Last night (several nights ago, now, but who’s counting?), my husband and I had a rare night where our two older kids go to their grandparents (woohoo!) and we just had the baby (we have three little kids. It’s a lot and the fact that I’m still coherent is a miracle).
So we watched a movie! We chose a movie from 1995 called Bullets Over Broadway directed by Woody Allen. I usually love Woody Allen movies and this was a great movie except for one little teeny tiny thing that drove me in-f*cking-sane.
The premise of the movie is that a playwright has a script that he wants to get produced. He goes to his usual producer who says he can’t afford to put this play on without knowing for sure it’ll be a hit. The director then, somehow, finds a backer. But…the backer is a mobster and he will finance the entire play on one condition; that his talentless girlfriend gets a part in the play.
It sounded so fun, we had to watch it!
Where did it all go wrong?
The playwright/director (he’s also the director because, why not?) tells the producer he wants a certain famous Broadway actor to play one of the roles. And then…they talk about his weight.
How he’s so big. But he’s gone on a diet and looks great! But if he get’s stressed, he’ll start eating again…At this point, my eyes started bulging.
Of course, they didn’t leave it there. It was a running “joke” during the whole movie. Initially, he came in on set for the first day and everyone was offered snacks but he only wanted hot water and lemon. Then, as the play went on and stress went up, he wanted a “little” more than hot water and lemon. Then he just started eating and eating and eating nonstop, and growing and growing and growing.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
What’s wrong with this?
More like what’s not wrong with this?
Okay…so. First of all as we have discussed before, a person’s size is more or less predetermined (and, that is not a bad thing even if our society says we have to look a certain way to look “good”. That view changes with every generation and is totally subjective.)
Second, are they expecting him to only drink hot water and lemon while everyone else eats whatever they want in order to stay a certain unnatural size?
Third, the fact that he is totally obsessed with eating food is likely only in response to his being on a diet for so long and essentially starving his body to fit into a smaller size that was randomly determined to be “better”.
Fourth, if he is eating to soothe his stress, then the remedy is not a diet but teaching him how to cope with stress using other tools. Telling him to starve his body and taking away his apparently only coping mechanism isn’t going to help.
Fifth, if he is gaining weight at such a rapid speed, it’s only because his body was forced to be way smaller than it should have been. Yet, that smaller and unnatural body is celebrated by everyone and his natural size is not.
And we wonder why we’re fucked up.
What’s terrible is that not that long ago, I would have just slithered back into my shell in shame thinking I, too, have no control around food and that’s why I will never be “thin” (what a subjective term, anyways) and it’s all my fault and I should feel ashamed!
I am here to remind you, it is NOT your fault, you are perfect the way you are, and diet culture is the only culprit here!
The only reason one has no control around food is because they are trying to control their food intake! It’s a crazy concept, it is. But it’s just f*cking true. That’s why you go on a diet and can’t stop thinking about all the things you want to eat. That’s why you go on a diet and then on a food bender and then on a diet again and on and on the cycle goes.
This is a short one, I just needed to rant.
What other movies have been this bad? Let me know in the comments below!
A very tired mommy of three who really needs some rest now,
Asya
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