Plastic Surgery as Celebrity Culture: Against the American Dream

Oleh :
Wahyu Aprilia Dewi - B0315054 - Fak. Ilmu Budaya

This research aims to investigate how the American dream is represented by fans undergoing cosmetic surgery in the “I Want a Famous Face” TV show. Furthermore, this research also aims to investigate how plastic surgery as a celebrity culture becomes a counterattack against the myth of the American dream. This research uses descriptive qualitative as the research design because the data were in the form of words, phrases, sentences taken from the TV show. The data were collected through watching videos of I Want a Famous Face TV show and from Harper’s BAZAAR YouTube channel. The data were interpreted using Roland Barthes’ semiotics theory and then discussed using Naomi Wolf's myth of beauty in the media and female power to observe how fans' plastic surgery represents the American dream in the “I Want a Famous Face” TV Show. This research also applies stadpoint theory folowed by Kathy Davis to see how fans' plastic surgery as a celebrity culture becomes a counterattack towards the myth of the American Dream. This research finding shows that fans' plastic surgery represents the American dream in the “I Want a Famous Face” TV Show through their view of doing plastic and cosmetic surgery to achieve success like their favorite idols. These views have helped them overcome all the pains and refusals from their friends and family about the surgery. The existence of fans' plastic surgery to look like their idol to achieve success has also become a counterattack towards the main idea of the American dream, which is hard work.