LftS: Obesity - The Post Mortem 2/5

4/26/2018

Obesity is a huge problem in both American and it Europe. In America more than half of American Adults are obese or overweight and what’s worse a 3rd of them don’t believe they are. With this type of landscape it seems fairly obvious that the health risk associated with carrying too much fat would be common knowledge, or at least something that is talked about considerably and at every turn. And largely it is, however, why aren’t these discussions and this information yielding any positive meaningful results. Why is it that despite all the documentaries, public warnings, pamphlets, and reality TV shows we continue to face an ever growing weight problem.

During this episode of Lessons from the Screen we will be looking at a 2016 Obesity documentary produced by the BBC. During this documentary they decided to add another layer to the obesity discussion by dissecting an obese woman from start to finish in front of the camera. The stated goal was to SHOW people how obesity affects their internal structures and shortens their lives. During this episode of Lessons from the Screen we will be looking at this documentary and asking ourselves, did they succeed in creating a change, can this be helpful, did we learn anything, and what can anyone get out of this.