The Horror of the “Better You”: Beauty Culture, Identity, and Feminist Horror in The Substance

Abstract

Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance (2024) is a bold, body-horror-infused exploration of what it means to be a woman aging under the glare of the public eye. The film follows Elisabeth Sparkle, a fading fitness icon who turns to a mysterious biotechnology promising youth, beauty, and a “better self.” What begins as transformation quickly collapses into self-destruction as Elisabeth’s younger clone, Sue, takes over her life. Through this grotesque evolution, The Substance dismantles the makeover narrative so familiar in popular cinema, the idea that physical transformation equals empowerment, and instead exposes its rot.

This paper examines how The Substance rewrites beauty transformation tropes through horror, how this subversion fragments the identities of Elisabeth and Sue, and what the film ultimately reveals about societal pressures surrounding beauty, aging, and female selfhood. Drawing on genre theory, feminist film theory (particularly Laura Mulvey’s concept of the gaze), and cultural studies perspectives on beauty and postfeminism, I analyze how mise-en-scène and performance work together to visualize the horror of internalized beauty ideals.

In doing so, I argue that The Substance transforms the makeover fantasy into a nightmare of self-surveillance, turning the pursuit of perfection into a literal act of bodily consumption. Through its shocking imagery and deliberate ambiguity, Fargeat’s film critiques a culture that commodifies women’s bodies, punishes them for aging, and disguises conformity as empowerment.