Something New under the Sun
Excerpt from the book 'Modern Amazons' by Bill Dobbins
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Today, muscle-power has lost most of its practical and survival functions. How does that affect our view of the human body? Canadian communications theorist Marshall McLuhan ("The Medium is the Message") told us in the 1960s that things become fully available as art once their primary practical purpose is rendered obsolete. Thus the concept of "art for art's sake" and the idea of the nature of painting as the primary subject of painting only came about in the 19th century after the invention of photography. The development of modern bodybuilding can be seen as an illustration of this principle. It was only in the mid-20th century, when machines had come to dominate in areas where once we relied primarily on human muscle power, that a sport emerged in which the muscles of the body are developed primarily for aesthetic purposes and judged on the basis of mass, shape, proportion, symmetry, detail and definition, without regard to performance or functionality. Bodybuilding is concerned with how the body looks rather than what it is capable of doing. As a competition involving aesthetics as opposed to action (although competitive posing is difficult and requires a great deal of practice and expertise), it is both a sport and a specialized art form. While traditional sports were based, somewhere in the distant past, on testing warrior skills, bodybuilding is totally about the aesthetics of the body. Even so, progressive resistance weight training, as invented by bodybuilders over the past five decades, has become the basis for the training programs used by a wide variety of athletes for rehabilitating muscles after injuries. It is also the training method used by millions who go to gyms to build, sculpt and strengthen their bodies (whether they call it bodybuilding or not). The competitive bodybuilding physique has no practical purpose other than "showing off." In that sense, it is more like a peacock's tail, display rather than performance.
Even though competitive bodybuilding is a growing international phenomenon, it is not a sport that is easily accepted in modern culture. It is one thing to admire the beauty of a statue, another to look at an actual body - especially a nearly nude male body - from the same point of view. It makes a lot of people uncomfortable. It strikes many as bizarre, even perverse. Bodybuilders are often seen as afflicted with an unhealthy narcissism. They are thought to be homosexual, or appealing primarily to homosexuals. Because they are not training to excel at normal athletic competition, they are viewed as "muscle-bound" and not really "capable" athletes at all. It is acceptable to admire the muscles of somebody who "does something with them", but not acceptable to admire the same kind of body that was developed simply so that people could admire it.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Today, muscle-power has lost most of its practical and survival functions. How does that affect our view of the human body? Canadian communications theorist Marshall McLuhan ("The Medium is the Message") told us in the 1960s that things become fully available as art once their primary practical purpose is rendered obsolete. Thus the concept of "art for art's sake" and the idea of the nature of painting as the primary subject of painting only came about in the 19th century after the invention of photography. The development of modern bodybuilding can be seen as an illustration of this principle. It was only in the mid-20th century, when machines had come to dominate in areas where once we relied primarily on human muscle power, that a sport emerged in which the muscles of the body are developed primarily for aesthetic purposes and judged on the basis of mass, shape, proportion, symmetry, detail and definition, without regard to performance or functionality. Bodybuilding is concerned with how the body looks rather than what it is capable of doing. As a competition involving aesthetics as opposed to action (although competitive posing is difficult and requires a great deal of practice and expertise), it is both a sport and a specialized art form. While traditional sports were based, somewhere in the distant past, on testing warrior skills, bodybuilding is totally about the aesthetics of the body. Even so, progressive resistance weight training, as invented by bodybuilders over the past five decades, has become the basis for the training programs used by a wide variety of athletes for rehabilitating muscles after injuries. It is also the training method used by millions who go to gyms to build, sculpt and strengthen their bodies (whether they call it bodybuilding or not). The competitive bodybuilding physique has no practical purpose other than "showing off." In that sense, it is more like a peacock's tail, display rather than performance.
Even though competitive bodybuilding is a growing international phenomenon, it is not a sport that is easily accepted in modern culture. It is one thing to admire the beauty of a statue, another to look at an actual body - especially a nearly nude male body - from the same point of view. It makes a lot of people uncomfortable. It strikes many as bizarre, even perverse. Bodybuilders are often seen as afflicted with an unhealthy narcissism. They are thought to be homosexual, or appealing primarily to homosexuals. Because they are not training to excel at normal athletic competition, they are viewed as "muscle-bound" and not really "capable" athletes at all. It is acceptable to admire the muscles of somebody who "does something with them", but not acceptable to admire the same kind of body that was developed simply so that people could admire it.
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Heather Tristany, USA. Photo: Bill Dobbins