Pitch Perfect Psychology

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“Eating disorders are serious, potentially life-threatening conditions that affect a person’s emotional and physical health. In the United States, 20 million women and 10 million men suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder” (Smolak). According to the Merriam Webster, Anorexia nervosa is a pathological fear of weight gain leading to bad eating patterns, malnutrition, and extreme weight loss. Bulimia nervosa is compulsive overeating followed by forced vomiting, and accompanied by guilt and depression. Lastly, binge eating is uncontrolled compulsive eating. “The most common age of eating disorders falls between 12-25, and is more prevalent …show more content…
In 2012, the movie Pitch Perfect came out starring Rebel Wilson who famously played Fat Amy in the movies. "It's kinda sad when you have characters with names like 'Fat Amy' who calls herself 'Fat Amy' so people won't call her that first,' says Ms. Hogg. "It's no laughing matter." Sarah Silverman told Time.com, "The reason people become funny is to overcome pain. The most basic is the fat kid making the fat joke first” (Suhay). Analyzing these movies shows that our generation is being fed unrealistic images of women and men in …show more content…
When we see advertisements, or when we buy a magazine, we think we are buying that product, but in reality all we are buying is an illusion. “Most images of celebrities and models are retouched with the use of Photoshop to create an unrealistic image that many people believe represents reality. This poses a problem, especially to the younger population. Younger, developing minds look up to the people in these images and aspire to have a similar physical appearance as them, when in fact that is not even their role models' true appearance. In turn, this causes young people to have psychological problems, such as eating disorders and depression” (Ianniello). “A study on behalf of New Look in London found that 15 percent of the 2,000 18-24 year old women surveyed believe that the images of celebrities and models they see in magazines accurately depict what they look like in reality. After seeing these images 33 percent of women polled feel the body they yearn for is not possible for them to achieve. The survey also concluded, 9 in 10 people would like to see a broader range of body shapes shown in advertising and the media” (Ianniello). So, why do fashion magazines and advertisers continue to alter their models images and misrepresent beauty to the viewers? Photoshop is leading to false hope, and there is no reason to retouch

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