Inquiry 4- Eating Disorder Awareness
Introduction
Inquiry 4 was a continuation of a realization I came to over the previous three inquiries, that is, the responsibility I am left with after personal experience. After an event occurs in your life, you are left with your own questions and some answers for those of others. I did not necessarily realize that I could provide insight on stereotypes and misunderstandings until Inquiry 4. I feel like the fourth inquiry was filled with kairos for me. It was my opportunity to open the eyes of others to see concepts they may have never thought about before. I feel as though my video was my opportunity to fulfill the following quote by Arthur Polotnik: "You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke." When you have a message that is striking up a passion inside of you, it is the perfect idea to write about and communicate to others. Because of your passion, they will hopefully be able to see the idea in a new way and gain a new understanding or perspective. Inquiry 4 provided a platform on which I could speak out about something that was burning inside of me, so to speak.
Eating disorder Awareness
To the Viewer:
Inquiry 4 was a very big challenge for me, for many different reasons. After Inquiry 3, I was left with many different paths to choose from for the video. Inquiry 3 was centered on the idea of living a healthy lifestyle to reach a healthy weight, rather than using dieting techniques. The idea for my argument came from my Inquiry 2, which was about an article on eating disorders and the methods of recovery. Inquiry 3 was not directly related to eating disorders, but it revolved primarily around the dangers of dieting- one of which is eating disorders.
The idea of “eating disorder awareness” stemmed from multiple events. The main two were personal experience and conversations I have had with other students around campus. What I have found is that eating disorders are wreaking havoc on the lives of those who suffer from them, while the rest of the world remains unaware of the dangers, causes, and effects of them. I wanted to create this video to spread awareness to people who have not experienced an eating disorder
so that they no longer succumb to all of the stereotypes, such as anorexics just want to be skinny or binge eaters just eat too much sugar and fast food. I also wanted to spread awareness to those who are naïve towards dieting and eating disorders. People need to understand that when they choose to restrict their bodies,
they are opening themselves up to a whole new world of deception and danger. Too many people fall under the lie that a diet is just a diet, when really dieting behaviors can result in a life-time’s worth of problems. I want people to know the possible consequences of their choices so that hopefully, they can live a healthy life, free of disordered eating. With this idea in mind, I made my video to cater to an audience of boys and girls, men and women who want to go on a diet. I want them to see that a simple diet can destroy their lives.
My Inquiry 4 message is different from my Inquiry 3 argument, even though they are related. Inquiry 3 focuses primarily on dieting and how to live a healthy lifestyle. My main message was, “do not use dieting to reach a certain weight, but rather, use exercise and nutrition to be healthy”. The main message of my Inquiry 4 took a danger of dieting (eating disorders) and became: “eating disorders are real and it is time for America to take notice and deal with them”.
Once I decided to focus in on disordered eating, I had to choose which music to put into my video and what pictures use. Eating disorders can be a very sensitive topic for those who have experienced them so the right balance of seriousness is needed. If the video is too serious, people will shrug it off, but if it is not serious enough, people can get offended. I chose to mix two slower songs with two dub step songs in order to achieve the right tone. If the audience listens carefully to the lyrics they will see the added meaning to the video. In the song “The Struggle”, which is used at the beginning of the video, the lyrics says, “We are free to struggle,
we’re not struggling to be free.” I chose these lyrics because an eating disorder often feels like a prison of the mind-a chain keeping the sufferer from moving on and recovering. The song “Annihilate” is the primary dub step song used and I timed it in the video just right so that as the words “mortality rate” come across the screen, the music says, “annihilate” (at about 1:16). While these two songs are mixing, two other songs are playing in the background. The dub step song, “Promises”, says, “Promises, and they still feel all so wasted on myself”. These lyrics go along with the feeling of a wasted life that so many eating disorder sufferers feel. The fourth song, “Beautiful”, is one that I added in for irony because the lyrics say, “you’re beautiful, you were made for so much more than all of this”. Beginning at about 1:00, all the songs become mixed and I put “Promises” and “Beautiful” in together so that they are figuratively fighting against one another. At the same time, I have the darkest statistic in the video coming across the screen: “Of all mental illnesses, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate.” I purposely have the music become semi-jumbled in order to achieve suspense with the statistic and also because of the jumbled mess that eating disorders can make of a regular life.
The pictures I chose were also with purpose and caution. For example, when “annihilate”comes across the audio and the words “mortality rate” come across the screen, I have in the background a picture of a news story about a father who was upset because his daughter died from an eating disorder. At about 0:48, when I have statistics about the amount of people who receive treatment for their eating disorder, I have a real picture of a girl refusing her food. She is of a normal weight yet is still struggling with the hold of anorexia. Beginning at about 2:06, I have the words, “Real people…are really struggling.” While these words are being read, I have a drawing of an emaciated girl transitioning into the real picture. This transition is to show that eating disorders are not just a made-up idea; there are many
individuals across the world that are really, truly struggling with them. I also had to be careful with which pictures I chose to use. Many of the pictures found on the Internet are not appropriate for classroom use and may even cause some people to be sick or disgusted. I wanted to find pictures with shock value yet that were also able to be viewed by an audience of almost any age and background.
With the font and backgrounds in my video, I often times had a simple, black background with red font because I feel like those are colors associated with evil, darkness, and danger. At about 2:00, when the words, “It’s time that America becomes aware” come across the screen, I made them blue as a sign of patriotism.
I did this in almost a mockingly ironic way, because much of America, who supposedly has a high standard of unity, is blind to what its own citizens are dealing with and all of the appeals for skinniness are still allowed (i.e. fashion magazines and photo edits). The use of video (which combines photos, audio, and text, rather than
just text) allowed me to add in all of these subtle messages with the pictures, lyrics, and font. It gives the argument a whole new and more powerful tone.
One setback that I encountered while creating my video was that of transitions. I struggled with transitioning the music, but even more so, I struggled with the
transition of ideas. I wanted to add in all of my photos and statistics but they did not always flow properly and I was nervous that my video would be ruined because of it. Peer review helped me with this fear and also showed me other aspects of my video that needed to be fixed, such as the amount of time that the text for the statistics stays on the screen. With the statistics, I also encountered a bigger mental setback. Many of the statistics that I chose to use are very grave, and became especially heavy because I have personal experience with eating disorders. Certain statistics were somewhat difficult to face, such as: eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses; 50% of anorexics develop bulimia or bulimic behaviors; a girl with anorexia is sixty times more likely to commit suicide than her peers; and the memorial dedicated to a woman who struggled with anorexia for 26 years. These are very dark statistics but at the same time, they inspired me even more to create the video with care and passion. Therefore, as my audience views my video, I want them to see how passionate I am in my warning about eating disorders. I want them to see how dangerous these disorders are and to then do all they can to never develop one. I also want those in my audience to think twice before they say something smart about someone suffering from an eating disorder, because very little is separating them from that same danger. Those suffering from eating disorders are not foolish; those who do not suffer are blessed.
Alexis Pihoker
Link to my YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09HancjoHK0&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Bibliography:
Statistics:
Arnold, Carrie. “ED Bites.” Blogspot.com. Web. 24 November 2012. http://ed-bites.blogspot.com/.
“Different Types of Eating Disorders.” HealthHype.com. 5 April 2010. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.healthhype.com/different-types-of-eating-disorders.html.
“Eating Disorder Memorial.” The Something Fishy Website on Eating Disorders. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.something-fishy.org/memorial/memorial.php.
“Eating Disorders Statistics.” ANAD- National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, Inc., n.d. Web. 24 November 2012.
http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/.
“Shocking Eating Disorder Statistics.” EatingDisorder.org. 29 December 2009. Web. 24 November 2012. http://eating.disorder.org/eating-disorder-statistics.html.
Images:
The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.allianceforeatingdisorders.com/bed.
A Mother World. 15 November 2010. Web. 24 November 2012. http://amotherworld.com/main/featured/eating-disorders-the-facts-and-how-to-get-help/.
Bulimia: Aprende a Reconocerla a Tiempo. 23 April 2010. Web. 24 November 2012. http://tallermulticolor.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html.
Café Mom. 20 February 2012. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.cafemom.com/group/115189/forums/read/16026979/i_think_anorexic_girls_are_pretty_graphic_photos.
Catena di Mauro, RIP 1989-2009. 14 March 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://thesadrealityofeatingdisorders.tumblr.com/post/3866859203/catena-di-mauro-rip-1989-2009.
CBC News. 1 December 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/12/01/bc-eating-disorder-treatment.html.
Damn Cool Pictures. 15 June 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.damncoolpictures.com/2011/06/anorexic-girls.html.
Ellin, Abby. NY Times: In Fighting Anorexia, Recovery Is Elusive. 25 April 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/health/26anorexia.html?_r=0.
Jesper.nu. 2 July 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://jesper.nu/roliga-bilder/random/1061-tjejer-med-anorexia.html.
Lambda World. 24 November 2012. http://www.lambdaworld.com/arts-entertainment/celebrities-arts-entertainment/angelina-jolie-anorexic-pictures-2.
Methods of Healing. 19 September 2009. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.methodsofhealing.com/fighting-anorexia/.
Morton, Emma. The Sun. 8 April 2008. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/real_life/1012220/Eating-disorder-Anorexia-victim-speaks-Walking-towards-death-Lauren-Bailey.html.
National Eating Disorders Association. 14 June 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/in-the-news/news-release-detail.php?release=67.
Schwartz, Jackie. Eating Disorders: When Food Is the Enemy. 25 May 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.susanweinernutrition.com/2011/05/when-food-is-your-enemy/.
Smith-Squire, Alison. Mirror News. 1 June 2012. Web. 24 November 2012.http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/anorexic-mum-nearly-starved-herself-856373.
SodaHead Living. 12 October 2011. Web. 24 November 2012.
http://www.sodahead.com/living/youngest-kardashian-sister-kendall-jenner-makes-swimsuit-model-debut-does-she-have-what-it-takes/question-2216485/?page=15.
Teoria del Hambre. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.ricardel2.site50.net/posts/teoria-del-hambre.html.
Treatment-Centers.net: Eating Disorders. 25 July 2012. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.treatment-centers.net/eating-disorders.html.
Uncyclopedia: Image-Anorexia.jpg. 27 November 2007. Web. 24 November 2012. http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/File:Anorexia.jpg.
Uze Abuze. 12 March 2012. Web. 24 November 2012. http://uzeabuze.blogspot.com/2012/03/bulimia.html.
“Vampiric Strangel.” Anorexic Model. 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://vampiric-strangel.deviantart.com/art/Anorexic-Model-204973610.
5150 Involuntary Psychiatric Hold and Anorexia. 19 October 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.askabipolar.com/5150-involuntary-psychiatric-hold/.
Inquiry 4 was a very big challenge for me, for many different reasons. After Inquiry 3, I was left with many different paths to choose from for the video. Inquiry 3 was centered on the idea of living a healthy lifestyle to reach a healthy weight, rather than using dieting techniques. The idea for my argument came from my Inquiry 2, which was about an article on eating disorders and the methods of recovery. Inquiry 3 was not directly related to eating disorders, but it revolved primarily around the dangers of dieting- one of which is eating disorders.
The idea of “eating disorder awareness” stemmed from multiple events. The main two were personal experience and conversations I have had with other students around campus. What I have found is that eating disorders are wreaking havoc on the lives of those who suffer from them, while the rest of the world remains unaware of the dangers, causes, and effects of them. I wanted to create this video to spread awareness to people who have not experienced an eating disorder
so that they no longer succumb to all of the stereotypes, such as anorexics just want to be skinny or binge eaters just eat too much sugar and fast food. I also wanted to spread awareness to those who are naïve towards dieting and eating disorders. People need to understand that when they choose to restrict their bodies,
they are opening themselves up to a whole new world of deception and danger. Too many people fall under the lie that a diet is just a diet, when really dieting behaviors can result in a life-time’s worth of problems. I want people to know the possible consequences of their choices so that hopefully, they can live a healthy life, free of disordered eating. With this idea in mind, I made my video to cater to an audience of boys and girls, men and women who want to go on a diet. I want them to see that a simple diet can destroy their lives.
My Inquiry 4 message is different from my Inquiry 3 argument, even though they are related. Inquiry 3 focuses primarily on dieting and how to live a healthy lifestyle. My main message was, “do not use dieting to reach a certain weight, but rather, use exercise and nutrition to be healthy”. The main message of my Inquiry 4 took a danger of dieting (eating disorders) and became: “eating disorders are real and it is time for America to take notice and deal with them”.
Once I decided to focus in on disordered eating, I had to choose which music to put into my video and what pictures use. Eating disorders can be a very sensitive topic for those who have experienced them so the right balance of seriousness is needed. If the video is too serious, people will shrug it off, but if it is not serious enough, people can get offended. I chose to mix two slower songs with two dub step songs in order to achieve the right tone. If the audience listens carefully to the lyrics they will see the added meaning to the video. In the song “The Struggle”, which is used at the beginning of the video, the lyrics says, “We are free to struggle,
we’re not struggling to be free.” I chose these lyrics because an eating disorder often feels like a prison of the mind-a chain keeping the sufferer from moving on and recovering. The song “Annihilate” is the primary dub step song used and I timed it in the video just right so that as the words “mortality rate” come across the screen, the music says, “annihilate” (at about 1:16). While these two songs are mixing, two other songs are playing in the background. The dub step song, “Promises”, says, “Promises, and they still feel all so wasted on myself”. These lyrics go along with the feeling of a wasted life that so many eating disorder sufferers feel. The fourth song, “Beautiful”, is one that I added in for irony because the lyrics say, “you’re beautiful, you were made for so much more than all of this”. Beginning at about 1:00, all the songs become mixed and I put “Promises” and “Beautiful” in together so that they are figuratively fighting against one another. At the same time, I have the darkest statistic in the video coming across the screen: “Of all mental illnesses, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate.” I purposely have the music become semi-jumbled in order to achieve suspense with the statistic and also because of the jumbled mess that eating disorders can make of a regular life.
The pictures I chose were also with purpose and caution. For example, when “annihilate”comes across the audio and the words “mortality rate” come across the screen, I have in the background a picture of a news story about a father who was upset because his daughter died from an eating disorder. At about 0:48, when I have statistics about the amount of people who receive treatment for their eating disorder, I have a real picture of a girl refusing her food. She is of a normal weight yet is still struggling with the hold of anorexia. Beginning at about 2:06, I have the words, “Real people…are really struggling.” While these words are being read, I have a drawing of an emaciated girl transitioning into the real picture. This transition is to show that eating disorders are not just a made-up idea; there are many
individuals across the world that are really, truly struggling with them. I also had to be careful with which pictures I chose to use. Many of the pictures found on the Internet are not appropriate for classroom use and may even cause some people to be sick or disgusted. I wanted to find pictures with shock value yet that were also able to be viewed by an audience of almost any age and background.
With the font and backgrounds in my video, I often times had a simple, black background with red font because I feel like those are colors associated with evil, darkness, and danger. At about 2:00, when the words, “It’s time that America becomes aware” come across the screen, I made them blue as a sign of patriotism.
I did this in almost a mockingly ironic way, because much of America, who supposedly has a high standard of unity, is blind to what its own citizens are dealing with and all of the appeals for skinniness are still allowed (i.e. fashion magazines and photo edits). The use of video (which combines photos, audio, and text, rather than
just text) allowed me to add in all of these subtle messages with the pictures, lyrics, and font. It gives the argument a whole new and more powerful tone.
One setback that I encountered while creating my video was that of transitions. I struggled with transitioning the music, but even more so, I struggled with the
transition of ideas. I wanted to add in all of my photos and statistics but they did not always flow properly and I was nervous that my video would be ruined because of it. Peer review helped me with this fear and also showed me other aspects of my video that needed to be fixed, such as the amount of time that the text for the statistics stays on the screen. With the statistics, I also encountered a bigger mental setback. Many of the statistics that I chose to use are very grave, and became especially heavy because I have personal experience with eating disorders. Certain statistics were somewhat difficult to face, such as: eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses; 50% of anorexics develop bulimia or bulimic behaviors; a girl with anorexia is sixty times more likely to commit suicide than her peers; and the memorial dedicated to a woman who struggled with anorexia for 26 years. These are very dark statistics but at the same time, they inspired me even more to create the video with care and passion. Therefore, as my audience views my video, I want them to see how passionate I am in my warning about eating disorders. I want them to see how dangerous these disorders are and to then do all they can to never develop one. I also want those in my audience to think twice before they say something smart about someone suffering from an eating disorder, because very little is separating them from that same danger. Those suffering from eating disorders are not foolish; those who do not suffer are blessed.
Alexis Pihoker
Link to my YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09HancjoHK0&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Bibliography:
Statistics:
Arnold, Carrie. “ED Bites.” Blogspot.com. Web. 24 November 2012. http://ed-bites.blogspot.com/.
“Different Types of Eating Disorders.” HealthHype.com. 5 April 2010. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.healthhype.com/different-types-of-eating-disorders.html.
“Eating Disorder Memorial.” The Something Fishy Website on Eating Disorders. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.something-fishy.org/memorial/memorial.php.
“Eating Disorders Statistics.” ANAD- National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, Inc., n.d. Web. 24 November 2012.
http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/.
“Shocking Eating Disorder Statistics.” EatingDisorder.org. 29 December 2009. Web. 24 November 2012. http://eating.disorder.org/eating-disorder-statistics.html.
Images:
The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.allianceforeatingdisorders.com/bed.
A Mother World. 15 November 2010. Web. 24 November 2012. http://amotherworld.com/main/featured/eating-disorders-the-facts-and-how-to-get-help/.
Bulimia: Aprende a Reconocerla a Tiempo. 23 April 2010. Web. 24 November 2012. http://tallermulticolor.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html.
Café Mom. 20 February 2012. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.cafemom.com/group/115189/forums/read/16026979/i_think_anorexic_girls_are_pretty_graphic_photos.
Catena di Mauro, RIP 1989-2009. 14 March 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://thesadrealityofeatingdisorders.tumblr.com/post/3866859203/catena-di-mauro-rip-1989-2009.
CBC News. 1 December 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/12/01/bc-eating-disorder-treatment.html.
Damn Cool Pictures. 15 June 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.damncoolpictures.com/2011/06/anorexic-girls.html.
Ellin, Abby. NY Times: In Fighting Anorexia, Recovery Is Elusive. 25 April 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/health/26anorexia.html?_r=0.
Jesper.nu. 2 July 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://jesper.nu/roliga-bilder/random/1061-tjejer-med-anorexia.html.
Lambda World. 24 November 2012. http://www.lambdaworld.com/arts-entertainment/celebrities-arts-entertainment/angelina-jolie-anorexic-pictures-2.
Methods of Healing. 19 September 2009. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.methodsofhealing.com/fighting-anorexia/.
Morton, Emma. The Sun. 8 April 2008. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/real_life/1012220/Eating-disorder-Anorexia-victim-speaks-Walking-towards-death-Lauren-Bailey.html.
National Eating Disorders Association. 14 June 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/in-the-news/news-release-detail.php?release=67.
Schwartz, Jackie. Eating Disorders: When Food Is the Enemy. 25 May 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.susanweinernutrition.com/2011/05/when-food-is-your-enemy/.
Smith-Squire, Alison. Mirror News. 1 June 2012. Web. 24 November 2012.http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/anorexic-mum-nearly-starved-herself-856373.
SodaHead Living. 12 October 2011. Web. 24 November 2012.
http://www.sodahead.com/living/youngest-kardashian-sister-kendall-jenner-makes-swimsuit-model-debut-does-she-have-what-it-takes/question-2216485/?page=15.
Teoria del Hambre. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.ricardel2.site50.net/posts/teoria-del-hambre.html.
Treatment-Centers.net: Eating Disorders. 25 July 2012. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.treatment-centers.net/eating-disorders.html.
Uncyclopedia: Image-Anorexia.jpg. 27 November 2007. Web. 24 November 2012. http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/File:Anorexia.jpg.
Uze Abuze. 12 March 2012. Web. 24 November 2012. http://uzeabuze.blogspot.com/2012/03/bulimia.html.
“Vampiric Strangel.” Anorexic Model. 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://vampiric-strangel.deviantart.com/art/Anorexic-Model-204973610.
5150 Involuntary Psychiatric Hold and Anorexia. 19 October 2011. Web. 24 November 2012. http://www.askabipolar.com/5150-involuntary-psychiatric-hold/.