Written on the Star(‘s Body): A critical discourse analysis on posts of three body-shamed Filipina celebrities in Instagram

Written in the Star(‘s Body): A critical discourse analysis on posts of three body-shamed Filipina celebrities in Instagram

Zarzuela, L.E. (2019). Written in the Star(‘s Body): A critical discourse analysis on posts of three body-shamed Filipina celebrities in Instagram, Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, College of Mass Communication at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

This study explores the online body-shaming cases of Jessy Mendiola, Iza Calzado, and Mariel de Leon in Instagram. Because online media continues to grow, the effect of images and the ideas they portray become more and more of a powerful vessel to continue and instill ‘norms’ oppress women, especially with regards to their bodies. The struggle over women’s agency on their bodies has been present even before the rise of technology. To understand how the online audience defines the ‘norms’ on body shape and image and how they expect the three celebrities to fulfill the norms, Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis was applied to trace how ideologies are perpetuated through the photos and the general reception of the audience. Discourses on the selected photos were analyzed and by the end of the study, it was established that the role of audiences, including the female ones, perpetuate the male gaze signified onto women’s bodies which shows a cycle that includes both the celebrities and the female audience. This continues to create a female victim-victim relationship in Philippine media where body diversity has yet to flourish.

Keywords: body-image, celebrities, Instagram, feminism, male gaze

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