Tales of a (Recovering) Disordered Eater

I saw The Women this past weekend, a re-make about both friendship and trust … as well as betrayal and loss.

Aside from it being a terrible movie with an all-star cast that was both poorly scripted/delivered and under-acted (or over-acted, depending on the character), it did nothing to help young women’s body image issues.

For a movie is written by a woman, and that only stars women (in fact, there’s one one male in the entire film and he makes his guest appearance in the delivery room!) you’d think it would have been the perfect opportunity to make some strides in this department, showcase some “she-woman body-love power!”.

Instead, the movie passes over obvious body image issues… and almost mocks them in the process by their near-omission.

The main character, “Mary” (played by Meg Ryan) has a 12-yr old daughter (”Molly”) who is literally skin and bones. We see her at one point say she can’t have a cookie because, “Mo-oooom … I can’t have that! It’s five Points!”

Her mother almost laughs at this, rolling her eyes as though she’s heard it all before. (Really? From a twig of a girl? This is accepted?!

Then, as a cry for help during a difficult time (her parents are going through a divorce and her mother is in her own world), “Molly” starts dressing really provocatively and decides to start smoking.

When her mother’s best friend “Sylvie” (played by Annette Benning) asks her, “Why are you smoking?!!”, the daughter says, “So I won’t be hungry. Because I am fat.”

OK, this couldn’t be the furthest thing from the truth. The girl — all of twelve — is skinnier than a rail, and naturally so; she’s twelve and hasn’t gone through puberty yet.

This would have been the perfect opportunity for this maternal figure to look the teen straight in the eye and tell her that she is beautiful and perfect as she is.

Instead, “Sylvie” mutters something like, “Oh, you’re fine how you are,” and … CUT. That was it.

A missed opportunity, for a movie written by women … where a woman could have had a truly positive impact on another young woman … where the story could have perhaps dug a little deeper into the emotions this little girl was facing in light of her parents’ split … but no. Nada.

The scene ends and we move on.

I left the theater disappointed in the movie (given the caliber of the cast!) but also disillusioned at how women, in real life, probably also turn a blind eye to our youth … and the aftermath can be deadly.

Real Women Have Curves, with America Ferrera, and Spanglish both make strides (and focus on tumultous mother-daughter relationships), but other than those two that come to mind immediately, very few films have tackled body image head-on in a positive way.

No wonder today’s youth are obsessed with the bodies of the girls on Gossip Girl, The Hills, Beverly Hills 90210. All they see is stick-thin celebs living on lettuce … what a shame.

How about you? Have you ever watched a movie that promoted POSITIVE body image? That deals with it head-on?