“I heard a preacher once say, ‘Sometimes when you’re feeling buried, you’re actually just planted.'” —Bobby Berk, Queer Eye
What is it about transformation shows? Recently, Jessi and I have been watching the new run of Queer Eye in our downtime. (Yes, I realize the show is already in its fourth season, but we work weird hours and don’t get much TV time, so we’re catching up.) If you’ve never seen the show, each episode introduces viewers to a guest who lacks confidence or self-care and has been putting off positive lifestyle change for far too long. Over the course of 45-ish minutes, the Fab 5 give their guest a complete makeover, paying special attention to grooming, diet, clothing, interior design, and counseling. The transformation goes far beyond external appearance, as the Fab 5 help their new friend explore deeper themes of confidence, loneliness, and vulnerability. And each episode concludes with some sort of reveal of all the changes in the guest’s life as the Fab 5 look on proudly.
Before getting into Queer Eye, we watched Tidying Up, where host Marie Kondo teaches families to take better care of their living spaces and experience the psychological benefits of de-cluttering. And years before discovering these shows, I was a big fan of Kitchen Nightmares, where a blustering Gordon Ramsey helps struggling restaurants reinvent themselves. Of course, these are just a small handful of the TV shows where transformation is a major theme. Bar Rescue, Pimp My Ride, Made, Fixer Upper— hundreds of makeover shows fill the airwaves and interwebs. But why do we find this genre so appealing?
Sure, the Fab 5’s fashion advice, recipes, and other lifestyle tips are helpful, but all these makeover shows carry a deeper appeal: everyone loves a redemption story. Audiences find joy in seeing a person reinvigorated and reinvented. The guests’ excitement at being made over enthuses viewers as well, and the sight of other people being transformed gives us hope we can change too.
Of course, Queer Eye stands out from the pack because of the show’s staunch emphasis on self-discovery and affirmation. The Fab 5 don’t simply slap a new image onto someone (like the original Extreme Makeover or so many other shows in the genre); they aim to help people express their real selves better. The second Karamo, Bobby, Antoni, Tan, and Jonathan descend on their guests’ homes, the Fab 5 lavish their subjects with compliments, highlighting the guests’ best attributes and building up their confidence. Queer Eye first helps people love themselves and then make changes for the better, and in an era of constant comparison and social-media-fueled depression, the Fab 5’s wholesome affirmations are a breath of fresh air. Without this initial uplifting, none of the guests’ transformations would be possible.
Real redemption involves an honest exploration of what’s already there. As we come to accept God’s love for us, we should also cultivate a healthy love for ourselves— to see ourselves the way God sees us. As we embrace this love, transformation becomes possible (perhaps even inevitable), and as we let God transform us, our love for God and others increases too. This affirmation, redemption, and continual transformation toward holiness form the core of Jesus’s message of love to us.
God meets us where we are,
sits with us in our pain,
reminds us we are beautiful,
reminds us we are crafted in the very image of God,
and then loves us enough to help us grow and change for the better.
So why do Jessi and I love Queer Eye, and on a bigger scale, why does our culture love all these makeover shows?
Because they remind us of the Gospel.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. —John 3:16-17