THIN directed by Lauren Greenfield (USA, 2006)
Brittany struggles to find reasons to be cheerful.
There’s never been a better time to have an eating disorder. As long as you have access to the Internet, and who doesn’t these days?, you don’t need to feel you’re alone anymore.
The fasting, bingeing and purging are still sad, solitary activities but at least now you get the chance to share techniques and strategies online or read and watch others engaged in similar practices.
Pro Ana and Pro Mia websites promoting and discussing anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa respectively are on the rise. So-called ‘thinspiration’ photos circulate as motivational body images.
Many of the blogs, forums and articles pitch these conditions as lifestyle choices rather than as problems, a dangerous trend in my view given that the negative effects on health and happiness have been so well documented.
I have more than a passing interest in this subject because my teenage daughter has an eating disorder that swings unpredictably between ‘ana’ and ‘mia’. Fortunately, she doesn’t see this as anything to be proud of and would like to change. She’s the one who recommended ‘Thin’, saying that she liked the way it shows the reality of the conditions in a non-preachy or judgemental style.
Lauren Greenfield’s film is a fly on the wall documentary set in Renfrew Center, Florida. The staff at this institution are clearly not chosen as models of fitness; a high percentage are clearly overweight or even obese which probably makes many sufferers even more determined to maintain their crash diets. Also, the food served up this institution looks so fatty, stodgy and generally disgusting that I think I’d be half inclined to join them. Continue reading
