While scrolling through Netflix looking for something to watch I stumbled upon a new movie starring Lily Collins called To The Bone, It’s about a girl engulfed in just about the most severe of eating disorders. Her story is complicated and tragic, the viewer is eluded to the detail that she had a very popular blog that violently depicted her anorexia. She’s a talented artist, and she developed a following. Her name is Ellen, she has a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor that really allows people to relate to her. She has ran away from several in-patient treatment facilities until her stepmom manages to get her into see a world renowned doctor. His methods are different.
He’s very blunt, to some he may even seem unprofessional. What makes this movie phenomenal is that it shows how truly ugly and sad eating disorders are. How it consumes someone. How it dictates someone’s life, how it manipulates them, how it controls them. How it throws logic and common sense out the window. I think it’s hard to syndicate anything regarding mental illness, addiction, or eating disorders.
Because the point with T.V. shows and movies is to get people to watch it. Sometimes, in trying to get people to watch it, struggles are glorified. Anorexia, bulimia, purging and binging, were not glorified at all in this. You watch Ellen ruin herself because of the consuming voice in her head. You watch her feel the pain of her family members. You watch her doctor become exasperated when she continuously refuses to let the treatment work and follow the program. It showed me how debilitating eating disorders are. How being skinny controls her life to the point where she very nearly loses it. What the creators of To The Bone did right that the makers of 13 Reasons why didnt was show the ugliness of the illness. The creators of 13 Reasons Why placed blame on the people around Hannah when that isn't accurate at all. Just like people can't make Ellen feel better, none of those kids could've made Hannah feel better either. Obviously they should've treated her with respect and kindness, but she was sick too. In To The Bone, the directors made people want to watch it because you want to see this girl succeed.
You're rooting for her. Just like you'd root for someone who is currently struggling with an eating disorder. Ellen talking to her doctor about how there's this little voice in her head telling her she can't do it, she can't eat, she can't get better. And you know what he says? Tell that voice to fuck off. And then all of these kids she's in therapy with overhear him and start yelling it as she hesitates. They're in public, sitting outside. And these kids with the sickest of eating disorders just start yelling, "Fuck off! Fuck off, voice!" It was liberating and beautiful to watch. Everyone can benefit from telling that little voice in their head to fuck off
