to think "frozen" is a really bad example in terms of body shape

[Lauranda]

Currently watching frozen with dn. Can't believe the shape of the two main women in it, they make barbie look like a normal woman and posh spice like she has a huge waist and wrists.

Bit worried the impression this gives to young children. No wonder anorexia and bulimia are getting more common.

The explosion in eating disorders is fairly modern and many people link it to the media. You have whole magazines that present unrealtic images all deisnged to make women feel bad so they buy clothes and makeup.

Off topic but why does everyone go on about Frozen being the first Disney film where it's not "love at first sight marriage"... WTF about Mulan?!?! She saved all of China!! She doesn't get married in the end.

misses the point-

And they're what, 21 and 17/18? I would think that's an age where most people look pretty good!

Elsa's spent the majority of her life fretting, and Anna clearly can't sit still, so likely to be slim.

Add to that the fact it's set in the past (sailing boats, clothing etc.) when people did tend to be smaller.

I don't agree there's a link between watching films and developing anorexia. You could argue that exposure to unrealistic body image in general media & film could trigger someone who is already predisposed to developing or has suffered from anorexia nervosa - but to say it actually causes it? I'm not sure I agree.

Mulan is amazing! I'm just disappointed it seems to have been a fluke from that particular studio.

Ha ha ha ha TakeMeUp

Plus Merida! Ok.. I'll go now.

SmashleyHop
Mulan saves the whole of China but she refuses the emperor's offer of a job in his ministry if I remember correctly. In the end she goes back to her family. It's like once she has brought honour to her family through her unconventional deeds she is sort of put back (chooses to put herself back) in her place as a woman. Think how much more powerful the ending would be if she actually became a minister of the emperor of China. Elsa on the other hand keeps on being a powerful ruler, the first powerful and good female ruler in Disney that I can remember.
Plus, Mulan also falls in love at first sight more or less with the first eligible man, Captain whatsisname, and at the end he comes to visit her family, clearly implying marriage. In Frozen, Elsa never has a love interest and Anna's love at first sight theory is conclusively debunked in her own life.
Also misses the point of the OP

Merida is a good one though. And she wasn't too anorexic either. But there were no male heroes there as such, the princes were clearly unsuitable from the get-go, whereas in Frozen, you actually had the perfect prince charming turn bad, as it so often happens in real life.

Okay, I'll stop now! I clearly watch too much Disney.

To be honest, I think kids pay more attention to the people they're close to than those on TV.

I've known loads of teenage girls who started to secretly diet, because "I don't want to get fat like my Mum/Sister". Interestingly I've never heard them mention their Dads/Brothers.

I think reality hits them harder than Disney etc

Interesting Marvin, I do see your point however:

Mulan is giving the option of replacing corrupt council which she declines as she kinda snuck off without telling her parents. I'd want to see them too! Also, to me feminism is all about the freedom to choose what you want in life. Maybe a life in politics wasn't her thing? Plus she left without hunk-master-flex and he came running after her in the end. I don't believe they were married in the second movie- in fact I'm pretty sure she struggles to decided if she really wants to be with him. I could be wrong- it's been years since I watched it. I'm not taking away anything from Frozen. I think we are all quick to dismiss Mulan, Merida, even Pocahontas at a stretch. I swear I'm going now! Back to discussing body image.

Agree with worra. While disney has its own issues, when i think of the media encouraging disordered eating, i think of magazines aimed at grown ups. Encouraging them to look perfect, lose their cellulite, lose 7lb in a week, and the celebrities featured there - aimed at grown ups. And then the kids are affected through their mums, sisters, friends, rather than directly.

Hmmm I'll admit to not knowing there ever was a second Mulan. Runs off to check

You explained it more eloquently than I did, Beyond

YANBU. Their eyes are wider than their wrists FFS! Dreading having to deal with all the Disney Princess shit when DD is older.

Saying the media is responsible for eating disorders is like saying playstation games or heavy metal music cause people to go out spree killing. It is reactionary and merely demonstrates the continued woeful misunderstanding of mental health issues.

The way the media presents itself? It enables people to normalise their behaviour, it doesn't cause it.

When I was unwell it was "there's nothing wrong with me, Nicole Richie is much thinner" etc etc.

Frankly the media has vastly improved in the last 10 years. Then almost every magazine would be plastered with women in their bikinis with entirely made up weights next to them. For me the weights weren't a goal, they were what I used to "prove" there was nothing wrong with me. There was.

I didn't say the media was responsible for all eating disorders ffs. I said many people think there is a link, big difference, massive.

I'm glad you took onboard the rest of my post op .

If you don't like being disagreed with then perhaps AIBU isn't the place for you.

I'm fine with being disagreed with however I do like to correct people that massively miss quote me.

I agree that people have a much bigger effect. I've danced since being tiny, and in the dance school I was in as a child and teenager, I never knew anybody with an eating disorder.

However, there was another local group where anorexia, bulimia etc. were absolutely rife. I think a few girls ended up hospitalised and I don't think they ever went back to dancing

Both the schools had similar results, did similar shows etc. so it wasn't like one was more professional. It sadly seemed to be a culture thing between the two schools - the younger girls there saw the older ones being obsessed with their weight and were influenced by that, whereas at ours I don't think weight was ever mentioned.

op

You'll note that there no quotation marks in my post, therefore, I was not quoting you.

I verged on an eating disorder when I was younger, I'm now 46 and it's in the past although I'm a size 10 I'm still convinced I'm fat.

Mine was not influenced by magazines , tv or film, it was just the way I was mentally, I just had to be skinnier than everybody else I knew.

its a cartoon, you can look like anything in a bloody cartoon

Looks like a similar build to nearly all the female athletes down my local track...

Maybe not a similar build to all the people you see in the supermarket or the local shopping centre though...