Health blog #2
While the media does promote the importance of beauty it also emphasizes the idea that women should be a certain weight (as low as possible) and their bodies should look a certain way (thin and skinny). We can see how the media overall influences these ideas and targets the physical and mental state of those who watch. Whether it is TV, social media, or the film industry, a person’s self-esteem is challenged. Looking at the power that the media carries, we will be focusing on how the media influences it’s audience to “look a certain way” or even sugarcoat the realities of an eating disorder.
Eating disorders are rarely mentioned as a problem throughout the media but are commonly pressured on people especially in the entertainment business (models, actors) there is a very high pressure on looking a certain way (may consist of losing weight or even gaining weight). We can see that in the fashion industry it promotes beauty and glamour in order to showcase products but, the last thing that the industry considers is the models health. For example, some models have reported to have unhealthy weight control behaviors (UWCB) because of the pressure that they received from agencies to lose a certain amount of weight. With that being said, the film industry also promotes and even romanticizes the idea of the “perfect body” in adolescents and young adults.
As for popular media it frequently shows women trying to lose weight and here are some of the ways that these messages may trigger the young audience.“I’m on this new diet. It’s very effective. Well, I don’t eat anything, and then when I feel like I’m about to faint I eat a cube of cheese. I’m just one stomach flu away from my goal weight.” We’ve all seen The Devil Wears Prada or at least we hope everyone has. It’s a humorous quote from Emily Blunt’s character in the movie. Or how about Regina George’s obsession with losing weight as something to jest at in Mean Girls, “I wanna lose 3 pounds”. This is considered normal in certain movies geared towards young female audiences. There are parts of popular media, especially pop culture, that take eating disorders lightly when it’s a prevalent issue in today’s society.
Other movies have tried to take a more realistic and vulnerable approach. Netflix’s original movie, To The Bone, starring Lily Collins, shows a more serious tone with eating disorder. The movie showcases a young girl struggling with bulimia who seems to struggle to make any progress even after countless in-patient programs and shows the most vulnerable situations. From counting calories to excessively working out it reveals parts of the mental state of someone who is sufffering due to their eating disorder. In the movie it also highlights that men and boys also suffer with eating disorders which is something that the media has inadequate representation. It’s a sharp contrast to the pretty Caucasian girls in the movies previously talked about. It’s a very dark movie and a romantic comedy at the same time however, it may also glamorize and romanticize some of the dialogue that may be unlikely to happen.
As we seen some of the examples of how the media has an impact to their viewers, we also can see how eating disorders are not fully represented well in the media but there are movies like, To the bone, that may show some light of awareness of the disease. Although, popular media excessively promotes the idea of “looking a certain way” but it all becomes an issue when one gives the power to the influences of theses outlets to judge on how one should look.
Citations:
Noxon, Marti. (2017). To the Bone. Netflix, United States: AMBI Group, Sparkhouse Media, Foxtail Entertainment, Mockingbird Pictures, To the Bone Production.
Waters, Mark. (2004). Mean Girls. Paramount Pictures, United States: M.G. Films, Broadway Video.
Rodger, Rachel. (2017). International Journal of: Eating Disorders. Wiley Online Library, CA: Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Frankel, David. (2006). The Devil Wears Prada. 20th Century Fox, United States: Fox 2000 Pictures.
Health blog: Eating Disorders 