They are the butt of countless jibes and satirical pop culture references, but there's no doubt that a lot of celebrities, especially the females one, find their dieting practices fueled by the same driven personality traits that enable them to rise to the top of their craft.
It has become something of a clich by now to point a wagging, accusing figure at the mass media, blaming the glitzy lifestyle along with the shallow and sexist mindless consumerism of the general public, who are said to buy into it all. Such glib diagnoses, however comfortingly politically correct they may be in the current environment, serve to obscure the fact that all aspects of the lives of successful movie stars, performers and other media personalities is colored by the hard driving personality tendencies that motivate their success.
There should be no surprise then to realize that if they turn that same focus and determination to weight loss, they can get a little obsessive. The great Christina Ricci displays her usual inimical style in ironically capturing just this dynamic in remarks to the Guardian newspaper in 2004, explaining how her initial experience with eating disorder began while watching trash television. "At the time that I was starting to diet and stuff, I saw this TV movie, and I thought, 'Ooh - anorexia. I could probably do that.'"
Others, such as Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell, acknowledge that the source of eating disorders is often in dealing with the highs and lows and pressures of daily life. Being a celebrity may or may not increase the pressure, but it doesn't dictate the particular coping strategy adopted.
A flash point for the politically correct game of media blame was the backlash against the innocent, ironic tweet of Lady Gaga, in 2012. It was typical of the victimizing strategy employed by the self-appointed morality squad. For never doubt or forget, young girls everywhere are at perpetual risk of the corrupting pressures of mass media messages. So it happened that poor Lady Gaga, who was already on the public record, urging her young fans to strive for healthier body images, couldn't innocently joke about the challenges of resisting her craving for a cheese burger without the busy bodies' morals police turning it into a federal offense. (And this is to entirely ignore the odd operative assumption that a cheese burger was somehow a better meal choice than a salad.)
If a celebrity already on record as alerting her young fans to the dangers of eating disorders cannot joke about her own freely chosen dietary deprivations what exactly is going on here? It seems that there is a large, invested concern to deny such celebrities freedom to take responsibility for their own choices. Somehow they have to be treated as victims, presumably so that any admirer of such celebrities can also be easily convinced she too is a victim. But who benefits from this?
Obviously the lesson here is not that only celebrities need worry about eating disorders, but rather that such disorders are a product of the determination and resilience of the individual experiencing it. Of course environmental conditions can create relevant pressures, but at the end of the day the bulimic or anorectic are the ones who are making the choices to conduct themselves in the way that they are.
Those who decry such a statement as a shameful "blaming of the victim" need to look more closely at the implications of their own pervasive victimization strategy. In any event, if the celebrities with eating disorders really were the victims of Hollywood and the mass media,, the only cure would be to permanently leave showbiz. The great number of celebrities, who beat their disorders, without retiring from the business, illustrates an important point. The cause of the eating disorder lies in the celebrity, but equally as important so too does the solution. If the busy bodies were more concerned with personal empowerment and responsibility than vilification of the media and victimization of its supposed casualties, they would recognize this as good news. Everyone who suffers eating disorders, whatever the stresses of their personal life, have a reservoir of strength upon which to draw. The very determination and discipline that you so strictly harness to enforce your unhealthy dietary regime is likewise always there in you, a reservoir of strength, to draw upon, to change your life. It only takes your willingness to access it.
Is that not encouraging, exciting, even exhilarating? Stop letting others cast you as the victim of your life. It's your life; you're the star and the writer. How you live your life is up to you. Reject simplistic excuses about mass media pressures and social expectations. You have the power to take responsibility for your life. Be the celebrity star of your own story.
It has become something of a clich by now to point a wagging, accusing figure at the mass media, blaming the glitzy lifestyle along with the shallow and sexist mindless consumerism of the general public, who are said to buy into it all. Such glib diagnoses, however comfortingly politically correct they may be in the current environment, serve to obscure the fact that all aspects of the lives of successful movie stars, performers and other media personalities is colored by the hard driving personality tendencies that motivate their success.
There should be no surprise then to realize that if they turn that same focus and determination to weight loss, they can get a little obsessive. The great Christina Ricci displays her usual inimical style in ironically capturing just this dynamic in remarks to the Guardian newspaper in 2004, explaining how her initial experience with eating disorder began while watching trash television. "At the time that I was starting to diet and stuff, I saw this TV movie, and I thought, 'Ooh - anorexia. I could probably do that.'"
Others, such as Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell, acknowledge that the source of eating disorders is often in dealing with the highs and lows and pressures of daily life. Being a celebrity may or may not increase the pressure, but it doesn't dictate the particular coping strategy adopted.
A flash point for the politically correct game of media blame was the backlash against the innocent, ironic tweet of Lady Gaga, in 2012. It was typical of the victimizing strategy employed by the self-appointed morality squad. For never doubt or forget, young girls everywhere are at perpetual risk of the corrupting pressures of mass media messages. So it happened that poor Lady Gaga, who was already on the public record, urging her young fans to strive for healthier body images, couldn't innocently joke about the challenges of resisting her craving for a cheese burger without the busy bodies' morals police turning it into a federal offense. (And this is to entirely ignore the odd operative assumption that a cheese burger was somehow a better meal choice than a salad.)
If a celebrity already on record as alerting her young fans to the dangers of eating disorders cannot joke about her own freely chosen dietary deprivations what exactly is going on here? It seems that there is a large, invested concern to deny such celebrities freedom to take responsibility for their own choices. Somehow they have to be treated as victims, presumably so that any admirer of such celebrities can also be easily convinced she too is a victim. But who benefits from this?
Obviously the lesson here is not that only celebrities need worry about eating disorders, but rather that such disorders are a product of the determination and resilience of the individual experiencing it. Of course environmental conditions can create relevant pressures, but at the end of the day the bulimic or anorectic are the ones who are making the choices to conduct themselves in the way that they are.
Those who decry such a statement as a shameful "blaming of the victim" need to look more closely at the implications of their own pervasive victimization strategy. In any event, if the celebrities with eating disorders really were the victims of Hollywood and the mass media,, the only cure would be to permanently leave showbiz. The great number of celebrities, who beat their disorders, without retiring from the business, illustrates an important point. The cause of the eating disorder lies in the celebrity, but equally as important so too does the solution. If the busy bodies were more concerned with personal empowerment and responsibility than vilification of the media and victimization of its supposed casualties, they would recognize this as good news. Everyone who suffers eating disorders, whatever the stresses of their personal life, have a reservoir of strength upon which to draw. The very determination and discipline that you so strictly harness to enforce your unhealthy dietary regime is likewise always there in you, a reservoir of strength, to draw upon, to change your life. It only takes your willingness to access it.
Is that not encouraging, exciting, even exhilarating? Stop letting others cast you as the victim of your life. It's your life; you're the star and the writer. How you live your life is up to you. Reject simplistic excuses about mass media pressures and social expectations. You have the power to take responsibility for your life. Be the celebrity star of your own story.
About the Author:
Check out Mickey Jhonny's other great work at the Celebrities with Eating Disorders blog.
0 comments:
Post a Comment