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Monday, November 28, 2022
The Wonder: Netflix's story of 19th century 'fasting girls' reminds us starving bodies remain a public spectacle today
theconversation.com: In October, US tabloid the New York Post reported somewhat gleefully that the early 2000s trend for “heroin chic” is back. After a brief period of limited body diversity, it reported, runways were once again full of extremely young, wraith-like white women.
The Wonder, which is on Netflix, is daring to tell the story of those with an eating disorder in a historical context which is both daring and potentially dangerous. Stories such as Netflix’s To The Bone tell the stories on anorexia and bulimia exploring the ideas of forces suffering for the sake of beauty and control. Though these stories can be enlightening to the general public these movies can be dangerous to those suffering with eating disorders as these sick characters can act as aspirational weight and body goals to those who are struggling. That being said, the story of an eating disorder has been told before. I have never heard of one being told in a historical context which to me is interesting. I have always thought of eating disorders as a problem of the 20th century to the present and never in a religious context so I will be watching this Movie as soon as I have the chance.
This article brings up an extremely important issue in our world that so often gets swept under the rug in the name of beauty and “health.” Fatphobia is pervasive in almost every sector of American life, and too often, people don’t stop to think about the harmful stereotypes and misinformation they are upholding. This point was particularly poignant for me: “The Wonder asks us to reflect on the fasting girls of our own time, and what they might tell us about our need to fetishise some forms of suffering, while silencing others.” It is such an arbitrary line that society has drawn between the suffering that is acceptable (starvation, disordered eating, etc.) and the suffering that is not. This shows up in so many ways that people don’t think to take a second glance at: diet culture, health trends like cleanses and fasting, toxic gym and exercise culture, and more. I particularly think of the amount of “gym bros” and other exercise obsessed folks who most likely have some sort of eating disorder, but it goes unnoticed because people think that all exercise is healthy - when in actuality, it can be too much for your body if you aren’t giving it enough nutrients and energy to start out with. My personal philosophy is one of body neutrality. I don’t believe you have to love every single inch of your body and you don’t have to like it because it works (because sometimes it doesn’t). Your body is simply the vessel that’s carrying you through life, not something to be molded to society’s expectations of how you should view it.
I am very interested in watching the Wonder. One because I love Florence Pugh but also because I am interested in seeing how the show will tackle such a sensitive issue. I am also interested in seeing how long body dysmorphia and eating issues have been present within our society and what caused these issues to begin with. I am also interested in seeing the similarities between what these older generation's issues were and the issues today. I see disordered and controversial eating habits and body language be disguised recently as "healthy" and a healthy life style. I am currently also seeing that "body trends" are becoming a thing and the current trendy is shifting from a curvier body type that was promoted by people like Kim Kardashian to a leaner more "VS" model type figure. I find it fascinating that through all these years these issues still exist and we have not figured how to mitigate it.
3 comments:
The Wonder, which is on Netflix, is daring to tell the story of those with an eating disorder in a historical context which is both daring and potentially dangerous. Stories such as Netflix’s To The Bone tell the stories on anorexia and bulimia exploring the ideas of forces suffering for the sake of beauty and control. Though these stories can be enlightening to the general public these movies can be dangerous to those suffering with eating disorders as these sick characters can act as aspirational weight and body goals to those who are struggling. That being said, the story of an eating disorder has been told before. I have never heard of one being told in a historical context which to me is interesting. I have always thought of eating disorders as a problem of the 20th century to the present and never in a religious context so I will be watching this Movie as soon as I have the chance.
Theo
This article brings up an extremely important issue in our world that so often gets swept under the rug in the name of beauty and “health.” Fatphobia is pervasive in almost every sector of American life, and too often, people don’t stop to think about the harmful stereotypes and misinformation they are upholding. This point was particularly poignant for me: “The Wonder asks us to reflect on the fasting girls of our own time, and what they might tell us about our need to fetishise some forms of suffering, while silencing others.” It is such an arbitrary line that society has drawn between the suffering that is acceptable (starvation, disordered eating, etc.) and the suffering that is not. This shows up in so many ways that people don’t think to take a second glance at: diet culture, health trends like cleanses and fasting, toxic gym and exercise culture, and more. I particularly think of the amount of “gym bros” and other exercise obsessed folks who most likely have some sort of eating disorder, but it goes unnoticed because people think that all exercise is healthy - when in actuality, it can be too much for your body if you aren’t giving it enough nutrients and energy to start out with. My personal philosophy is one of body neutrality. I don’t believe you have to love every single inch of your body and you don’t have to like it because it works (because sometimes it doesn’t). Your body is simply the vessel that’s carrying you through life, not something to be molded to society’s expectations of how you should view it.
I am very interested in watching the Wonder. One because I love Florence Pugh but also because I am interested in seeing how the show will tackle such a sensitive issue. I am also interested in seeing how long body dysmorphia and eating issues have been present within our society and what caused these issues to begin with. I am also interested in seeing the similarities between what these older generation's issues were and the issues today. I see disordered and controversial eating habits and body language be disguised recently as "healthy" and a healthy life style. I am currently also seeing that "body trends" are becoming a thing and the current trendy is shifting from a curvier body type that was promoted by people like Kim Kardashian to a leaner more "VS" model type figure. I find it fascinating that through all these years these issues still exist and we have not figured how to mitigate it.
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