anorexia – The Orbital

In the previous issue of Orbital Magazine, I wrote an article condemning the issues with Netflix’ portrayal of anorexia in To The Bone. I disagreed with how it glorified eating disorders in many ways and acted like a how-to guide for sufferers. Where Netflix failed though, BBC Three seems to have succeeded with showing people the truth about anorexia – that it is a debilitating illness - without glorifying it or using a romantic storyline to further the plot of recovery. Michelle Fox plays Imogene (Imo), a 17-year-old girl living in Leeds who decides to ‘vlog’ her daily life. It is through the perspective of her camera that the audience are seeing Imogene becoming more and more affected by her anorexia. She becomes more and more withdrawn from her family and friends as well as extremely...

Netflix' new film To The Bone stars Lily Collins as Ellen, nicknamed as Eli, a girl struggling with anorexia nervosa and portrays her journey towards recovery as she is admitted to a new in-patient facility for sufferers of eating disorders. When the trailer was released earlier this year, there were many who thought of the movie as groundbreaking, with some hailing Netflix, and writer & director Marti Noxon, for portraying an often stigmatised and usually difficult topic. There was also praise for the production team leading the project, many of whom suffered from or had experience dealing with eating disorders (including Noxon), using their own stories to shape the narrative. However, it also sparked controversy due to critics' views that it may, in fact, be glamorising the illnes...

Tag: anorexia

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