Eating
Disorders
In Flim
Ana Hune
About the Disorder
Eating Disorders
Disturbances in one’s
behaviors and thoughts
related to food
But the illness is more than
just about food, it's one of
the deadliest mental
illnesses.
Pro-ED communities and
media
My Research
Question
What allows a film to accurately
represent eating disorders
without pushing a pro-ED
narrative within the last decade?
Hypothesis
I assume is the industry’s lack of diversity,
in actors chosen to represent eating
disorders and the disorders themselves. As
well as inaccurate symptoms and behaviors
related to the disorders, which ultimately
romanticizes them.
“...the contexts in which people with eating
disorders are dramatized and glorified, does way
more harm than good… one hundred percent of the
films featuring eating disorders had a protagonist
that was white, was a woman, and had a petite
body type”
Miriam Haart
GAP
When it comes to films that choose to
represent an eating disorder on purpose
and with purpose, little has been done to
determine how it should be
implemented.
Based Studies
Wen H.
“How to Portray Young
People with
Depression in Film.”
Rainey A.
“A Textual Analysis of
Mental Illness In Film”
Process
Research behind the
scenes
Record data about
the films in a table
Review journalistic
papers on films
Reach a conclusion
My research question requires the analysis of film and the
choices made to direct it, content analysis allows me to
understand how the eating disorder was approached and how it
was represented.
Bias
My idea of misrepresentation may be a bit
biased, but the basis for it will rely on the
reactions of the audiences, not my personal
opinion.
●
I assume that a film’s failure to safely
represent an eating disorder, pushes a
pro-ED narrative
Table 1.
Table 2.
ANALYSIS
●
“To The Bone” 2017
●
●
●
“…who has spoken about her
own struggles with eating
disorders, to lose an
astonishing amount of weight
so that she looks credibly
anorexic on screen” (Freeman
2017)
“with one male exception, are
young, attractive, middle-class
white women” (Freeman 2017)
“well worn stereotypes...is a
whip-smart, attractive, affluent
white girl” and her fellow
patients who, “...are charmingly
eccentric misfits defined by
one-note illness
characteristics”. (Rich 2017)
“...To the Bone shows what it
may look like to live with an
eating disorder, it fails to
capture the severity of anorexia
nervosa.” (Rich 2017)
“The Whale” 2022
●
●
“...considering how many
professional actors who
happen to fall into that group
take on roles they perhaps
shouldn’t… now including, of
course, Brendan Fraser in The
Whale.” (Boyd 2023)
“Charlie did not need to be fat…
Charlie’s fatness is a tool used
to evoke in thin audiences the
same feelings that fat people
seem to evoke in Hunter and
Aronofsky”. (West 2023)
“Starving in Suburbia” 2014
●
●
●
“...romanticizes anorexia as
something rebellious and
beautiful…ButterflyAna is made
to look like a beautiful model
rather than the starving and
sick individual that she is.”
(Vaid 2019)
“...reinforces the stigma that
eating disorders are a choice
and that those with eating
disorders want others to
engage in disordered behavior.”
(Vaid 2019)
“...the film instead romanticizes
the illness, demonizes those
who suffer from it, and
misidentifies its causes.” (Vaid
2019)
“Run” 2015
104 comments
● “I’m a male anorexic and this
made me feel more okay with
myself… thought I was in the
wrong for being a male with an
eating disorder because I never
met or saw any male with an
eating disorder.”
● “A person with an ED does not
just leave obvious signs of not
eating. My opinion is that this
isn't very accurate…”
● “If he has an ed and he really
wanted to hide it he would take
his lunch and throw it away at
school… that's what people
with ed's do, they hide it. We
become pros at it.”
“Nervosa” 2022
607 comments
● “You know you are relapsing
when you search for "ana short
film"
● “It's when you look at this to
trigger yourself that you know
it's getting worse again”
“Let Her Eat Cake” 2024
173 comments
● “I felt so seen, I never saw a
Black person represented in
media that spoke about EDs
like this growing up…I felt like I
could engage with this because
it wasn't triggering either.”
Movies
●
●
Accurate representation of eating disorder triggers
Accurate symptoms
●
●
●
Lack of diversity
Selection of actors
Romanization and demonization
Short films
●
●
●
Accurate representation of eating disorder triggers
Accurate symptoms
Diversity
●
Graphic scenes
Limitations
Time
Human Error
Small Sample
If I had additional time
and resources to access
more films, I would have
been able to increase my
sample size
Other details may be
caught or focused on by
other individuals,
altering their perception
and idea of the film
A small sample of media
may undermine the
validity of my study
Conclusion
In direct response to my research question,
the factors that allow a film to accurately
represent eating disorders without pushing
a pro-ED narrative are complex. Diversity
and accurate based origins of a an eating
disorder allows for accurate representation,
but without pushing an unwanted
narrative.
Implications
The implications of my findings are significant as they could help
filmmakers understand how eating disorders are interpreted by
audiences.
Graphic scenes
Shorter films
Diversity
Representation
Future Directions
With my limited time, resources, and knowledge, my paper’s
validity should be questioned.
An extended study
on short films vs.
full length films
Study the
differences
between illnesses
in films
Conduct interviews
after a participant
watches each film
References
●
●
●
Vaid, S. (2019, May 12). Starving in suburbia: Review. Penn
Moviegoer.
https://www.thepennmoviegoer.com/movie-review/starving-insuburbia-review
Wen, H. (2022). Depression and its Effect on Families ----How
to Portray Young People with Depression in Film [Thesis].
https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/31982/1/Huiming_Wen_20704
3774_CorrectedThesisClean.pdf
Rich, M. (2017, August 10). To the point: Here’s what parents
should know and do about Netflix’s to the Bone. Harvard
Health.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/to-the-point-heres-whatparents-should-know-and-do-about-netflixs-to-the-bone-201
7081012235
References
●
●
●
●
Freeman, H. (2017, July 12). To the bone confirms there are
(almost) no good movies about anorexia. The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jul/12/to-the-bone-co
nfirms-there-are-almost-no-good-movies-about-anorexia
West, L. (2023, March 10). The whale is not a masterpiece – it’s
a joyless, harmful fantasy of Fat Squalor. The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/mar/10/lindy-west-onthe-whale
Boyd, P.-J. (2023, January 25). We’re meant to find Brendan
Fraser in a fat suit tragic, not funny. is that really progress? |
Phoebe-Jane Boyd. The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/25/bren
dan-fraser-fat-suit-the-whale-tragic-funny
Rainey, A. I. (2015, May). A textual analysis of mental illness in
film. University Libraries.
https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/rainey_alexis_i_201505_ma.pdf
Thank You
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