The Menschenbild of an authentic person who makes his/her ‚true inner’ visible on the body’s surface reappears as an ideal throughout history. What has undergone significant changes, however, is what exactly constitutes authentic bodily appearance. What ‚inner’ is represented and how is it made visible on the body? My article focuses on two instances in which stagings of the authentic body play(ed) an important role: first in the French Enlightenment and subsequently in contemporary makeover culture (which originated in the Western world, but is no longer limited to it).
Images of bodies revealing their 'true inner' took on particular importance in the Enlightenment when writers such as Rousseau used them as counterpoints to what they rejected as the ancien régime’s affected bodies. One might assume today – in the aftermath of late twentieth century's poststructuralism, postmodernism and feminism – that any notion of bodily 'authenticity' or for that matter 'essential selfhood' would be dismissed out of hand. Yet, the image of an authentic body that reveals a 'deserving' inner self is exactly what is staged today in most popular media.
Eighteenth century acting theories suggested that ‚naturally expressive’ gestures could be conveyed – indeed reveal feelings – without any mediation. What has changed since then, I will argue, is that the ideal authentic body in makeover-culture has to be diligently and visibly worked for.