The Undateables Essay

The body has always been a broad and dense subject to study, and by the end of the twentieth century the body had become a significant theme of political, social, cultural and economic values; whereas the body has emerged in the most recent years as problematic in society . In modern society the representation of the ‘perfect’ and ‘healthy’ body have become a mainstream ideology where body issues are everywhere particularly for the young adult female and pre-adolescent girls, for they are always being told how to look and be perfect in numerous media outlets including; television, magazines, adverts, and film. However, the ‘perfect’ body is hard to achieve, and many individuals are born with disablements that make them, what is called, ‘Other’.

The documentary/ entertainment show follows them on their journey asking questions along the way such as ‘’do you think it’s your turrets that has stopped you from finding love?’’ , highlighting their differences to ‘normal’ people. Bogdan implies that in addition to presenting ‘freaks’ to society they are also flaunting their ‘normal’ accomplishments as extraordinary – such as finding love in The Undateables – and with appraising such achievements indicates that for people with differences it is an unusual phenomenon rather than a common one ; by continuing these ideologies in mainstream media it also fuels the current social stigma around people with differences and how they should be treated or exploited predominantly in the entertainment

Society and culture views ‘other’ as abnormal, something that should be either shunned or changed into something more ‘normal’ and acceptable. Fritag had reached a similar conclusion about the struggle of normalizing bodies that were deformed from birth in her research into thalidomide (malformed limbs) children, where doctors believed the bodies were deformed and thus had to be made normal to help these children ‘adjust’ to society . A good example of how other doctors react similarly is in Embarrassing Bodies (2007-2015), a hit television show that displayed people with ‘embarrassing’ diseases, symptoms and deformities to an audience, to try and encourage other people suffering with similar issues to come forward and get help either by surgery or other medication and support. These people are usually shunned or embarrassed of their body and often lack a ‘full-life’ because they feel they are limited by their disablements regardless on if it’s physical or mental – they regularly express to the doctor team that they are usually stared at by the public if they venture out and so are forced into ‘hiding’ into their own