1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910812241603321

Autore

Fox-Kales Emily <1944->

Titolo

Body shots : Hollywood and the culture of eating disorders / / Emily Fox-Kales

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Albany, : State University of New York Press, c2011

ISBN

1-4384-3530-4

1-4416-9233-9

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (211 p.)

Collana

Excelsior Editions

Disciplina

791.43/6561

Soggetti

Human body in motion pictures

Body image in motion pictures

Motion pictures - Influence

Motion pictures and women

Women in motion pictures

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction : screen bodies and eating disorders -- Body identifications : the movie screen and the mirror -- Celebrity bodies -- Body mastery and the ideology of fitness -- Body transformation : ugly ducklings, swans and movie makeovers -- Body stigmatization : fat suits and big mamas -- Teen bodies : valley girls and middle-school vamps -- Alternative visions.

Sommario/riassunto

How do movie star bodies and celebrity culture influence the way real girls and women feel about their own size and shape? What effect can popular films have on everyday eating behavior and exercise rituals? Body Shots shows how Hollywood films, movie stars, and celebrity media help propagate the values of an "eating disordered culture" that promotes constant self-scrutiny and vigilance, denial of appetite and overcontrol of weight in the compulsive pursuit of an eternally elusive body ideal of slenderness and fitness. In a unique approach that merges the disciplines of film analysis, gender studies, and psychology, clinical psychologist and cinema studies scholar Emily Fox-Kales demonstrates how the body narratives of such Hollywood celebrities as Lindsay Lohan, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Oprah Winfrey and their battles



with bulimia, post-maternal weight gain, and yo-yo dieting not only serve as public enactments of the same eating and weight struggles their fans endure, but create a "new normal" which naturalizes and even valorizes the chronic body dissatisfaction and weight obsession that are established risk factors for eating disorders in women and girls. Written for students of cultural and gender studies, parents, media literacy educators, as well as film buffs everywhere, this book aims to provide the moviegoer with the critical tools necessary to develop a resistant gaze at Hollywood productions and make healthier choices among the many viewing screens of our super-mediated world.