Divining the Martyr is a project developed in order to achieve the Master of Arts (Research) degree. This is composed of 70% creative work displayed in an exhibition and 30% written work contained in this exegesis. The project was developed through practice-led research in order to answer the question “In what ways can creative practice synthesize and illuminate issues of martyrdom in contemporary makeover culture?” The question is answered using a postmodern framework about martyrdom as it is manifested in contemporary society. The themes analyzed throughout this exegesis relate to concepts about sainthood and makeover culture combined with actual examples of tragic cases of cosmetic procedures. The outcomes of this project fused three elements: Mexican cultural history, Mexican (Catholic) religious traditions, and cosmetic makeover surgery. The final outcomes were a series of installations integrating contemporary and traditional interdisciplinary media, such as sound, light, x-ray technology, sculpture, video and aspects of performance. These creative works complement each other in their presentation and concept, promoting an original contribution to the theme of contemporary martyrdom in makeover culture.

This project formulates an original psycho-cultural approach by studying the cultural and therapeutic value of Gok Wan’s makeover series How To Look Good Naked. Through an in-depth application of Donald Woods Winnicott’s object relations psychoanalysis to the textual narratives of the makeover show, and by developing a viewing method that derives from psychoanalytic training on observation, this thesis offers an account of the affective impact of Gok Wan’s popular makeover phenomenon. This thesis addresses key themes and elements that signal the evolution of British makeover television and identifies how Gok Wan’s format and strategies chime with what has widely been hailed as a particularly ‘therapeutic’ moment in popular culture. The emblematic features of Gok Wan’s rendition of the makeover format highlights its potential positive outcomes by examining the articulation of current embodied feminine subjective experiences, in order to interrogate the complex relationship between postfeminism and therapeutic discourse. This thesis recognises that the therapeutic opportunity of Gok Wan’s method lies in the transformational process by creating emotionally constructive spaces where the articulation of experiences leads to inner self-discovery. Playful mechanisms of creativity are central to Gok Wan’s empathetic approach to working with participants to enable transformation, reflecting a number of key themes in object relations psychoanalysis and its understanding of self-experience. The opportunities afforded to participants for self-interpretation create a useful platform to reflect on Gok Wan’s role, who has been candid about the parallels between his own emotional experience and that of his participants. Psychoanalytic models of transference and countertransference indicate how this dynamic challenges dominant notions of the makeover expert as omnipotent. This project demonstrates the value of object relations psychoanalysis for critical interventions in the field of media, cultural and feminist studies in order to provide a deeper understanding of the affective impact of makeover television in shaping notions of subjective experience.

This study offers insights into the motif of monstrous corporality in a transmedia environment, through the vampire and zombie characters. Different narratives of corporeal transformation surround us constantly. On one hand, discourses of self-improvement in late modernity (Giddens 1991/2008) and ‘makeover culture’ (Johansson, 2006; 2012; Miller, 2008; Weber, 2009) demand a ‘creation of self’ through change and development, often in relation to physical appearance and bodily traits. On the other hand, numerous narratives of monstrosity and bodily change through destruction are also evident. This study takes on this double focus on corporality, against the backdrop of a late modern mediascape that has enabled people to imagine lives and possibilities different from their own through electronic mediation (Appadurai, 1996). As narratives now move between media platforms, new dimensions are brought to the imaginary, as different platforms interact differently with audiences. The aim of the study is to examine monstrous corporality in popular culture both in relation to media texts and audience practices through analyzes of representation, consumption and performance. The study examines medial and corporeal transformation through: concrete bodily change (the monstrous body), shifts between media platforms (transmedia) as well as the transmission of affect between media material and viewer (embodied spectatorship). These dimensions are explored in four empirical chapters, which examine two television series (True Blood and The Walking Dead) through textual analyses, the promotion of these series, audience participation (in online fora) and also participatory practices (Live action role play and zombie walks) through focus group interviews. The results indicate that the theme of monstrous corporeal change in TB and TWD reflects corporeal change in late modernity in several ways. Both transformations are focused on ‘before’ and ‘after’ and change of the monstrous body is connected to particular traits or parts of the body, which are also prominent in makeover culture narratives, such as skin, teeth and weight (appetite). The televisual narrative offers representations of bodily interiors and bodily harm that affect the viewers in a physical way, through an embodied spectatorship. The analyses of transmedia environments connected to the series indicate that the promotion of the programs use dimensions that emphasize the corporeal address, by bridging the gap between diegetic and actual reality. This is done through media environments (posters, websites and the like), and by introducing diegetic elements as actual, tangible objects in the actual reality of potential viewers. The analyses of posts on televisionwithoutpity.com show that participants use forum discussions as strategies to prolong and widen the media experience, and share it with others. Interviews with larpers and participants in zombie walks indicate that practices that stage the monstrous, also function as deepened embodied narrative experiences. Performances such as larps and zombie walks are interpreted as both conscious acts, and as strategies to handle unconscious performative (Butler, 1991/2006) dimensions of late modernity. Taken together, the zombie and vampire embody the pressures, risks and paradoxes connected to late modern makeover culture, and the mediated form they are presented through, tie them closer to those who engage in narratives about them.