آفاق سينمائية
Volume 13, Numéro 1, Pages 299-309
2026-07-23
The Female Body And The Burden Of Youth: Symbolic Violence And Marginalization In The Substance
Authors : Abdedaim Karima .
Abstract
This study examines the cultural construction of beauty, aging, and femininity through a feminist analysis of The Substance. It explores how societal fears of aging and the loss of beauty are reinforced through both contemporary media and traditional cultural narratives such as fairy tales. Drawing on feminist film theory, age studies, and media theory, the paper argues that beauty operates not merely as an aesthetic ideal but as an ideological system that regulates and disciplines the female body. The analysis situates The Substance within a broader historical framework in which women’s value is closely tied to youth and physical appearance. It highlights how hegemonic media representations and early narrative forms construct binary models of femininity—associating beauty with virtue and aging with decline. These ideals are further intensified by contemporary media culture. Through a close reading of the film’s narrative, visual language, and protagonist, Elisabeth Sparkle, the study demonstrates how The Substance critiques the extreme pressures placed on women to maintain youth and beauty. The film’s body horror aesthetics expose the psychological and physical consequences of internalizing unrealistic standards, revealing beauty as a site of control, self-surveillance, and symbolic violence. Ultimately, the paper argues that The Substance subverts dominant beauty norms by exaggerating them to grotesque extremes, thereby exposing their artificiality and violence. It concludes that the pursuit of beauty, rather than empowering women, often results in self-alienation, reinforcing the need to reconsider cultural definitions of femininity and normality critically.
Keywords
Beauty Standards ; Aging ; Femininity ; Media Representation ; Body Horror
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