•  
  •  
 

Abstract

This article deals with the rise and fall of the Israeli television show The Mirror, which focused on a physical transformation, implemented by a series of plastic surgeries, that provided the participants—mainly working-class Mizrachi women—with a new visibility. The show and its controversial reception raise questions regarding the aesthetic criteria of physical beauty in Israeli culture, and their political-, ethnic-, religious-, and class-related dimensions. By following one participant in the show, we examine how the visual narrative of The Mirror constructs the formation of the "beautiful body" through popular media, and its political complexity within Israeli culture.

Share

COinS