Every time a new case comes to light, the comedians and late night talks show personalities jump on the bandwagon. The jibes and jokes about celebrities with eating disorders though stretch far beyond this circle of professional satirists. Whatever you think about this satirical open season on certain celebrities, it does seem clear that a lot of celebrities, notably female celebs, find their dieting choices subjected to the dictates of the very same driven personality that enables them to achieve such a celebrated place in their professional 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.'"
Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell, in a different way and tone, likewise helped dispel the PC myth machine when she acknowledged that the cause of eating disorders, even among celebrities, can be the simple challenges of coping with the roller coaster like ups and downs of everyday life. Celebrity status surely has unique pressures, but is their careers so much more stressful than many jobs and professions? Whatever the stresses of celebrity life, they do not dictate the 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.)
So let's try to be real, here. If they're going to crucify a celebrity who it just so happens, by the way, is already on the public record as cautioning her young fans toward vigilance against potential dangers of eating disorders for an innocent witticism regarding her own freely chosen dietary decisions, what is up? Why this strange obsession with denying celebrities the freedom to be responsible for their choices. There's an uncompromising imperative that they be shown to be victims. I'm no mind reader, but I'm guessing the motivation behind this silliness is to legitimize the automatic treatment of any and all admirers of those same celebrities as also victims. Who though reaps the benefits from this relentless victimization?
The lesson in all of this, naturally, is not that celebrities are uniquely confronted with the trials of eating disorders. It is true though that such disorders are a product of the motivation and will power of the person making the food choices. It would be silly and a straw man to pretend that the view contrary to the busy body victimization crusade denied the role of environmental conditions in creating very real pressures. That though in no way changes the reality that in the end the bulimic or anorectic are making their choices. To claim anything else is to resort to two-bit mysticism.
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.'"
Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell, in a different way and tone, likewise helped dispel the PC myth machine when she acknowledged that the cause of eating disorders, even among celebrities, can be the simple challenges of coping with the roller coaster like ups and downs of everyday life. Celebrity status surely has unique pressures, but is their careers so much more stressful than many jobs and professions? Whatever the stresses of celebrity life, they do not dictate the 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.)
So let's try to be real, here. If they're going to crucify a celebrity who it just so happens, by the way, is already on the public record as cautioning her young fans toward vigilance against potential dangers of eating disorders for an innocent witticism regarding her own freely chosen dietary decisions, what is up? Why this strange obsession with denying celebrities the freedom to be responsible for their choices. There's an uncompromising imperative that they be shown to be victims. I'm no mind reader, but I'm guessing the motivation behind this silliness is to legitimize the automatic treatment of any and all admirers of those same celebrities as also victims. Who though reaps the benefits from this relentless victimization?
The lesson in all of this, naturally, is not that celebrities are uniquely confronted with the trials of eating disorders. It is true though that such disorders are a product of the motivation and will power of the person making the food choices. It would be silly and a straw man to pretend that the view contrary to the busy body victimization crusade denied the role of environmental conditions in creating very real pressures. That though in no way changes the reality that in the end the bulimic or anorectic are making their choices. To claim anything else is to resort to two-bit mysticism.
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.
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