Embrace: A Documentary Analysis

Since I was very young my family has always encouraged a thin body size as the “healthy” body. I remember, we always had very traditional family dinners with a meat, carb, and many vegetables and we were not allowed to leave the table until our vegetables and salads were finished. After dinner, we typically took walks around the golf course, played soccer or basketball, or swam. Nothing about this appeared to me as anything out of the ordinary or even an encouragement to be fit and thin. I had no idea at the time I was beginning to internalized that being this was a more desirable body size. I can remember two specific events that happened when I was very little that began to make me aware of my weight and by association look at others’ weight. …show more content…
Furthermore, I remember in the documentary, “Embrace” the director did mention that in India women who “plumper” were desirable because that was an immediate indication that you were wealthy enough to feast; thus, a desirable partner, has now changed as well to thinner being more desirable, at least to women. The documentary, “Embrace” showed young girls in pageants and shows such as ‘Top Model’. One critique I do have for the documentary, and even the research is that when we talk about body image issues or body size, one very important factor tends to be missing; which is men. It is understandable that historically body issues tended to be a “women’s issue”. However, could this not be because many women are the ones coming forward with the issue? That there is somewhat of a stigma for men to come forward with this issue? Yet, I hear from so many men in my life that body size is just as important and an issue in their lives as I hear it is for