Interior Design: Commodifying Self and Place in Extreme Makeover, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and The Swan

Abstract

Contemporary television’s latest version of the makeover translates the American Dream and other notions of self-improvement into profitable vehicles for the new media economy. Not only are makeover shows relatively inexpensive to produce, not only do they generate respectable ratings and offer TiVo-proof platforms for advertising goods and services, but they also promote an all-encompassing and infallible consumerist ethos. By commodifying both the process of making over and its mediation, this programming reinforces basic tenets of consumer capitalism and extends the market into previously unmined areas of experience. Reality makeovers simultaneously demonstrate the power of commodities and the power of the medium that promotes these commodities. In fact, the Reality phenomenon in general has shown television to be a cultural device with the potential to commodify every imaginable zone of experience and sell it at a profit.