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Summary:

Abstract: This thesis features a qualitative analysis of eight Korean media products — both fiction and nonfiction. For many years, South Korea (hereafter also called Korea) has been called the "world's plastic surgery capital" by many publications, such as Business Insider and The New Yorker. Although Business Insider considers the United States the "vainest country in the world," the numbers of cosmetic surgeries, percentage wise, per person in Korea still outnumber those in the United States, with 20 procedures per 1,000 persons. In this thesis, I argue by using the cultivation theory that Korean television, such as K-Dramas, talk shows and films, which celebrate transformations and feature makeovers and thus normalize cosmetic surgery, create a fantastic space for viewers where the viewers are compelled to act on a media-generated desire to undergo cosmetic surgery in the belief that doing so will also transform or better their lives in the same way it does for the characters in these Korean television productions.

Author/Creator:

Streng, Catherine Ann , author

Contributors:

Everbach, Tracy, 1962- , committee chair

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

Item content: English

Main Work:

Riding the Wave: How the Media Shapes South Korean Concepts of Beauty [by Streng, C.A.]

Related Series:

NT thesis, Journalism; [volume] 2018

Subjects:

Body image — Social aspects — Korea (South)

Beauty culture — Social aspects — Korea (South)

Surgery, Plastic — Social aspects — Korea (South)

Mass media — Korea (South)

Human body in mass media

Genres:

Academic theses

Dissertation Notes:

M.A. ― University of North Texas, 2018.

General Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.
Description based on: Online resource; title from PDF title page (UNT Digital Library, viewed March 17, 2021).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (iv, 60 pages).

Call Numbers:

Electronic Thesis

OCLC Numbers:

1300230927