Bodies and beauty on the media: a study on imaginary and ideology in the TPM Manifesto

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the imaginary and the ideology of female bodies and beauty, through the eyes of the media. We analyzed the covers and editorials of the magazine Trip para Mulheres (TPM), by Trip Publishing house. The clipping time was from May 2012 to August 2013, due to the TPM Manifesto, described as a move against women stereotypes and cliches. We carried out an exploratory, bibliographical and documentar research, with image analysis, in order to achieve this goal. The study of the magazine covers in this paper were based on the iconographic analysis and iconological interpretation proposed by Panofsky (2009). The work is also based on the precepts of Cultural Studies and (visual culture) visuality, by Hall & Eagleton and Belting, CatalàDomènech and Baitello Jr.; on the imagery and media imagery, proposed by Durand, Morin and Contrera; and, finally, on the understandings of consumption by Haug, Baudrillard and Barbosa, and Campbell. Thus, we observed that the TPM magazine and its TPM Manifesto see themselves as splendid and feminist; however, the images (and even some texts) of the covers are not consistent with their argument, which led us to infer that, although commendable, the TPM Manifesto proposal did not pull away from the imaginary and current ideologies about female body and beauty.