User:Amkarosa

Beauty Mark is a 2008 documentary film produced by Diane Israel, Carla Precht, and Kathleen Man. Although the film was created by the three women, the idea was essentially Diane Israel’s, who believed portraying [different word?] her individual illness narrative to the world would touch lives. Two years after publication, Israel’s film has reached over 10,000 people and has been approved by the National Eating Disorders Association, the Women’s Sports Foundation, the Dove Self Esteem Fund , and many others. Israel did not stop there, but has continued to travel across the United States to schools, clinics, and conferences sharing her story. Israel published this She-Art production to give outsiders an understanding of her diseases and how to overcome obsessions with self-image. She compares her life- long struggle through [with] Anorexia nervosa and Exercise bulimia to champion athletes, body builders, fashion models, and inner-city teens who have similar experiences. Israel interviews these people and uses them to analyze her life as a whole.

Background Information on Diane Israel
Israel grew up in Boulder, Colorado, which is considered “the thinnest city in America” by National Geographic. Pushed by her controlling father, at the age of eight Israel’s life only consisted of running. Her peers teased her by calling her “tomato on a toothpick” because she had abnormally skinny legs and a fat stomach. This constant pressure from her father and taunting from her schoolmates caused Israel’s excessive running and lack of food intake. Israel began to exercise three times a day while limiting her diet to either a power bar or salad per meal. She admits that she would give her food to her dog under the dinner table because she did not want to get “fat”. Israel then went on and became a successful triathlete and a world-class runner for fifteen years. Her success and eating disorders continued until the age of 28 when Israel’s immune system [verb--became?] depleted. She had developed Chronic fatigue syndrome and had a total of 17 stress fractures from weakened bones. Israel was forced to recover and spent months in bed.

Plot Summary
Diane Israel makes a documentary of her life by illustrating how anorexia and exercise bulimia controlled her. The effects of Israel’s illnesses are shown chronologically through home video clip; the clips started during her early childhood and ending [ed] in her late twenties. Israel’s family situation, her friends, and the media were seen to be [passive- awkward] the main contributors to her diseases. They pushed Israel to strive for perfection, causing her to barely eat and exercise excessively. Israel compares her sicknesses with others by interviewing them and having them share their personal struggles through either anorexia or extreme workouts. All the people interviewed were not satisfied with their self-image; nothing would ever satisfy them. It wasn’t until Israel’s body relapsed was she was forced to eat and stop exercising. Israel explains that in her recovery she finally came to terms with her diseases. She realized that she was slowly destroying her body and was twenty-eight years old with no job. By comprehending her illnesses, [still awk] Israel felt the need to make something of herself. She attended graduate school and became a psychotherapist. Israel tried to help others by teaching them how important it was to love them self. Making a film of her life was one of the many ways Israel thought she could help people struggling with the mental impacts of their diseases.

Themes
Body Image- In a recent study, Anna Silver asked her students to complete the sentence, “My body is”. Having had much experience with people, she was not surprised with the reaction from her students. Many replied with harsh answers such as “something that commits treason against myself” and “an animal-something to fight against”. Most likely, these statements are negative because in the media, displayed through television and fashion magazines, there are the continuous messages to look perfect. Directly and indirectly the media displays [ww?] that beauty gives people success, power, intelligence, friends, admiration, and much more. While on the other end of the spectrum, if a person is unattractive, he or she is stupid, mean and an outcast. This is presented in children's shows because usually the evil characters, monsters and witches, are unappealing and deformed. This longing to be beautiful and to fit in has a strong impact on a person’s body image. Before Israel recovered from her diseases, body image was the most important thing in her life. Her father and exposure to the media pushed her to look the best she could. She dedicated her life to exercising and barely ate any food. Israel’s motto was, “If you are not skinny, than you are not beautiful”. She had been brought up to be perfect, and perfect did not allow any signs of being fat or ugly. This dedication to her body image became an obsession and drove her away from her friends and family, leading her to destroy her body.

Self Acceptance- The main step to [ww?] treating an eating disorder is accepting yourself [don't use "you"] for who you are. One cannot move forward towards recovery without making that step and until learning to completely love his or her body. Learning how to love oneself is helped through different therapies, including many group psychotherapies. Israel’s therapy was a long process, but in the end it helped reach her goal to finally conquer her insecurities. Therefore, Israel made this film to show that both overcoming disorders and loving yourself are possible. She reaches out to all the people who suffer with their self-esteem and teaches them how [that?] they are beautiful.