ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. Approaching formal displays of the built body as a distinct cultural form, the book attempts to situate them both vis-a-vis bodybuilding's own history as well as wider systems of such forms and the cultural hierarchies embedded in them. Formal displays of built bodies have served as a focus device for tracing bodybuilding's trajectory from 'classical' to 'freaky.' A recurring trait of the spectacle across the different periods examined is its structural significance in the mechanics of the bodybuilding industry. Its function as a key vehicle for exporting bodybuilding to different parts of the world is emblematic of wider processes of commercialization and globalization in sport and popular culture. The bodybuilding freak is a product of the above developments in a myriad of ways. At the level of formal spectacle, body appearance is understood as an instance of sport performance.
