Produced by: Sensory Overload Productions
DVD available in Fall 2009. See the film’s web site for more details.
Questions to Consider:
* Is America obsessed with beauty?
* Do the beauty and fashion industries need to promote the thin body ideal to be successful?
* What are some mixed messages that girls get about their appearance and sexuality?
* Who decides what is beautiful?
What We Think:
In this award-winning documentary, filmmaker Darryl Roberts critically and light-heartedly tries to answer the question, “Is America obsessed with beauty?” He follows aspiring young models (and watches one crumble under the industry’s pressure). He interviews fashion magazine editors, celebrities, plastic surgeons, and everyday men and women. It’s a candid and enlightening movie that will make you feel more empowered and more aware, wondering, “Who decides what’s beautiful, anyway?” (by Kate Elston)
In 2006, when Lauren Greenfield’s documentary Thin came out, I watched the film on my computer in the single dorm room that had become something of a cave for me. I was in the throes of a life-threatening eating disorder, and, needless to say, the film hit home. A few months later, I saw the documentary again, though in a different context: I watched it at an inpatient eating disorder treatment facility where I would spend the bulk of my 22nd year.
Shelly talks about her feeding tube
I agree with Kate’s thoughts (“‘Thin’ Is Thick With Reality”) that the film touches on something very real, although I think there is a subtlety that may not be apparent to all viewers.
The vast majority of films about addiction and mental illness focus on the “rock bottom”: the shocking and devastating turmoil in the addicts’ lives and all those around him/her. Thin appears to explore something deeper: the painfully difficult yet life-changing process of recovery. However, in truth, it is stuck in the same awestruck stare that other media attention has always been — the skeletal images, the double-digit weights, the tubes and medications and blood.
When I listen to the women in Thin tell their stories, I sadly do not hear the voices of these struggling women; I hear the competitive, proud, sick voices of their eating disorders. One may think I cannot truly know what is going on in their heads — and to a certain extent that is always true — but I assure you that I know an eating disorder voice when I hear one because it makes my heart ache with empathy in a way that no other sound can.
When I watched this documentary while I was sick, I was enthralled. I compared my body and my weight to each image and number on the screen or in the book. If I weighed less, I felt like I was winning. If I was more, if their bones protruded where mine did not — I was a failure. I felt undeserving of treatment because I was not as sick as every single one of those girls. This film was incredibly triggering — a term used in the treatment of addiction to refer to images, events, people, etc. that trigger addictive thoughts or behaviors. We would say that we were “triggered” when something made us feel more compelled to engage in self-destructive behaviors or resist treatment.
Though it is confusing for those on the outside to understand, an eating disorder is more like a parasitic being that slowly takes over more and more control than merely a disease of behavior and health. That voice and personification of the eating disorder is not so much metaphorical as it is an incredibly accurate and useful way of conceptualizing a disease that so often becomes difficult to disentangle from one’s true self. A notable percentage of the psychological community has actually proposed that eating disorders be categorized as psychotic disorders due to the extreme level of disconnection with reality.
“It’s totally disgusting, I know, but I had to get it out of me” says Shelly, when speaking of purging through her feeding tube, yet she smiles coquettishly as she says it. I can see behind her eyes that even as she may be embarrassed, her eating disorder is proud and nostalgic. Greenfield gives these women the opportunity to share their most terrible secrets, and though their honesty may seem brave, I know — from my own experience and from the experiences of other women I have known — that eating disorders crave the opportunity to brag, to compete, to shock, to live in the limelight.
One of the reasons it is so hard for many women to give up their eating disorders and embrace the long and arduous process of recovery is that they have grown up or lived much of their lives getting attention, love, and nourishment (in every sense of the word) as a result of being sick. To feed into that (pun intended), to give them yet another stage on which to dwell in the sickness in the form of being the subjects of this film, is neither service to these women nor help for the viewers. It perpetuates the sensationalized image of eating disorders — the gruesome images that, like a car crash one cannot look away from — instead of focusing on recovery, treatment, and prevention. Yes, it is important to know how bad things can get. But to dwell in numbers and behaviors — in short, to dwell in symptoms — is to miss the point and to reduce these women — much like their eating disorders have — to bodies.
I long for an opportunity to tell the story I now know is my more interesting one — not the story of body hatred, of lifelong depression, of self-destruction and of pushing my body and soul to the limits of life. For a long time I thought that was the most interesting thing about me. But it is not. I have also spent the last few years fighting for my life. Not because I was starving myself or throwing up my food but quite the opposite — I have been fighting because I have stopped doing those things.
Having an eating disorder was easy. But recovery gave me a life.
Brittany started dieting at age 12 because she wanted to look like her classmates.After gaining weight in an eating disorder treatment center, the under 100-pound teen grabs at the skin under her chin, sobbing. She thinks she has a double chin.
Shelly has a tube that runs out of her stomach because she’s so sick, and she’s found a way to push her stomach the right way so the food she’s eaten is sucked out. At just over 80 pounds, Shelly thinks she is “big.”
These women are among those documented in the 2006 film, “Thin,” a powerful and candid documentary I watched for the first time this week. I was immensely moved by it, and recommend every young girl, woman, and woman’s advocate rent it. Director Lauren Greenfield captures the secret lives of those living with this crippling diseases of anorexia and bulimia.
Here is a clip from the documentary with commentary by the director, Lauren Greenfield. Some of the images are graphic.
These women are addicted. They’re addicted to routines. They’re addicted to chewing food as slowly as possible, drinking water between each bite, hoarding away packets of ketchup and mustard to flavor the incredibly small portions of food they do eat. They’re addicted to their under-200-calories-a-day diets, and have panic attacks when presented a birthday cupcake. Seeing triple digits on the scale is the end of the world to them (Shelly says if she reaches 110, she’ll die), but they can’t see that their slow hearts, low blood pressure and damaged livers will be the real death of them. They are prisoners to their eating disorders–the crippling diseases of anorexia and bulimia, which are influenced by genetics but exacerbated by their environment and their insecurities.
As an aspiring documentary filmmaker, I was extremely intrigued by the cinema verité style of this film — where the camera crew act as flies on the wall, capturing everything — and amazed by how comfortable the girls were with the cameras catching them in their most intimate moments — being weighed, crying, even purging. One of the subjects, when interviewed after the film, said she felt misunderstood and wanted to show the world the truth behind her disorder. “Hey, if there is somebody out there who could benefit from this, then I would like to participate,” she said.
These women identify themselves by their ability to lose weight, by their years-long routines of avoiding meals, purging, and shrinking in size. They know they have to gain weight, but it terrifies them. They’re also terrified they’ll lose the part of them they know, the girl who loses more and more weight. It’s sad because I know they have so much to offer to the world besides their low jean size.
Throughout the entire film, I wanted to jump into the screen and yell at the women, tell them they’re beautiful. I wondered how they could hate their lives so much when they have beautiful children, supportive families, and college degrees. I wondered how they can possibly think what stares back in the mirror at them is ugly.
Which made me think… how often do I look in the mirror and criticize what I see? How often am I hard on myself?
While the girls are dealing with hardships in a treatment center that I can’t imagine, I can absolutely relate to their concern of body image. The film was a wake-up call. Look what body obsession can do to you. Look how much these girls have to offer the world and look how they are, literally, wasting away. Be grateful for all the support that surrounds you and be grateful for the beautiful body you have.
Check out the web site for this film and go see this movie.And if you or someone you know is suffering from an eating disorder, it’s time to seek help immediately. Here are some resources.
Carol Normandi (co-founder of Beyond Hunger), Darryl Roberts, me, and Laurelee Roark (co-founder of Beyond Hunger)
Way back in August ’08, I had the pleasure of catching this little indie film, “America the Beautiful,” as it showed briefly in San Francisco. I thought to myself “If About-Face made a film, this is the film it would make.” And I sure had a lot to say about it when I walked out of that theater, as evidenced here! From that blog entry:
There are just so many pertinent, poignant bits in this film, one being that the whole thing flows really well and nails the problem of our culture’s beauty obsession in a way that no somewhat-smart woman can deny.
Even more than the gratitude I felt in August that “America the Beautiful” had been produced at all, I wanted (no, needed) to help bring it back again to San Francisco so all of our About-Face supporters could also see it. So you know what? We did that on May 27 and 28. It took some instigation from a firebrand community member (Christa! Yay!) and her fellow yoga teacher Vajra (yay!). We added many planning hours and joined up with Beyond Hunger, another great org that helps women, teens, and men with severe eating disorders. Then we stirred it all up.
Two screenings followed — one in San Francisco and one in San Rafael (up in Marin County), and we had such an outpouring of support for the film, and for About-Face and Beyond Hunger. Our awesome founder, Kathy Bruin, took her rightful place as an About-Face schmoozer, all our supportive board members (Mara, Kelly, Kristen, Jennifer, and Vivian) supported us, and my wonderful friends came (Trish! Kim! Alison! Kendra!) too.
Our beautiful audience at the Clay Theatre.
The best part, really, was that 350 more people got to see “America the Beautiful” in our area.
Darryl Roberts, the filmmaker (a tall man with a heart of gold) did a Q&A session after each screening, and told some great stories (yes, Oprah was mentioned). Basically, everyone was just hanging on his every word.
I heard from so many friends, acquaintances, and strangers after the screenings, saying they’d never considered how much our culture damages young women with messages about “beauty.” I even ran into one friend on the street the day after she saw the film, and she was still thinking about it, and mulling over how to talk to her very young daughter about body image issues.
Get this film to your area! Click here to go to the site.
What’s that? You say you missed it this time? Or you’re not nearby? “America the Beautiful” is not on DVD as of this writing, but it will be soon. Here are some other ways to see and bring “America the Beautiful to your community:
Head on over to the film’s web site and sign up to be alerted when the DVD is released
When the DVD comes out in the fall, contact us, and we’ll help you throw the party so you can show friends the film at your home
Go to the film’s web siteand invite Darryl Roberts, the filmmaker, to speak to your group after a screening
And a little extra goodness: How fun would it be to have an “About-Face film series” in San Francisco or nearby, made up of some of the best media/body image/women’s self-esteem movies out there? (Jean Kilbourne’s “Killing Us Softly 3,” anyone? “Lovely and Amazing” anybody?) If you’re interested in attending or helping organize that, e-mail me directly and be sure to comment below to register your support!
Two of the contestants from the TLC show Toddlers and Tiaras
While previous generations were playing with Barbies, current younglings are opting to become Barbie – and their mothers don’t seem to mind. In a current reality TV series on TLC, Toddlers and Tiaras, the cameras follow young girls and their mothers in their quest to win beauty pageants.
Beauty pageants have always been scrutinized, and the reason for that is becoming more evident. According to an article by Jessica Bennett in Newsweek, girls are starting to use makeup at a younger age (the average age now is 13), than they did just four years ago, when age 17 was “the makeup moment.” Makeup is not the culprit, but seeking ways to “improve” oneself through makeup is problematic.
The same article reports that pre-pubescent girls are using self-tanners, tightening creams, face masks, and are getting laser hair-removal treatments. The amount that is spent on priming these tweens for womanhood is roughly $100 million annually and counting. I guess there will be no camping or free play for these princesses! God forbid she breaks a nail, and then what?
What’s next, “anti-cellulite” and smoothing cream for those stubborn dimples on a newborn baby’s butt? Get her a pair of stilettos and a wig; maybe add more sparkles to her eyes? After all, she must be reared to compete.
It is hard to pinpoint exactly who is responsible for such dramatic occurrences. Do we blame the mother? She is as susceptible to advertisements and our gender-stereotyping culture as her daughters; however, mothers should learn better discretion. How about society and the ad agencies? Are they the devil or are they the scapegoat: do we create the ad or does the ad create us?
What are beauty ads doing to our kids — where has childhood gone? “To the spa” seems to be an appropriate answer. While businesses and entrepreneurs are cashing in on instilled insecurities that women face more and more and at a younger age every day, it makes me wonder: how healthy can this be for girls who barely graduated to big-girl panties? Also, if 19-year-olds are already getting Botox to get rid of their “wrinkles,” what measures will they take in five, ten, or twenty years from now? I am almost afraid to fathom. Everyone only gets one chance at a childhood, a time to be carefree, but that is something these girls are giving up. It is ironic that little girls are made to dress up like women: makeup, high heels, fitted clothing, yet at the same time pressured not to get older.
"(Lucky magazine) preferred her over this model, so we went ahead and pieced together a new girl." (click image to watch the video on NYTimes.com)
Jesse Epstein, the filmmaker who made the terrific short documentary “Wet Dreams and False Images,” is back with a video op-ed on the NYTimes.com. In it, she asks whether American magazine editors should be required by law to disclose how much they have retouched images in their magazines. Well, should they?
This guy retouches photos and tells about it in the video.
So why does it even matter whether magazines are showing retouched, fake women?
Here’s why: When the female body is edited beyond recognition (or created) by a photo retoucher, and women and girls see that as the ideal, chaos (and oh, self-harm) ensues for those women and girls. Examples:
cosmetic surgery carrying huge health risks (including death)
over-exercise (or “exercise bulimia”)
unhealthy, risky dieting
disordered eating behaviors (that may or may not mean a person has an eating disorder)
eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia (which, by the way, can cause death)
general, all-consuming obsession with appearance that takes our attention away from truly important parts of our lives
Know what I’m saying? Check out the video and let us know what you think. – Jennifer
You’re reading the About-Face blog, so I’m gonna guess that you’re interested in the various messed-up ways women and girls are portrayed in media, and how it can really damage our self-esteem and self-respect. Well, now there’s a movie about it! It’s the new documentary “America the Beautiful,” and you should really go see it.
I saw the documentary last night in San Francisco, and I almost lost my s*&# watching the editors of Elle Girl and Seventeen magazines talking about how they need to show the thin body ideal only, or they’re “out of a job.” Really — no care for the fact that you are contributing to eating disorders, self-hatred, and general depression in young women? And the answer: No, really, none at all.
And then there’s Gerren, a 12-year-old model whose mother lets her wear next to nothing on the catwalk, but won’t let her wear a bra to school because she doesn’t think it’s appropriate. Through my work with About-Face, I’ve spoken to more moms than I can count who give their daughters the very same mixed messages.
There are just so many pertinent, poignant bits in this film, one being that the whole thing flows really well and nails the problem of our culture’s beauty obsession in a way that no somewhat-smart woman can deny. And two being that it’s an African-American man who made the film and who includes many other African-Americans who truly have something to say.
If you look carefully, you’ll spot two About-Face posters in the film! (I wish About-Face had been around to be in the movie!)
Really, I could go on and on. But I won’t.
Bring your mom, bring your friends, bring your sister. Hey, bring your brother. Cuz guys need to know this stuff too. (Plus there are quite a few bits about men and their body image too.)
(Amelia playing guitar with her teeth, from
Girls Rock! The Movie, www.girlsrockmovie.com. Photo by Nicole Weingart)
Using your voice powerfully isn’t just about being a loud, outspoken bad-ass chick — something we grown women often want for girls. It’s also about finding your vulnerabilities, and turning them into strengths. This came to me, a grown woman, while watching 8- to 18-year-old girls learn how to play instruments and sing in a rock band.
Alyza (About-Face’s Director of Programs) and I saw Girls Rock! The Movie when it played in San Francisco recently. The filmmakers interviewed some of the campers at the Girls Rock Camp in Portland, Oregon, as well as their parents. What resulted was funny, fun, true, and transformational.
Watch the trailer for the movie:
By the way, we are still trying to cleverly answer the question, “How do you tune a taco?”, posed by the performance-artist type Amelia in one of her many improvisational and truly weird songs. That line was such a crack-up.
Laura, a young woman adopted from Korea, says early on, “I pretty much accept that I hate myself.” But later, she says, “I’ve been waiting so long to admit to myself that I’m amazing.” (That’s Laura there on the left. Photo by Nicole Weingart from www.girlsrockmovie.com.) At that moment, I wished we all knew that we’re amazing from the day we’re born. It gave Alyza and I fresh hope, and a reminder that girls still need to be taught to find their voices, get on stage, and use them — the earlier, the better. We’re working on that here at About-Face.
Take Action! Support Girls Rock! The Movie, and the Girls Rock Camps. Here’s how:
2) The Girls Rock Camps need your support to keep raising girls’ self-esteem through the medium of music. Make a donation to the rock camp of your choice. There are camps all over the country, including one on July 7-12 in About-Face’s home base, the San Francisco Bay Area.
