Extreme Makeover Research Articles

Gyroid-Forming Diblock Copolymers Confined in Cylindrical Geometry: A Case of Extreme Makeover for Domain Morphology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (Contract DAAD-19-02-D-0002)

Arrested emotions in reality television

“Arrested emotions” references the capitalist firm’s conscious mobilization of prosumers’ emotions and their associated expressions as amenable input for production within corporate confines. We draw on reality TV – The Bachelor and Extreme Makeover (Home Edition) – to suggest the centrality of emotional recruitment in the contemporary economy. Reality TV is driven almost entirely by the work of audiences and those in their ranks who are recruited (or volunteer) to become performers. Our observations lead us to conclude that the corporate arrest of emotions leads to a level of consumer emotional vapidity that is inextricably fused with firm profitability. The firm therefore allows the consumer ample leverage in offering these emotions that are mobilized, packaged and sold back to the consumer.

Race and Identity in Hemingway's Fiction (review)

Reviewed by: Race and Identity in Hemingway's Fiction Suzanne Del Gizzo Amy L. Strong . Race and Identity in Hemingway's Fiction. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. xiii + 174 pp. Over the past twenty-five years, Ernest Hemingway has been undergoing the scholarly equivalent of an "extreme makeover." In the early 1980s, criticism of the great, macho, celebrity writer of modern American literature, who inspired protective loyalty in some critics and outright antipathy in others, seemed to have reached a saturation point. One leading critic even announced that he believed "there was nothing more to be said about Hemingway's fiction" (qtd. in Strong vii). But the publication of The Garden of Eden in 1986 changed everything. Since 1986, Hemingway scholarship has become a boom industry as critics have tackled issues of gender and sexual identity from nearly every conceivable angle and in relation to every piece of writing in Hemingway's oeuvre. As a result, long held beliefs about the author's misogyny and machismo have been challenged, and a newer, less easily pigeon-holed Hemingway has emerged. Amy L. Strong's Race and Identity in Hemingway's Fiction continues this makeover trend, just as the field appears to be reaching the point of exhaustion again, redirecting attention to Hemingway's interest in race and racial identity. Strong has been interested in Hemingway's relationship to race for quite some time (her first article on Hemingway and native Americans appeared about twelve years ago), but her decision to write what I believe is the first book-length study of Hemingway and race was prompted by the 2005 publication of Under Kilimanjaro, the scholarly edition of Hemingway's book based on his second African safari in 1953–54 (first published in 1999 as True At First Light). For Strong, the publication of Under Kilimanjaro, with its candid account [End Page 842] of Hemingway's desire to become a member of the Wakamba tribe, provides critics with the occasion to address what she rightly sees as the author's lifelong fascination with race as seriously and comprehensively as they have addressed gender issues in his work. She believes the time is ripe to challenge the perception that Hemingway is one of the "whitest writers in the American literary tradition" (11). Inspired by strategies pioneered by Toni Morrison in her groundbreaking study Playing in the Dark, Strong presents her project as "a revisionist reading of Hemingway's work" in which she examines "how Hemingway's fiction looks if we bring his nonwhite characters out of the background and asks how we must define Hemingway's conception of American identity differently when it is constructed on the basis of race" (12, 13). She acknowledges that there is already a sizeable body of scholarship on Hemingway and race, but she claims that these past efforts defanged Hemingway's racial obsessions by translating them into more familiar (and less controversial) motifs in Hemingway scholarship such as father-son relationships, primitivism, lost wilderness, and male initiation rites. The effect, she explains, is that "The critical response to issues of race in Hemingway's works . . . reveals patterns of marginalization, disavowal, and outright dismissal" (4). Her project seeks to remedy this situation by emphasizing Hemingway's awareness of and engagement with the realities of race in the construction of his nonwhite characters and his portrayals of racial interaction. It is an ambitious and worthwhile project, but the results are uneven in part because Strong cannot consistently anchor Hemingway in such realities. The first two chapters on the Nick Adams stories are the strongest in the book and will likely become a standard for future scholarship. In the first chapter, Strong persuasively argues that Nick Adams's identity cannot be fully understood without historicizing his relationship to native Americans, a relationship that she argues is "based on racial domination" (16). Through an effective pairing of "Indian Camp" and "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife," Strong captures Hemingway's attempts to present race as both biological and cultural, which allows him to play with racial categories in ways that capture the unstable and shifting power dynamics between Indians and whites. The next chapter focuses on Nick's relationship to...

You've come a long way, baby: women, politics, and popular culture

landmark 2008 presidential and vice presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin brought the role of women in American leadership into sharper focus than ever before. These women and others such as Nancy Pelosi and Katie Couric who are successful in traditionally male-dominated fields, demonstrate how women's roles have changed in the last thirty years. In the past, the nightly news was anchored by male journalists, presidential cabinets were composed solely of male advisors, and a female presidential candidate was an idea for the distant future, but the efforts of dedicated reformers have changed the social landscape. empowerment of women is not limited to the political sphere, but is also echoed by the portrayal of women in film, television, magazines, and literature. You've Come a Long Way, Baby: Women, Politics, and Popular Culture investigates the role of popular culture in women's lives. Framed by discussions of contemporary feminism, the volume examines gender in relation to sexuality, the workplace, consumerism, fashion, politics, and the beauty industry. In analyzing societal depictions of women, editor Lilly J. Goren and an impressive list of contributors illustrate how media reflects and shapes the feminine sense of power, identity, and the daily challenges of the twenty-first century. Along with a discussion of women in politics, various contributors examine a range of gender-related issues from modern motherhood and its implications for female independence to the roles of women and feminism in pop music. In addition, Natalie Fuehrer Taylor outlines the evolution of women's magazines from Ladies' Home Journal to Cosmopolitan. impact of television and literature on body image issues is also explored by Linda Beail, who draws on trendy chick lit phenomena such as Gossip Girl and Sex and the City, and Emily Askew, who analyzes the effects of image transformation in programs such as The Swan and Extreme Makeover. As comprehensive as it is accessible, You've Come a Long Way, Baby is a practical guide to understanding modern gender roles. In tracing the different ways in which femininity is constructed and viewed, the book demonstrates how women have reclaimed traditionally domestic activities that include knitting, gardening, and cooking, as well as feminine symbols such as Barbie dolls, high heels, and lipstick. Though the demand for and pursuit of gender equality opened many doors, the contributors reveal that fictional women's roles are often at odds with the daily experiences of most women. By employing an open approach rather than adhering to a single, narrow theory, You've Come a Long Way, Baby appeals not only to scholars and students of gender studies but to anyone interested in confronting the struggles and celebrating the achievements of women in modern society.

An “extreme makeover” of a course in special education

AbstractInstead of tinkering with minor changes, the author used integrated course design as a blueprint for a major overhaul of her course.

Extreme makeover: training edition

Extreme makeover: training edition

Disterolphospholipids: Nonexchangeable Lipids and Their Application to Liposomal Drug Delivery

Extreme makeover of cholesterol: Cholesterol exchange is a major reason for the instability of liposomes in blood. The formation of a covalent hybrid between cholesterol and glycerophosphocholine preserves the bilayer-stabilizing effect of free cholesterol but prevents its transfer from the bilayer. Thus, disterolphospholipids (e.g. 1) are valuable new components for liposome formulation.

Extreme Makeover Reference Edition: Restructuring Reference Services at the Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center

The Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center, recently restructured its system for information service delivery by moving from the traditional one-desk model to a dual component model that is delivered from two service points in close proximity. Under the former system, services were solely delivered by reference librarians. The new system offers the same array of information services provided by a combination of librarians and library support staff who have received special training. The observed outcomes have been a higher quality of customer service delivery, an increased use of research consultation services, a more informed and engaged library staff, and increased opportunities for reference librarians to make campus visits. This article outlines the entire process from conception to implementation, including staff training requirements, statistical data, and future implications.

Democratic reform between the extreme makeover and the reinvention of tradition: the case of the Netherlands

Democracy in the Netherlands, like in so many other Western countries, is under substantial reform pressure. The problem with the democratic system in the Netherlands, according to democratic reformers, is that it is out of step with the fast and major changes taking place in modern society. Champions of democratic reform in the Netherlands mostly look to sweeping, large-scale, and all-encompassing plans for democratic reform, achieving, however, little success. Major structural changes have been planned time and again, but eventually the institutional structure has remained largely the same. This article presents a critical analysis of the standard recipe that democratic reformers often prescribe – radical makeover – and outlines a viable alternative that can also be derived from the Dutch case – reinventing tradition. Reinventing tradition implies a mixture of change and preservation, of movement and counter-movement. It is, arguably, the only way for democratic reform to go, at least in a consensus democracy like the Netherlands. Dutch history demonstrates that large-scale blueprint reform runs a serious risk of non-implementation, and that small-scale adaptive tinkering, part of the incremental ‘reinvention of tradition’, can be significantly more successful as a reform strategy.

Extreme Makeover: Transformation of the Veterans Health Care System

The veterans health care system administered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was established after World War I to provide health care for veterans who suffered from conditions related to their military service. It has grown to be the nation's largest integrated health care system. As the system grew, a number of factors contributed to its becoming increasingly dysfunctional. By the mid-1990s, VA health care was widely criticized for providing fragmented and disjointed care of unpredictable and irregular quality, which was expensive, difficult to access, and insensitive to individual needs. Between 1995 and 1999, the VA health care system was reengineered, focusing especially on management accountability, care coordination, quality improvement, resource allocation, and information management. Numerous systemic changes were implemented, producing dramatically improved quality, service, and operational efficiency. VA health care is now considered among the best in America, and the VA transformation is viewed as a model for health care reform.

Extreme Makeover: Converting One Cell into Another

Cells of adult mammals can be converted (reprogrammed) to new cells. In one approach, adult cells are converted to pluripotent stem cells, followed by differentiation to regenerate new cell types. Alternatively, adult cells may be directly converted into other mature cells or progenitors. We discuss and compare these two approaches with particular emphasis on the latter and its relevance for regenerative medicine.

The new world makeover

These were instructions for people who wanted to appear on Extreme Makeover, a programme that ran on the US network ABC from 2002 to 2007. The application performed dual tasks. At one level, it was...

Surgery junkies: wellness and pathology in cosmetic culture

Surgery Junkies is an innovative, fast-paced mix of theory and empirical research that advances our understanding of contemporary bodies, lifestyle medicine, and the making of the embodied, self-fashioned self. Scholars and teachers of cultural and media studies, sociology of the body, and health and society will value its contributions to both their research and their teaching.-Arthur W. Frank, author of The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics and The Renewal of Generosity: Illness, Medicine, and How to Live Whether analyzing Extreme Makeover, 'Body Dismorphic Disorder,' or her own rhinoplasty, Pitts-Taylor makes difficult theoretical concepts clear-and clearly relevant to our lives.-Susan Bordo, author of Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body Despite the increasing prevalence of cosmetic surgery, there are still those who identify individuals who opt for bodily modifications as dupes of beauty culture, as being in conflict with feminist ideals, or as having some form of psychological weakness. In this ground-breaking book, Victoria Pitts-Taylor examines why we consider some cosmetic surgeries to be acceptable or even beneficial and others to be unacceptable and possibly harmful. Drawing on years of research, in-depth interviews with surgeons and psychiatrists, analysis of newspaper articles, legal documents, and television shows, and her own personal experience with cosmetic surgery, Pitts-Taylor brings new perspectives to the promotion of extreme makeovers on television, the medicalization of addiction, the moral and political interrogation that many patients face, and feminist debates on the topic. Pitts-Taylor makes a compelling argument that the experience, meanings, and motivations for cosmetic surgery are highly social and, in doing so, provides a much needed makeover of our cultural understanding of cosmetic surgery. Victoria Pitts-Taylor is associate professor of sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She is the author of In the Flesh: The Cultural Politics of Body Modification.

Extreme Makeover

This article examines the representation of gender, class, and cultural identity in the Extreme Makeover series, the most widely circulated American cosmetic makeover show that coexists on Western European television with national/regional adaptations of the format. Even though a cross-national analysis of the Dutch, Flemish, and British version alerts us to cultural differences, particularly in terms of generic inflections and aesthetic allegiances, the formulaic narrative structure of this television format ultimately transcends local culture and perpetuates normative gender and class regimes, particularly in combination with other popular reality shows aimed at female spectators.

APA Web Site Receives Extreme Makeover

APA Web Site Receives Extreme Makeover

Debris and Immobility

A ticker tape of statistical figures races to keep pace with the cataclysms pulsing nonstop through the landscape, through its inhabitants. A sharp rise in the number of limbs lost by soldiers this month. The population of New Orleans cut in half nearly overnight. “That city could be bulldozed,” responds the leader of the US Congress. Roll titles: Extreme Makeover, Shock and Awe Edition. Tah-dum! After twenty years, suddenly a white majority presides over the city council.

Desperate Citizens and Good Samaritans

This article considers the emergence of makeover reality TV, including Extreme Makeover: Home Edition ( EMHE), within the cultural and political economic context of neoliberalism, which advocates corporate benevolence, individual volunteerism, and personal responsibility as principle means for solving serious social issues. Four contexts include (a) the integration of corporate philanthropy and product marketing since the 1980s; (b) the proliferation of goodwill reality TV in a post-9/11 reality television economy; (c) home improvement reality TV's connections to the housing boom, shifting domestic gender roles, and the neoliberal ideals of an “ownership society”; and (d) EMHE's representational engagement with neoliberal frameworks for addressing social inequalities with particular attention to race and the Katrina disaster. The article concludes with thoughts on how noncommercial reality TV might broaden the frameworks for addressing social problems beyond commercial TV's neoliberalism.

Renovating <i>The American Woman’s Home</i>: American Domesticity in <i>Extreme Makeover: Home Edition</i>

While the popular ABC reality television program Extreme Makeover: Home Edition may initially strike us as thoroughly modern in its execution and technology, its rhetoric and ideology actually hold much in common with nineteenth-century domestic texts. For example, Extreme Makeover is unabashedly sentimental, focusing on destitute but virtuous protagonists in search of stable, safe homes. The familiar scenes of a search for home and acts of Christian charity echo those found in novels such as The Wide, Wide World and Little Women. Throughout the program, tears flow freely among the family members, the design crew, the volunteers, and the show's viewers. One viewer admits, cry every (qtd. in Oldenburg E1). Extreme Makeover is reminiscent of not only nineteenth-century didactic sentimental fictions, but also the domestic manuals of the era. The revamped, twenty-first-century version of model domesticity enacted on Extreme Makeover shares many of the ideals and practices expressed in Catharine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe's popular 1869 treatise, The American Woman's Home; or, Principles of Domestic Science, arguably the domestic manual of the nineteenth century. (1) In this essay, I read The American Woman's Home and Extreme Makeover as manuals of ideal American domesticity. Both texts function as technologies of the American Dream, or as material, moral, and political guides. Technology, as defined in the glossary of terms in The American Woman's Home, is [a] description of the arts, considered generally in their theory and practice as connected with moral, political, and physical (488). The Oxford English Dictionary reminds us that technology denotes the [practical collectively (def. lb) and [a] discourse or treatise on an art or arts; the scientific study of the practical or industrial arts (def.1a). The American Woman's Home is itself an explicit technology, or a treatise on the domestic arts. I place Extreme Makeover in the same category, although Extreme Makeover is more covertly didactic. Various scholars, including Henry A. Giroux and Lawrence Grossberg, recognize that pedagogy occurs across a variety of terrains, popular culture being one of them. (2) The public pedagogical features of television include conveying information and constructing individual and national identities. As a hybrid television show that combines aspects of do-it-yourself and reality programming, Extreme Makeover teaches its audience what the American Dream and dream home should look like. Both The American Woman's Home and Extreme Makeover rely on material technology--appliances, design features--to achieve their ideal homes. When selected, the deserving family of Extreme Makeover goes on vacation for a week while a team of designers and volunteers works against the clock to give the family a newly landscaped, remodeled, and fully furnished home. In most episodes, the team demolishes the residents' old house and builds a completely new one. At the heart of the show's popularity lies its presentation of the American Dream. The same could be said for The American Woman's Home. Beecher and Stowe offer advice on everything: building the home itself; providing proper ventilation; choosing from among the different kinds of stoves, furnaces, and chimneys; even properly maintaining earth-closets. Their book's comprehensive and state-of-the-art domestic science offered nineteenth-century readers, most of whom could not afford the home the book described, a domestic guide and wish list. However, where Beecher and Stowe emphasize thrift, Extreme Makeover promotes technology--in excess--as the means of realizing the American Dream. This difference highlights the twentieth century's increasing commercialization. In this essay, I build on Joseph S. Van Why's suggestion that The American Woman's Home provides an invaluable source for analysis of and comparison with modern ideas and theories on domestic economy and the role of women in our society. …

Introduction

The Summer 2006 National Science Foundation Short Course in Research Methods (SCRM) is the original impetus behind this special issue of Practicing Anthropology. All of the paper authors were participants in one or more of the SCRM courses that summer. One evening over dinner, we asked ourselves how what we learned in these courses could be used to transform and improve current or past research projects. In other words, what would happen if we subjected our ethnographic research to "an extreme makeover"?

Extreme Makeover for a Heian-Era Wizard

In 2000, observers of Japanese social life were amazed to see groups of schoolgirls massing at Shinto shrines dedicated to Abeno Seimei, a legendary sorcerer of the Heian era (794-1185 AD). Some noted that these visitors treated Seimei more like an idol than a kami (shrine deity). At a scholarly seminar on phantoms and the supernatural where Abeno Seimei was one of the topics for discussion, the venue could only hold sixty, but one hundred and twenty people came, many of them schoolgirls who tried to crowd into the room.1 Girls' interest in visiting Seimei shrines and hearing lectures about him were only part of a trajectory of exploding fascination with this historic figure. Seimei, a genuine person who most likely lived between 921 and 1005 AD, became the focus of intense cultural energy and was the subject of numerous manga, films, a TV series, novels, anime, and books. The question of why a medieval wizard became a modern icon and folk hero is intrinsically interesting, yet is also a useful case to consider in our exploration of trends in contemporary Japanese popular culture. I believe that his new celebrity status reveals multiple threads that might be fruitful to consider. The example of Abeno Seimei idolatry gives us a unique perspective from which to consider the role of the culture industry in fueling and buttressing