ghitisyou
Lifetime Total
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IMDb Member
7 years
Reviews
Thinspiration (2014)
Hannah, a 17 year old anorexic shares her story
"Hells empty, all the devils are here" - Hannah Pagan. Through her terrifying journey with anorexia, Hannah discovers the true meaning of Hell on Earth and what it means to be an addict, in "Starving in Suburbia" directed by Tara Miele. In this film the dangers of "pro- anorexia" websites are demonstrated by exploring one girl's obsession with "thin."
The opening scenes show a happy healthy size 6; Hannah. She's a dancer working through the stress of applying to colleges and trying to get through her 17th year. A friend is the one who first introduces her to a "thinspiration" site, a website dedicated to helping other girls starve themselves. Which is where she meets a woman under the username "ButterFly-Ana" who decides to take Hannah on as a mentee.
She goes from a size 6 to a size 4 then 2 and drops down to 100 pounds, a size 0. Her ribs stick out and she faints during dance as "Ana" (anorexia) takes total control of her life. Butterfly-Ana claims to be able to help her lose 20 pounds in 20 days, a feat Hannah never thought possible, her life comes all about refusing food. She gets warned not to listen to Butterfly by another member on the site, HipPopK, who someone knows her name. After discovering who HipPopK is, and losing that person from her life Hannah comes out from under Ana's spell, she reaches out for help and finally ends her obsession.
While this movie seems to follow a very realistic time line, it all seems to happen rather fast. Hannah's descent into madness occurs practically overnight. She goes from perfect ballerina, straight A princess one day to Ana's slave the next. While eating disorders do control one's life, it's less of a drug addiction, it takes more than once. This movie stands out from the crowd in the fact that it is not exclusive to female eating disorders, it shows that both male and females can equally suffer from this disease. It also shows how parents, no matter how good their intentions are can hurt their children through creating obsessions and starting that addiction to numbers, the one on the scale, the little ones that live in food, the numbers around a waist, a thigh, an arm. Even at a very young age children are aware what their parents think of the numbers, either too high or too high. 4 year old's being put on diets, 8 year old's succumbing to anorexia, driven there by playground bullying or a strict diet placed on overbearing parents who need to have the perfect child.
Another thing Miele did well was colors, Hannah's room grows darker and darker as her mind does. The movie starts and her room is painted a nice light pink and she has Christmas lights lining her room but when her mother comes in later, and finds the food hidden in her closet her room has become a dark purple and everything is black. Hannah's clothing also follows this trend, especially her dance clothing, on her darkest day she is dressed head to toe in black but when she's in recovery it's an all white dress. This movie could be a huge trigger for some anorexics because it's so realistic. It was painful to watch and of course everyone cried during the death scene but overall I would recommend this film to all, just for fun or as a hard warning.
The opening scenes show a happy healthy size 6; Hannah. She's a dancer working through the stress of applying to colleges and trying to get through her 17th year. A friend is the one who first introduces her to a "thinspiration" site, a website dedicated to helping other girls starve themselves. Which is where she meets a woman under the username "ButterFly-Ana" who decides to take Hannah on as a mentee.
She goes from a size 6 to a size 4 then 2 and drops down to 100 pounds, a size 0. Her ribs stick out and she faints during dance as "Ana" (anorexia) takes total control of her life. Butterfly-Ana claims to be able to help her lose 20 pounds in 20 days, a feat Hannah never thought possible, her life comes all about refusing food. She gets warned not to listen to Butterfly by another member on the site, HipPopK, who someone knows her name. After discovering who HipPopK is, and losing that person from her life Hannah comes out from under Ana's spell, she reaches out for help and finally ends her obsession.
While this movie seems to follow a very realistic time line, it all seems to happen rather fast. Hannah's descent into madness occurs practically overnight. She goes from perfect ballerina, straight A princess one day to Ana's slave the next. While eating disorders do control one's life, it's less of a drug addiction, it takes more than once. This movie stands out from the crowd in the fact that it is not exclusive to female eating disorders, it shows that both male and females can equally suffer from this disease. It also shows how parents, no matter how good their intentions are can hurt their children through creating obsessions and starting that addiction to numbers, the one on the scale, the little ones that live in food, the numbers around a waist, a thigh, an arm. Even at a very young age children are aware what their parents think of the numbers, either too high or too high. 4 year old's being put on diets, 8 year old's succumbing to anorexia, driven there by playground bullying or a strict diet placed on overbearing parents who need to have the perfect child.
Another thing Miele did well was colors, Hannah's room grows darker and darker as her mind does. The movie starts and her room is painted a nice light pink and she has Christmas lights lining her room but when her mother comes in later, and finds the food hidden in her closet her room has become a dark purple and everything is black. Hannah's clothing also follows this trend, especially her dance clothing, on her darkest day she is dressed head to toe in black but when she's in recovery it's an all white dress. This movie could be a huge trigger for some anorexics because it's so realistic. It was painful to watch and of course everyone cried during the death scene but overall I would recommend this film to all, just for fun or as a hard warning.