https://doi.org/10.67147/literariness.v1i3.004
The Discursive Configurations of Body Positivity: A Reading of Select Popular Cultural Texts
DR. SURYA K
Associate Professor
Department of English
Providence Women’s College, Kozhikode
Abstract: This paper attempts to explore the idea of body positivity as a discourse that is constructed and reproduced through popular cultural media and exemplifies the different significations associated with the societal conceptualisations of the body. By drawing on inputs and insights from the cultural codes and formulations inscribed on the individual body and the varied representations that they engender, the study tries to analyse the nature of popular media interventions in relation to body positionings. Through a representative analysis of selected film, television, advertising, and social media texts, the paper demonstrates that body positivity discourse tends to prioritise specific ideas and perspectives that are necessarily entrenched within contemporary consumerist and market objectives, thereby providing a one-dimensional view that negates the existence of other identities. While increased representation of the voices of individuals who are commonly excluded can function as a subversive act and as a form of cultural resistance, such representations are frequently depoliticised, commodified, or made legible only when aligned with neoliberal ideals of confidence and socially determined acceptability. By situating these notions within a cultural studies framework and by incorporating ideas from fat studies, the paper argues for a more radical approach to media representation—one that foregrounds the body as a site of political struggle rather than personal empowerment alone. The paper endeavours to contribute towards the ongoing debates about visibility, power, and resistance by highlighting the tensions between representation and commercialization in contemporary body positivity media.
Keywords: body positivity, popular culture, commercialisation, ideology
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