Fit For Success: Examining (Re)presentations of Racism and Obesity in Reality TV

• In Event: Racism in U.S. America: Contemporary and Historical Manifestations

Abstract

In this paper I enact a close textual analysis of patients narratives from the first season of Big Medicine (2007). I examine how these patients are transformed into docile bodies through bio-political forces and (re)presented as ideal cultural citizens, worthy of saving. Furthermore, I argue that this transformation process favors white, upper/middle class citizens while further subjugating patients of lower socioeconomic status and minority groups.

Author

• Imke Schessler-Jandreau, University of Maine