A Syracuse University Professor active for years in the study and discussion of body image says a new film on anorexia will do little to help those battling eating disorders. Netflix recently released an original film titled “To the Bone”, a story about a girl dealing with anorexia. However, Professor of Magazine Journalism at the Newhouse School Harriet Brown says it’s almost impossible to make a film about eating disorders without glamorizing them.
"You're showing, in this case, an actress who has a history of anorexia who we know had to re-lose weight for the film. That's wrong on every level. That in and of itself says well, if you want to star in a movie, you have to be frighteningly thin, you have to be dangerously thin."
Brown’s daughter battled anorexia for eight years, and is the author of “Brave Girl Eating: A Family’s Struggle with Anorexia”.
"Like many people, I thought that kids made a choice to develop an eating disorder. One think I learned there is no truth to that all. No one chooses to have an eating disorder. You can't really un-chose to have it, either. That's why you need the right treatment to get past it."
Brown finds some danger in casting attractive, well-groomed actors to exemplify the effects of harmful illnesses. She also worries about the potential for such films to act as how-to guides for people trying to conceal their disorder from friends and family.
"This is how you count the calories, this is how you hide the weights in your bra, this is how you XYZ. Even with the best intentions, this winds up glorifying it."
Brown says treatments of eating disorders vary in their effectiveness because the causes of eating disorders are still not fully understood by psychologists. Just as important, she says, is reaching out when you're worried about someone.
"If you approach it in the context of, 'I love you and I care about you, and I'm seeing some things that worry me and I want to help you.' Is that going to make someone suddenly say, 'Oh my gosh, you're right, I need to go to treatment.' That's not how eating disorders work. But you can't go wrong with expressing love and caring."
While family conflict, emotional trauma, and genetics likely all play a role, Brown finds that our culture around body image can fan the flames of mental illness.
More information is at National Eating Disorders.org.
