One of the more famous suppressed films of recent years is Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, an early work by writer/director Todd Haynes (Safe, Velvet Goldmine, Far from Heaven). Filmed in 1987, the short film -- which relates the rise and fall of Karen Carpenter with a cast of Barbie dolls -- barely got a year's worth of festival time in 1989 before the twin iron boots of A&M Records and Richard Carpenter came down on Haynes.* [more inside]
posted by Trurl
on Dec 31, 2011 -
29 comments
Some lives are exemplary, others not; and of exemplary lives, there are those which invite us to imitate them, and those which we regard from a distance with a mixture of revulsion, pity, and reverence. It is, roughly, the difference between the hero and the saint (if one may use the latter term in an aesthetic, rather than a religious sense). Such a life, absurd in its exaggerations and degree of self-mutilation — like Kleist’s, like Kierkegaard’s — was Simone Weil’s. -
Susan Sontag [more inside]
posted by Trurl
on Dec 19, 2011 -
8 comments
Campaigning MP Valérie Boyer, a member of Nicolas Sarkozy's
UMP party, has put forth another controversial bill to address the role of the fashion industry media in portraying healthy body images. Boyer, who wrote a government report on anorexia and obesity, is currently proposing
"health warnings" on digitally altered photographs of people, stating that the image was "digitally enhanced to modify a person’s body image." The previous bill supported by Boyer and others came in April 2008, when France's lower house of parliament passed
a bill that would make it a crime to promote "excessive thinness" or extreme dieting,. The bill would empower judges to punish with prison terms and fines of up to €45,000 any publication (including blogs), modeling agency, or fashion designer who "incites" anorexia. That bill, which followed closely after
key members of the French fashion industry signed a government-backed charter,
came under fire from fashion designers and some politicians. French fashion and politics weren't at the front of this effort, with
Madrid's fashion week turning away underweight models in 2006, facing concerns that girls and young women were trying to copy their rail-thin looks and developing eating disorders.
posted by filthy light thief
on Sep 23, 2009 -
37 comments
"I've hidden myself and covered myself for too long. Now I want to show myself fearlessly, even though I know my body arouses repugnance. I want to recover because I love life and the riches of the universe. I want to show young people how dangerous this illness is." French Comedienne
Isabelle Caro, 27, an anorexic who weighs just 68 pounds, was displayed on Milan
billboards (NSFW) for
fashion designer Nolita as the city celebrated fashion week. The prevalence of eating disorders within the
fashion industry have only recently been
addressed officially, however
Georgio Armani has complained that since Caro isn't a model herself it proves
"even people who take no notice of fashion get anorexic."
posted by miss lynnster
on Sep 30, 2007 -
116 comments
A high school senior has been denied valedictorian status because she wasn't enrolled in the high school on the 20th day of her junior year. Why? Because she was in a treatment center receiving help for anorexia. Only in Texas...
posted by C17H19NO3
on May 17, 2005 -
94 comments
"My daughter can't be bulimic. I don't diet. We don't talk about calories or fat or weight loss. Much of our family life centres around food. Look at my job as a restaurant critic!" Joanne Kates is the restaurant critic for the
Globe and Mail; her daughter suffered from anorexia. Today, the
Globe published their story in their own words.
posted by mcwetboy
on Jan 25, 2003 -
8 comments
"Ana By Choice". Oh dear. To maintain your christmas cheer, avoid this saddening message board. By the way, for the Brits out there: more people are on anti-depressants today than voted for
Pop Idol.
posted by Pretty_Generic
on Dec 20, 2002 -
18 comments
Medical Compassion from our friends at Yahoo.
Is this a classic case of overstretching one's ability to adequately provide information and services? Shouldn't companies like AOL & Yahoo be old enough now to be able to focus on core competencies and stop trying to be masters of everything?
posted by Frasermoo
on Apr 29, 2002 -
0 comments
Anorexia is a lifestyle choice? Some, apparently, have argued that it is, and they are putting their money where their mouthes are in the form of 1 million dollars (for lack of food, I suppose). "One of the leaders of the 'Annas' gives her name only as Sahara and describes herself a 22-year-old student from the prestigious Stanford University, near San Francisco ... A computer specialist, she runs a website that provides detailed advice for those who want to starve themselves — coupled with tips on fooling parents, friends and doctors." Some
respond to the
advocacy of anorexia, but gains and losses are both apparent in what looks to be a battle of attrition.
The Starving Annas remind one of the equally controversial efforts by the
National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance and similar movements in that both advocate widely-considered unhealthy lifestyle choices. (Sunday Times link courtesy of
The Morning News.)
posted by moz
on Nov 21, 2001 -
83 comments
I've seen some disturbing stuff on the web before, but for some reason
a pro-anorexia site featuring
low cal recipies and
a scary guestbook gives me the creeps like no other site ever has. I wish it were fake, and all the people in the guestbook saying "great site!" were joking as well, but I know it's the sad truth for a lot of people.
posted by mathowie
on Apr 10, 2000 -
9 comments
