Heyes , 2006: 16).11 In this sense, co smeticsurgery in Ko rean po pular narratives relates mo re to ‘do ing’ surgery fo r the sake o f perfo rming a certain so cial class o r s tatus(Sanchez Taylo r, 2012; Jo nes , 2012), than it do es to ‘beco ming’ mo re the image that o ne ho lds o f o ne’s ‘inner self’ a result o fhaving surgery .

Acco rdingly, the beauty indus try in Ko rea markets a pletho ra o f beauty treatments and practices as a way o f no t o nly fixing flaws anderas ing evidence o f aging, but also to literally embo dy the markers o f middle class co nsumeris t success . Co ntempo rary co smeticsurgery advertis ing taps into the dis co urse o f co nsumer identity, pro mis ing a celebrity lo o k that s ignifies success to practicallyanyo ne who can affo rd it – even if this necess itates turning to credit card co mpanies to finance the des ired lo o k. Jung-ah Cho i(2005) in her s tudy o f high scho o l s tudents ’ career aspiratio ns in Ko rea o bserves that as ‘class beco mes a fragile catego ry in aco nsumer-led po s tindus trial eco no my’, class identity to o emerges as a pro cess rather than a predes tined po s itio n. Cho i no tes thatamo ng the yo ung peo ple she interviewed, appearance is seen as essential fo r gaining emplo yment in the cus to mer-o riented wo rkplace (which is perceived as attractive fo r its asso ciatio n with co nsumer capitalism), in particular fo r s tudents who do no t co ns iderthemselves to be academically exceptio nal. Cho i’s research findings demo ns trate that s tudents have internalized a dis co ursewhereby enhancing o ne’s appearance thro ugh surgery is unders to o d to pro mo te a merito cratic belief that success (and po tentiallyevidence o f so cial s tanding) depends o n willingness to inves t in bringing o ne’s appearance in line with prevailing (and o ften quitenarro wly defined) beauty ideals .

Unsurpris ingly, bo th the entertainment indus try and the co smetic surgery indus try are tapping into this kind o f glo balized dis co ursein which bo dies are seen and are represented as bo th o bjects o f inves tment and o f individual co nsumer des ire. Yet an analys is o fKo rean po pular media dis co urses reveals that ideas o f self-impro vement are no t s imply gro unded in Wes tern individualism. Quitethe co ntrary, they are also necess itated by the affective, intersubjective gaze o f a so cial gro up (whether it be the family o r o thergro up that the subject identif ies with) which pro mo tes a view that the individual subject’s bo dy is also representative o f theco llective bo dy o f that gro up (Elfving-Hwang, 2010). In this sense, the co smetic surgery beco mes a co ntempo rary manifes tatio n o fyewi, which go es beyo nd and no t s imply a utilitarian no tio n o f gaining access to a so cial gro up thro ugh imitating o r assuming a

certain lo o k – whether that be o ne o f a kkotminam12 o r a po litician. Reflecting this , the narrative lo gic deplo yed in po pular media andin TV makeo ver pro grammes assert that co smetic surgery is no t evidence o f vanity, but quite the co ntrary, po s itive pro o f o fwillingness to inves t in self in co ns ideratio n o f o thers . Within this co ntext, so matic subjectivity o btained thro ugh engagement withsurgery is seen as an express io n o f mo ral self, rather than sugges ting lack thereo f (Heyes , 2007b). Yet this co ns tant fo cus o n themo raliz ing, intersubjective gaze also creates a so matic sys tem o f dis ciplinary po wer o f what Fo ucault refers to as ‘co mpulso ryvis ibility’ (1991 [1975]: 187), heavily co nnected to ideas o f legitimate membership o f a so cial gro up. In o ther wo rds , Fo ucaultmaintains that thro ugh a pro cess o f turning subjects into o bjects o f ‘infinite examinatio n’ in relatio n to ho w well they co nfo rm todis curs ively created no rms within given dis ciplinary regimes , the regime itself is co ns tantly refined, class ified and fixed. Mo reo ver,fo r each individual, success within a given so matic regime depends o n vis ibility, o n ho w well they fulfill the characteris tics o f, fo rexample, ‘a beautiful human being’ as laid o ut in a particular beauty dis co urse. It is within this co ntext o f intersubjective examinatio no f self and o thers that each individual is co ns tituted, as Fo ucault po ints o ut, ‘as effect and o bject o f po wer’ (192).

T V Narrat ives o f T ransfo rmat io n

While a s ignificant literature o n makeo ver pro grammes sees this mo ral s tance as related to the individual, Let Me In quiteintentio nally draws no t o nly o n co ntempo rary dis co urses o f beauty, health and fitness , but also o n Neo -Co nfucian ethical principleso f filial piety. While I am no t sugges ting that co smetic surgery is in any way linked to Neo -Co nfucianism per se (especially given thatthe principle o f sinch'ebalbu (bo dy, hair, and skin) pro hibited any alteratio n o f the bo dy and because care-o f-self and preserving thebo dy were seen as impo rtant express io ns o f filial piety), an analys is o f this pro gramme reveals a co ntradicto ry lo gic in whichsurgery is presented as evidence o f filial piety. The relatio n between individual bo dies and the co ns tant reminder o f having tovisually display and perfo rm a certain appro priate appearance is a useful reminder o f the level o f ho w the co ns tructio n o f self-subjectivity is info rmed by co ns ideratio ns o f co mpulso ry vis ibility and ho w success relies o n ho w individuals po s itio n themselveswithin these beauty regimes bo th as o bjects and effects o f dis ciplinary po wer.

Let Me In, which was firs t aired o n co mmercial cable netwo rk Sto ryOn in December 2011, fo llo ws the well-es tablished fo rmat o fWes tern vers io ns o f this type o f heavily edited TV ‘reality’ sho w. In its narrative s tructure and visual effects , it draws heavily o npo pular Wes tern makeo ver sho ws such as Extreme Makeover (ABC, 2002-2007) and The Swan (Fo x, 2004) in the US, and Ten YearsYounger (Channel 4, 2004-present) in the UK. Spo nso red by a majo r co smetic surgery clinic based in Seo ul, it was advertised as a

‘respo ns ible’ makeo ver reality TV pro gramme that aimed to ‘help’ co ntes tants by o ffering them free surgery and makeo vers .13

Reflecting this presumably egalitarian etho s , the surgery ho pefuls are typically selected fro m wo rking class backgro unds 14 and thus

are unable to bear the co ns iderable financial co s t that majo r surgeries and enro lling in fitness and health pro grammes entail.15

As ide fro m pro viding the pro gramme makers with a platfo rm that will invariably yield po s itive results to the co ntes tant, it alsomakes visually co mpelling viewing. Overplaying o f the co ntes tants ’ visual markers o f relative po verty means that the o utco me o f thepro cess o f pyǒnsin – the visually marked metamo rpho s is o f the participant’s bo dy – makes fo r all the mo re dramatic viewing,

emphas iz ing phys ical appearance as a vehicle fo r co mplete psycho lo gical, phys ical and, ultimately, so cial change.16

Each episo de o pens with a sectio n in which the surgery ho pefuls seek to co nvince the pro gramme ho s ts – the actress Hwang ShinHye and a number o f celebrity makeo ver artis ts and medical and beauty specialis ts (who are at this po int co ncealed fro m viewbehind a s creen) – o f their need to be trans fo rmed into a ‘mi-in’ (literally: a beautiful perso n) (Fig. 4). As the camera mo ves fro m thesympathetic faces o f the presenters to reveal o nly the back o f the co ntes tant, the co ntes tant is invited to explain why she sho uld be

selected fo r a makeo ver.17 At this po int the camera angle is used effectively to exaggerate the presumed phys ical ‘hideo usness ’ o fthe candidate by initially hiding, and then very s lo wly revealing the full ‘mo ns tro s ity’ the presumably o ffens ive facial feature, which inthe majo rity o f cases is a severe cro ss -bite o r a pro minent, square jawline, o ccas io nally accentuated by the co ntes tant’s o verweightco nditio n. The co ntes tants are then invited to explain ho w their appearance affects their everyday lives .

In mo s t cases the audience is intro duced to wo men who s truggle with being o verweight and feel iso lated and disadvantaged in a

so ciety in which o s tens ibly ‘everyo ne else’ appears s lender and beautiful.18 The co ntes tants are also invariably given a dero gato ry‘nickname’ that describes the so urce o f their dis tress , such as k’ŭn pawi ǒlgul ( ‘the large s to ne face’; Seaso n 1, Episo de 3),p’ŭrangk’ensyut’ain ŭl talm’ŭn kŭnyŏ (‘the girl who lo o ks like Frankens tein’; Seaso n 2, Episo de 2), kwemul yŏ (‘the mo ns ter wo man’;Seaso n 1, Episo de 7), and utji mot hanŭn yŏja (‘the wo man who canno t laugh’; Seaso n 2, Episo de 8). While this TV genre frequentlyutilizes direct cruelty to emphas ize the necess ity fo r surgery (Feathers to ne, 2012), the pro gramme takes this to the extreme ino rder to po s itio n the co ntes tants within the ‘co smetic underclass ’ (miyong hawui kyegŭp) o f tho se who are co ns idered unable to

succeed because o f their appearance and lack o f means to fix their perceived flaws .19

Figure 4. "She wants to go in and live a normal life like that but..."(A still from Episode 3, Season 1)

Figure 5 “Why don’t we just die together?” (A still from Episode 3,Season 1)

The co ntes tants ’ initial plea fo r surgical help is fo llo wed by a mo ntage o f a backgro und narrative in which audiences are invited towitness the diff iculties that co ntes tants face because o f theirappearance. In the majo rity o f episo des this invo lves s cenes in whichthe co ntes tant lives in self-impo sed iso latio n o r is bullied by

o thers .20 In o ne o f the earlier episo des (Ep. 3, Seaso n 1), fo rexample, the cameras fo llo w a yo ung s tudent who is o verweight, andwho has beco me a so cial recluse because o f insecurities abo ut herface o r weight. Scenes in which the candidate is sho wn to s tando uts ide a univers ity class ro o m witho ut the co urage to go in andpartake in seminars are utilis ed to emphas ize the real dis tress thather appearance causes her (Fig. 4). Back in the s tudio , theco ntes tants ’ self-narratives emphas ize that they are no t vain, buts imply unable to functio n in so ciety ‘like o ther peo ple’ because o ftheir presumably o ffending appearance. The co ntes tants declare that

’I wish to live like o ther peo ple’, ‘no t to beco me beautiful,jus t to be no rmal’ (Ep. 3, Seaso n 1);

‘Co mpared to no rmal peo ple, my face is huge’ (Ep. 13, Seaso n 2)

‘Jus t fo r o nce, I’d like to live like a human being’ (Episo de 13, Seaso n 2)

Rather than ques tio ning the lo gic behind this cultural o ver-determinatio n o f the gaze that almo s t invariably seems to relegate theco ntes tants to a persona non grata, bo th the medical experts and presenters subject the co ntes tant to an examinatio n o f her phys icalappearance that affirms her po s itio n within an aes thetic underclass , so that the medical dis cuss io n abo ut surgery beco mes ‘anins trument that co mbines hierarchical o bservatio n and no rmaliz ing judgment.’ (Heyes , 2007b: 30) Tellingly, no reference is made inthis co ntext to the po tential health risks asso ciated with being o verweight so that all co nsultatio ns and dis cuss io ns remain at thelevel o f beauty aes thetics . As the co ntes tants ’ bo dies are examined agains t accepted beauty no rms , they are interpellated withinsemi-scientif ic dis co urses that pro duce unco ntes ted ‘truths ’ abo ut so matic-aes thetic no rmativity vis -à-vis their bo dies . These‘truths ’ in turn are used, in the narrative o f the pro gramme, to class ify and patho lo gise the co ntes tants ’ presumably no n-s tandardappearance as a legitimate index o f so cial exclus io n.

Family members are also given a narrative functio n in the s tructure o f the pro gramme to reinfo rce and legitimate the dis co urse o fexclus io n based o n appearance. The co ntes tants ’ parents are sho wn to apo lo gize to their children fo r pass ing o n ‘faulty’ genes totheir daughters ( ‘pumo-rŭl jal mot manassǒ’), and also fo r lacking the funds to ‘f ix’ these ‘faults ’ thro ugh surgery (again enfo rcing theidea o f the exis tence o f a ‘co smetic underclass ’ o f tho se who canno t affo rd to fix their flaws). Within this co ntext, appearance isco ns tructed as the key so urce o f do mes tic dis co rd, fueled bo th by the co ntes tants ’ lack o f self-dis cipline to diet o r self-co nfidenceto functio n pro perly in their everyday lives and parents ’ guilt abo ut no t being able to do anything to put it right. (Fig. 5).

The central place o f the family in this part o f the pro gramme reveals an interes ting gap in exis ting research o n co smetic surgery inthe Wes t, sugges ting that in Ko rea an individual’s des ire to have co smetic surgery canno t be unders to o d s imply as an attempt too verco me a co nflict between the ‘o uter self’ and an idealized image o f a ‘true inner self’ (see fo r example Heyes , 2007a). The way inwhich surgery is presented as external to self, yet at leas t in part jus tif ied as a so matic s ign o f filial duty to o ne’s parents thro ugh apro cess o f ‘co rrecting’ inherited flaws thro ugh medical techno lo gy, appears to bo th co ntradict the Neo -Co nfucian idea o f sinch’ebalbuwhile s imultaneo us ly reaffirming its principle thro ugh the almo s t filial act o f impro ving the genetic material inherited fro m o ne’sances to rs . This emphas is o n the interplay between the des irability o f a ‘surgical rebirth’ as a way fo r an individual to succeed

in mo dern so ciety and the implied imperative fo r parents to ensurethat their children can cho o se to do so certainly sugges ts anadditio nal dimens io n to so matic subjectivities within the po pularnarratives o f co smetic surgery practices in Ko rea to tho se seen inthe Wes tern vers io n o f the genre where such sugges tio ns o fparental guilt are much less o f an is sue.

Dissect ing Beaut y

The so matic subjectivity that is expressed in terms o f acceptableappearance and no t s imply thro ugh co nventio nal beauty, isreinfo rced in the fo llo wing part o f the pro gramme where the medicalspecialis ts (takdŏsŭ, ‘the Do cto rs ’) dis cuss bo th the limits o fsurgical interventio n and whether the patient will psycho lo gicallybenefit fro m the pro po sed surgery. As the co ntes tants ’ appearanceis patho lo gised and medicalised thro ugh labeling the bo dy part thatcauses them co ncern as a defo rmity, the ‘necess ity’ o f medical(surgical) interventio n is es tablished. The panel co ns is ts o fco smetic surgeo ns , psycho lo gis ts , a dental surgeo n and a

dermato lo gis t, who pro ceed to debate whether to o perate o n a co ntes tant. While they o ffer o s tens ibly value-free and judgment-freeo pinio ns (‘the clinical perspective’), the fo cus o f their deliberatio ns is emphatically no t o n whether the patient ‘needs ’ surgery (afterall, she is no t medically ill), but o n whether she will be a go o d (eno ugh) patient to ensure a des irable o utco me. At this narrativejuncture, the audiences – bo th in the s tudio and at ho me – are drawn into judgment-making abo ut the extent to which eachco ntes tant co mpares with the no rmative so matic-aes thetic s tandards put fo rward in the pro gramme. On o ne hand the, audience isbeing educated to deplo y a co smetic gaze in assess ing the co ntes tant’s ‘wo rthiness ’ to be o perated o n (as well as to undo ubtedlyreflect o n o ne’s o wn ‘wo rthiness ’), based o n her material and phys ical need (judged visually), and psycho lo gical need (demo ns tratedso cial ill-effects o f her current appearance). Effectively then, the audiences learn to assess the surgery ho pefuls (and themselves )fro m the surgeo n’s perspective, which fo cuses o n what kinds o f patients make ‘go o d’ candidates fo r surgery.

The lo gic used by co smetic surgeo ns in assess ing patients in this pro gramme dictates that everyo ne is a po tential candidate fo rsurgery and thus ‘deserves ’ it ( if they have the means to pay fo r it). It also sugges ts that there are go o d patients (who havereaso nable expectatio ns ; can take pain and have willpo wer) and bad patients (who are likely to be unhappy with the results ; whoexpect to have it ‘easy’ o r have no willpo wer to s tick with the after care and fitness regime required o f a go o d patient, o r even wo rse,

who sue the surgeo n).21 This lo gic also shifts the o nus fo r success to the patient, as it is fo r the co ntes tants to pro ve that they arebo th wo rth the pro po sed makeo ver by no t o nly demo ns trating a ‘need’ fo r surgery, but also faith in the po s itive o utco me o f the

Figure 6. The backstage opens to a brightly lit back studio(Episode 3, Season 1)

Figure 7. Consultation (Still from Episode 3, Season 1)

Figure 8. The moment of 'rebirth' (A still from Episode 3, Season1)

surgery. Thus the burden o f respo ns ibility fo r defining success ful o utco mes is effectively shifted to the patient thro ugh managingtheir expectatio ns . This gives the surgeo ns a po wer mandate that any o ther kind o f medical pro fess io nal can o nly dream o f.

The final decis io n is revealed with the full visual drama where the dark ‘co nsultatio n ro o m’ divides into two : the thick s creenseparating the two s tudio s is literally to rn asunder and the success ful co ntes tant is phys ically ‘let in’ ( in an intentio nal reference tothe title o f the pro gramme) as she phys ically mo ves into the brightly lit back s tudio where the delighted s tudio audience and thepanel o f pro fess io nals are waiting to begin the bus iness o f grafting the bo dy o f the co ntes tant into so mething mo re acceptable.The visual vo cabulary in these scenes (in particular in Seaso n 1), which draws the viewer to make a symbo lic co nnectio n to Ro man

Catho lic ico no graphy o n the las t judgement, purgato ry and heaven,22 clearly emphas ises the po wer inves ted in medical interventio n:the co ntes tant is literally transpo rted fro m the purgato ry o f pre-o perative self to the bio medical techno lo gy heaven o f surgicalkno wledge and expertise (Fig. 6).

What fo llo ws is a sho rt sectio n in which the surgeo ns info rm thepatient o f what kind o f surgery she is to receive (Fig. 8). (Theabso lute mandate given to the surgeo ns in this pro gramme is againquite breath-taking, and in many ways emphas ises the impress io nthat the pro gramme is very much abo ut cultivating perfect patientswho submit to the surgeo ns ’ mo ral and scientif ic mandate inreco mmending surgeries mo s t ‘beneficial’ to them).

Yet fo r the viewing audiences this mo ment is presented as evidenceo f surgery as egalitarian practice, because it presumably rescues theco ntes tant fro m so cial exclus io n. This principle is co ns tantlyreinfo rced in the narrative, and as the success ful co ntes tants beginan intens ive three-mo nth fitness , diet, surgery and beauty treatmentregime away fro m their families and in co nfinement, the editing o fthe pro gramme ensures that audiences are co ns tantly reminded thatthe mo ral respo ns ibility fo r trans fo rmatio n (pyŏnsin) res ts so lely o nthe co ntes tants . The surgeo ns , dermato lo gis ts , fitness trainers andpro gramme presenters functio n s imply as ‘so vereign experts ’(Bo rdo , 2003: 26), and scenes o f actual surgeries and the phys ical

pain asso ciated with the reco very perio d are minimized, as are s cenes in which co ntes tants are s tyled fo r the final sho w. Sceneswhere the co ntes tants go thro ugh phys ical dis co mfo rt as part o f their fitness and dieting regime functio n as co ns tant reminders o fthe necess ity to cultivate a des irable mental attitude to ward the pro cess o f trans fo rmatio n (pyŏnsin), and underpin the‘pro gress io nis t narrative’ (Heyes , 2007a: 72) that po s itio ns surgery as a means to achieve ‘no rmalizatio n’. The pro cess itself isinherently pano ptic, and subject to co ns tant surveillance o f the appro ving o r chas tis ing gaze o f the TV cameras , which witness anys lip in self-dis cipline, training the co ntes tants to expect and perfo rm fo r the co smetic gaze o f the real and imagined audiences .

Befo re and Aft er: Rebirt h t hro ugh Surgery

The pivo tal mo ment in the pro gramme co mes o f co urse when theco ntes tant returns to the s tudio after three o f mo nths o f surgery,reco very, dieting, fitness training and s tyling – all o f which ispresented as evidence o f her hero ic battle to cultivate a s tro ng willand attitude to bear the inevitable pain o f the trans fo rmatio n. Visualvo cabulary thro ugho ut the pro gramme is used to highlight thedramatic befo re and after images , and what is s triking abo ut thisparticular pro gramme is that there is never a sugges tio n in thisnarrative that the pyŏnsin is abo ut the surgically enhanced bo dybeing, as is sugges ted in Wes tern literature o n the to pic, ‘a s ite o ftruth reflecting the self within’ (Heyes , 2007b: 5) where thetrans fo rmed bo dy is presented as an o utco me o f a pro cess wherethe authentic and beautiful self is externalized and made vis ible.Heyes no tes that while ‘many co smetic surgery recipients want tobeco me (mo re) attractive, many (bo th qualitative research andpo pular representatio ns sugges t) want to better embo dy the kind o f

perso n they believe themselves , charactero lo gically speaking, to be.’ (Heyes , 2007a: 18). In Let Me In, there is very little referenceto any no tio n o f any pre-exis ting ‘inner beauty’. Ins tead, co ntes tants are quite literally presented as having been ‘bo rn again’ ( tasit’aeŏnagi) into a new subjectivity embo died in the po s to perative bo dy. Within this narrative, then, co smetic surgery is no t s imply

co nceived as being a co rrective practice, but co nceptualized as the s tarting po int o f a new identity alto gether.23

The visual vo cabulary po int is highly evo cative o f an actual phys ical(and psycho lo gical) rebirth, particularly in Seaso n 1. Each co ntes tantemerges fro m a wo mb-like s ilo po s itio ned at the back o f the s tudio ,fro m which she walks with co nfident gait to the brightly-lit fro nt o fthe s tage (Fig. 8). The camera lingers o n the bo dy o f the co ntes tant,almo s t revealing her face, o nly to rewind back again to sho w thetrans fo rmed bo dy fro m a different angle. The co ntes tant then s tepso nto a catwalk to reveal what the ho s t calls a ‘rebirth’ (tasi t’aeŏnagi)o f the previo us ly ‘hideo us ’ self into a mi-in (a beautiful perso n). Theco ntes tant is then allo wed to see her newly s tyled andpro fess io nally made o ver lo o k fo r the firs t time in the mirro r as theaudiences are given a vo yeuris tic o nce-o ver o f her entire bo dy ins lo w-mo tio n. And again, the viewer is invited to a dialo gic agreementwith the pro gramme ho s ts and s tudio audience, who se gasps o fdisbelief are played o n a lo o p to emphas ize the presumed sense o fawe that we are invited to witness and participate in, thro ugh theshared deplo yment o f the co smetic gaze which ins is ts o n the no tio no f subjectivity as essentially captured within this so matic s ign. The‘befo re and after’ images o f the co ntes tants , displayed behind the

co ntes tant in full view o f the s tudio audience and transpo sed next to the altered image o f the co ntes tant, are presented as visualpro o f o f this po ss ibility o f a new subjectivity (Fig. 9).

Finally, the co ntes tant is tearfully reunited with her parents (o r o ccas io nally a s is ter), and in this s cene we can see ho w the

Figure 9. Before and after images of a contestant (Episode 1,Season 2)

Figure 10. 'Reunion' with parents (Episode 3, Season 1)

mo raliz ing dis co urse o f the pro cess o f the pyŏnsin takes its fulleffect (Fig. 10). The time away fro m parents is presented as bo th aso bering experience fo r the yo ung co ntes tant, and a mo ment o f jo y(and o ccas io nal bewilderment) to the parents who are sho wn asvis ibly pro ud o f their children’s co urage to withs tand the painasso ciated with the perio d o f reco very. This is intriguing, as thesurgery here is presented no t o nly as a phys ical impro vement, but away to res to re harmo ny within the parent/child relatio nship thro ughso matic ‘rebirth’. The previo us ly o ffens ive appearance (caused bylack o f fo rtune) is pro jected as no t o nly visually displeas ing but alsoa pho to graphic reminder o f the co ntes tants ’ mo ral deficiency,whereas the pro cess o f pyŏnsin co mes to s ignify respect to wardo ne’s parents , gained thro ugh hard wo rk and pain, all o f which areevidenced in the – o ften quite spectacular – after image o f the

pyŏnsin.24 The parents ’ appro val and delight at the o utco me o f thesurgery emphas ises a much wider, so cially accepted idea that a no n-s tandard appearance (as defined abo ve) is a serio us disadvantagein increas ingly co mpetitive so ciety and o ne that parents have arespo ns ibility to deal with much as they inves t in their children’seducatio n. The narrative o f Let Me In emphas ises this filial dimens io nthro ugh scenes in which parents repeatedly thank their children fo r

their hard wo rk ( ‘kosaeng-i manatta’), effectively reaffirming the pro cess o f co smetic rebirth as an actio n that embo dies filial pietythro ugh ackno wledging their children’s willingness to submit to phys ical pain as an act that erases the phys ical evidence o f the

parents ’ inability to ensure their children’s future success .25

Co nclusio n

As every episo de ends in cheerful clapping and admiring gasps fro mstudio audiences while co ntes tants and their families shed tears o fjo y, o ne might be tempted to ask what exactly is the harm inass is ting underprivileged members o f so ciety to functio n mo reeffectively in so ciety – even if it all is pro duced fo r the purpo se o fco mmercial gain and presented in the fo rm o f light entertainment.Certainly, the co ntes tants are sho wn to be o verwhelmed by theresults o f their o ften quite spectacular trans fo rmatio n, and thesurgeries are sho wn to have pro duced a makeo ver that leads theindividuals co ncerned to better o ppo rtunities in life than they wo uldhave had witho ut the surgery. Yet this idea o f co mprehens ive rebirtho f the self thro ugh surgery is clearly pro blematic, even if it appearsto pro mise transcendence o f birth, lineage, family backgro und,natio nality and so cial class . While advances in bio medical s ciencesand surgical techniques seem to o ffer almo s t unlimited po ss ibilitiesfo r so matic trans fo rmatio n, the unpro blematic way in which these

narratives sugges t that success is linked to a set o f narro wly defined visual s ignifiers sho uld certainly be cause fo r co ncern. As thenarrative o f pyŏnsin analyzed in this essay sho ws , beauty is no t presented as vanity, but as a fo rm o f cultural citizenship and so cialcapital (Edmo nds , 2010). What is mo re, an unco mfo rtable co ntras t is made here between ‘perfo rmers ’ and ‘no n-perfo rmers ’:perfo rmers being tho se who wo rk o n their bo dies , are emplo yed o r s tudy, and are so cially active; whereas no n-perfo rmers are

tho se who are o verweight, do no t lo o k after their appearance and are unemplo yed/withdrawn fro m educatio n o r so cially reclus ive. 26

In the co ntext o f dis cuss ing British teenage girls ’ co smetic surgery, Jacqueline Sanchez Taylo r no tes that while co smetic surgery canbe unders to o d ‘as a s trategic act o n the part o f wo men who are ratio nal, intelligent agents ,’ she also calls fo r the necess ity to‘remain critical o f the s tructural co ntext in which this fo rm o f co nsumptio n represents either the o nly o r the bes t s trategy thro ughwhich to attain their go als .’ (2012: 460) Similarly, altho ugh mo s t o f the co ntes tants wo uld undo ubtedly agree that they hadbenefited fro m taking part in the pro gramme in o ne way o r ano ther (so me o f the co ntes tants having even beco me mino r internet

celebrities ),27 the unpro blematic presentatio n o f the pro cess o f pyŏnsin as a way o ut o f the ‘co smetic underclass ’ raises ques tio nsabo ut the increas ingly central po s itio n that appearance is perceived to o ccupy by many (and po pular media in particular) as a markero f so cial capital and mo ral fibre in co ntempo rary Ko rean so ciety. I argue that because the practice o f co smetic surgery in thesepro grammes is inherently co nnected to much wider dis co urses o f acceptable appearance (and o ften kwit’i rather than beauty), itrepresents evidence o f mo rality, as o ppo sed to a lack thereo f. In the co ntext o f co ntempo rary Ko rean so ciety, co smetic surgeryincreas ingly s ignifies no t o nly inves tment in self, but also the embo diment o f mo ral will. As co ntes tants in Let Me In beco me visuallyacceptable, yet no t necessarily o ut-o f-this -wo rld beautiful, this s ignifies that within such narro wly defined and intensely pano pticco smetic culture, o nly tho se who are able to achieve and perfo rm a certain s tandard o f no rmative beauty are entitled to legitimatemembership in civil so ciety. Mo reo ver, in this sense artif icial beauty is alarmingly sho wn to evidence a certain degree o f ‘authenticity’o f character which tho se who have let themselves and tho se aro und them do wn (by failing to achieve these s tandards ) have no treached.

To co nclude, the narrative lo gic that info rms Let Me In and o ther pro grammes like it (and increas ingly in representatio ns o f co smeticsurgery in po pular culture in general) go es far beyo nd s implis tic no tio ns o f beauty and submitting to fitness and health regimes asa perso nal cho ice. Mo reo ver, while the pressure to achieve beauty and perfectio n is in many ways no t so different fro m the way inwhich co smetic surgery is beco ming accepted practice in many o ther po s t-indus trial co nsumer so cieties (such as the US andAus tralia), the impo rtance that family is sho wn to play in decis io ns to undergo surgery certainly sugges ts an added pressure, ando ne that is readily utilis ed by the co smetic surgery indus try and the media. All these intersecting dis co urses wo rk to no rmalizenarro wly defined, artif icially enhanced beauty ideals which wo rk to ward a so matically perfo rmed mo ral no rm which is sho wn torequire surgical interventio n. This sugges ts that we may so o n have a s ituatio n in which patients ro utinely appro ach the surgeo n ino rder to perfo rm adequately in so ciety, rather than wanting to undergo surgery in o rder to beco me so mething extrao rdinary. AsShildrick (2008) po ints o ut, this in turn may also lead to into lerance o f o ther kinds o f difference such as tho se linked todisabilities and gender. If no rmativity is then increas ingly measured no t by the degree to which the bo dy has been surgicallymo dified, but rather by ho w well it co nfo rms to the visual (and mo ral) no rms o f the current makeo ver culture, then perhaps we needto s tart thinking abo ut cultural dis co urses o f co smetic surgery as a s ign o f a much mo re pro fo und shift in emergingepis temo lo gical dis co urses o f the self in relatio n to the o ther in co ntempo rary Ko rean so ciety.

Ackno wledgement s

I wo uld like to thank Pro f Mark Selden, Dr Rumi Sakamo to and Dr Laura Dales fo r helpful co mments o n earlier drafts o f this paper,

which is based o n a presentatio n I gave at the Asso ciatio n o f As ian Studies Co nference in To ro nto in March 2012. I am grateful tothe audience and panel participants (Dr Ro ald Maliangkay, Dr Stephen Eps tein, Dr Jo hn Franklin and Sun-Ha Ho ng) fo r theirfeedback. I wo uld also like to thank the enthus ias tic gro up o f MA s tudents at Frankfurt Go ethe Univers ity who enro lled in my“Theo ries o f Po wer” co urse in Summer Semes ter 2012. Their ins ightful o bservatio ns o pened up so me very lively dis cuss io ns o nco smetic cultures in Ko rea, and I ho pe that this paper answers at leas t so me o f the tho rny ques tio ns raised in o ur seminars .

Jo Elfving-Hwang (PhD, Sheffield Univers ity) is an Asso ciate Pro fesso r o f Ko rean Studies at the Univers ity o f Wes tern Aus tralia.Previo us to her current appo intment she was Junio r Pro fesso r o f Ko rean Culture and So ciety and Directo r o f Ko rean Studies atFrankfurt Univers ity (Germany), and has also wo rked at the Univers ity o f Sheffield, Leeds Univers ity and Sheffield Hallam Univers ity.Her current research and teaching interes ts include cultural representatio ns o f co smetic cultures in So uth Ko rea, masculinities inSo uth Ko rean po pular culture, and So uth Ko rean cultural diplo macy and mo dels o f o verseas develo pment in Africa. Recentpublicatio ns include a mo no graph titled Representations of Femininity in Contemporary South Korean Women's Literature (Do rset:Brill/Glo bal Oriental, 2010); 'Gender, Glo balizatio n and Aes thetic Surgery in So uth Ko rea ' (with Ruth Ho lliday), Body and Society18(2) (2012): 58-81; and a bo o k chapter ‘Cro ss -bo rder representatio ns in No rth and So uth Ko rean Co ld War Literatures ’, in GlobalCold War Literatures: Western, Eastern and Postcolonial Perspectives, ed. Andrew Hammo nd (Lo ndo n and New Yo rk: Ro utledge, 2011), 44-57. Email: jo anna.elfving-hwang@uwa.edu.au

Recommended citation: Joanna Elfving-Hwang, "Cosmetic Surgery and Embodying the Moral Self in South Korean Popular Makeover Culture," TheAsia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 11, Issue 24, No. 2, June 17, 2013.

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NOT ES

1 See ISAPS Glo bal Statis tics 2011, available at: link (las t accessed 15.2.2013)

2 See: link (las t accessed 15.2.2013)

3 Fo r dis cuss io n o n this in the Wes tern co ntext see: Meredith Jo nes (2012), ‘Co smetic Surgery and the Fashio nable Face’, FashionTheory: The Journal of Dress, Body and Culture 16(2): 192-210.

4 In a recent article published in AlterNet (alternet.co m), o ne yo ung female interviewee likened co smetic surgery to a s impleapplicatio n o f appearance-enhancing no n-surgical co smetics , such as lips tick o r fo undatio n cream. While this o pinio n is by nomeans representative o f the who le po pulatio n, it is indicative o f the way in which many co smetic surgery recipients dis tancethemselves fro m the risks asso ciated with any invas ive surgical pro cedure: link (Las t accessed January 7, 2013)

5 link

6 See the Aus tralas ian Fo undatio n fo r Plas tic Surgery fo r a lis t o f asso ciated risks fo r different kinds o f surgeries : link. While it isdiff icult to es timate an exact number o f deaths per year that result directly fro m aes thetic surgical pro cedures , a US s tudy co mparesthe mo rtality rate fo r lipo suctio n alo ne with traffic accident related deaths in the US (1 in 5000) (F.M. Grazer and R.H. de Jo ng(2000), ‘Fatal o utco mes fro m lipo suctio n: census survey o f co smetic surgeo ns ,’ Plastic Reconstructive Surgery 105(1): 436-46 .

7 Acco rding to current medical law in So uth Ko rea, it is illegal to use‘ befo re and after‘ images in advertis ing any medical servicesbecause they may be co ns trued as mis leading (See #5 in Kukka bŏmryŏng chŏngbo sent’ŏ: link. Enfo rcing this law, ho wever, has beenfraught with diff iculty, as the Ko rean Natio nal Co uncil fo r Co nsumer Organizatio n‘s effo rts to clamp do wn o n illegal practices inadvertis ing demo ns trate (See fo r example: Ko rean Natio nal Co uncil fo r Co nsumer Organizatio ns repo rt o n the widespread use o f‘befo re and after’ images in co smetic surgery indus try: link (Las t accessed 15.2.2013)

8 Laura Miller has dis cussed the relatio n between linking the necess ity to engage in everyday beauty wo rk with ‘creating acceptableappearance’ and beauty as ‘an express io n o f so cial manners ’ in Japan. Within this co ntext, she argues that ‘beauty therefo re is no ts imply a perso nal is sue but a pro blem o f public etiquette’ (Beauty Up, Berkeley and Lo ndo n: Univers ity o f Califo rnia Press , 2006:100-102).

9 Even po liticians in high-po wered po s itio ns may find it diff icult to evade such a co mpelling, subjectivis ing gaze: fo rmer Pres identLee Myung-bak (2007-2012) repo rtedly disappeared fro m the public eye fo r a week in 2012 to reco ver fro m the after effects o f amajo r hair transplant. Grand Natio nal Party chairman Ho ng Jo o n-pyo had his eyebro ws tatto o ed in the run up to the April 2012Natio nal Assembly electio ns , repo rtedly because his natural eyebro ws were no t co ns idered ‘impo s ing eno ugh’ fo r a serio us po liticalleader.

10 Fo r example, actress Shin Eun-kyun s igned an advertis ing co ntract in 2011 with a co smetic surgery clinic that carried o utmandibular angle reductio n (jawline) surgery fo r her (Chosŏn Ilbo, No vember 2, 2011: link).

11 Heyes po ints o ut that a number o f po pular dis co urses that relate to the care o f self ‘ass iduo us ly cultivate the no tio n that there isan inner authenticity to which each individual mus t be lo yal.’ (2006: 16)

12 Literally ‘f lo wer-like beautiful man’, which is a term used to describe a generatio n o f ‘metro sexual’ yo ung men (generally in theirlate teens and twenties ) who take s ignificant interes t in perso nal gro o ming, fashio n and appearance in general. The beauty andfashio n practices the kkonminam engage in resemble very clo sely tho se that the aimei nanren (lo ve beauty men) in China and Taiwanand bishōnen (beautiful yo ung men) in Japan practice, sugges ting a pan-As ian ‘transnatio nal bo dy aes thetics ’ dis cussed in Miller,2006: 5).

13 ‘Makeo vers to Be No rmal, No t Beautiful’, Korea Times, link. See previews o f Seaso n 1 here: link, and Seaso n 2 here: link

14 One episo de in Seaso n 2 also features two co ntes tants fro m o uts ide So uth Ko rea: an ethnic Ko rean fro m China, and a No rthKo rean refugee, bo th o f who m expressed a des ire to succeed in So uth Ko rea, yet felt unable to do so because o f their ‘no n-no rmative’ appearance. The episo de is titled ‘Fo reigners who find it diff icult to adjus t to life in Ko rea because o f their appearance’(Woemo ttaemun-e hangug-e chŏngj’ak hagi himdŭn ibang indŭl). In fact, the Chinese co ntes tant felt she was unable to succeed as apo p-s inger because o f her appearance rather than s imply having diff iculties in functio ning in everyday s ituatio ns , as was the casewith many o ther co ntes tants featured in this pro gramme. See o utline o f the episo de at Let Me In webs ite: link

15 The kinds o f full-bo dy makeo vers that the co ntes tants undergo (rhino plas ty, jaw reshaping, breas t augmentatio n, co smeticdentis try treatment, lipo suctio n, appo intments with perso nal trainers and dermato lo gis ts ) can be expected to co s t betweenUS$40,000-45,000 . The mo s t expens ive makeo ver in Seaso n 2 (episo de 10) was wo rth US$80,000 .

16 In the run-up to Seaso n 2, the pro gramme makers emphas ized that the pro gramme was no t s imply abo ut beauty thro ughco smetic surgery, but abo ut ho lis tic treatment o f co ntes tants who had an ‘appearance co mplex’ so that they co uld ‘go o ut and live inso ciety’. Bae Chŏ ng-hŭi, ‘“Ret mi in 2”yŏt’a meik’ŭ obŏ syo-wa tarŭn iyu’, TV Daily, September 5, 2012. Available at: link [las t accessed18.02.2013]17 Altho ugh the co smetic surgery indus try in Ko rea increas ingly serves men as well as wo men (see further o n this in Ho lliday andElfving-Hwang, 2012), the fact that mo s t o f the co ntes tants in this pro gramme are wo men (with the exceptio n o f o ne male-to -female transgender wo man) indicates that at leas t in public, the visual spectacle o f men engaging with surgery may be, at leas t fo rthe time being, co ns idered as to o much o f a ‘feminine practice’ to attract big eno ugh audiences .

18 In So uth Ko rea, ideal feminine beauty tends to be very narro wly defined, and co smetic surgery o peratio ns aim to achieve facial

features that are as symmetrical and balanced as po ss ible: an ideal beautiful face has ‘sho rter lo wer face, larger eyes , smaller lips ,and a mo re s lender and o val shaped mandibular so ft tis sue co nto ur [jawline].’ (Seung Chul Rhee et. al. (2009), ‘Pho to grammetricFacial Analys is o f Attractive Ko rean Entertainers ’, Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 33: 167-174 (167). This beauty ideal that seeks unifo rmityis perhaps bes t illus trated in the recent dis cuss io n abo ut near-identical lo o ks o f the co ntes tants in the Miss Ko rea 2013 beautypageant: link.

19 Sŏ Chŏ nghŭi, Sŏnghyŏng sobi munhwa (Seo ul: Naeha ch’ulp’ansa, 2008), p. 20 .

20 These scenes can o ccas io nally be quite s tartling. Fo r example, in Episo de 7 (Seaso n 1), the co ntes tant is sho wn being shunnedby her o wn so n because o f her o verweight. While the scene is o bvio us ly s taged in this o ccas io n, it is used to highlight the ill-effectso f the co ntes tant’s appearance, but witho ut any reference to disappro ving the clearly inappro priate behavio ur o f her so n.

21 See Heyes (2009), pp. 73-7.

22 Open-access examples o f such can be fo und fo r example at: link and link

23 This message is also reinfo rced in the firs t wo rds that appear o n the screen at the beginning o f Episo de 1 o f Seaso n 1: ‘Whenyo ur appearance changes , yo ur life changes ’ (woemoga pakkwi-myŏn insaeng-i pakkwinta)

24 In so me ways this represents a dis co urse which is in line with bo th o lder dis co urses o f interperso nal gaze as a way o f gainingaffirmatio n o f o ne’s identity within a given so cial co ntext, whils t sugges ting fragmentatio n o f any reliable do gma abo ut the selfbeyo nd no tio ns o f so matic subjectivity.

25 In so me episo des this aspect is so mewhat played do wn where co ntes tants have either lo s t co ntact with their parents (Seaso n 2,episo de 13) o r they disappro ve o f surgery fo r no n-aes thetic reaso ns , as in the case o f a transgender co ntes tant who se mo therdisappro ves o f her decis io n (Seaso n 2, episo de 3)

26 See Amno n Jaco b Suis sa, “Addictio n to Co smetic Surgery: Representatio ns and Medicalizatio n o f the Bo dy,” International Journal ofMental Health Addiction 6 (2008): 619–630 (p. 623)

27 Hanguk ilbo recently repo rted that Hŏ Ye-ŭn, who appeared in Episo de 6 (Seaso n 2), has also benefited financially fro m hertrans fo rmatio n, as she recently featured in a cinema advertisement fo r the clinic that perfo rmed her surgery: link (accessed20.02.2013).

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