Our Story
I was sitting talking to my friend the other day and we got onto the subject of our children. She has three little girls, which I find quite interesting only having a son. We talked about buying them dresses and doing their hair, but then she told me how she recently had quite a scare with her six year old daughter Katie. Katie had stopped eating for a whole month and she wouldn’t tell her mother why. Several trips to the doctors and hospital later Katie let out that it was because she didn’t want to become fat. At the age of six she had developed an eating disorder. My friend was obviously devastated and naturally questioned everything she had ever said about her own weight in her daughters company.
Some months on Katie is better, but the cause of the problem still remains. Many young girls are growing up attaching a distorted amount of worth to self-image, as if it is the most important and valuable thing in the world to be physically ‘beautiful’ and ‘sexy’. A message which is reinforced by the media and other industries day after day. Anorexic models, flawless bronzed Photoshopped skin, provocative poses, and padded bras on sale for eleven year old girls.
Very recently this has been addressed by the UK government who undertook a review of the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood. There has been a call to put “the brakes on an unthinking drift towards ever greater commercialisation and sexualisation”. [see below for link to the report]
We are making a short film which addresses these issues because we really believe in the power of film to help raise awareness globally – bringing important timely issues such as this to the fore, and to foster debate and communication. Film is a medium which all generations engage with, so we think it is a fantastic way to ask questions about the world we live in and hopefully challenge a wide variety of audiences on different levels.
It is a narrative film, rather than a documentary, because we want our audience to have maximum emotional engagement and find themselves really identifying with certain aspects of it. The film will be ten minutes long.
You can read more about the DoE report and David Cameron’s comments on the review here:
http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/statements-and-articles/2011/06/letter-to-reg-bailey-following-his-review-of-the-commercialisation-and-sexualisation-of-childhood-64386
The Impact
There are four main characters in the film who are all affected by the issues in different ways, the characters ages span different generations … without giving the exquisitely crafted plot away, here is a taster:
PAMELA is in her late sixties, she is living with the consequences of the choices she made surrounding her image when she was younger.
LIZZIE is in her early twenties, she is a famous actress and somewhat of an icon, the narrative follows both her public and private life.
CHARLEE is a seven year old little girl, she innocently takes on the adult attitudes of those around her which leads to devastating circumstances.
LOUISE is Charlee’s mum, immersed in and oblivious to the ideologies which surround beauty in our culture.
The main themes and questions covered in the film are:
– anorexia – the pressure put on actresses and models – personal choices – negative male attitudes towards women and sexualisation – the sexualisation of childhood – rolemodels – happiness – culture and current attitudes towards image – the media and the decision makers – the consequences of choices and actions
The impact of the film will hopefully make people in positions of responsibility make wiser decisions. Be it parents, role-models, government leaders, media/fashion/advertising industry practitioners.
Click below and you can see artist impressions of the characters:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.213916695315035.57660.213916081981763
The main characters are female because we wanted to address the film specifically in relation to the issues surrounding the pressure girls and women feel to look a certain way in order to be valued as and classed as beautiful.
We think the film script is excellent and if you’re serious about donating $500 or more to this project and would like to take a look you can email jodi@humbletheatre.com to see it.
The film will be directed by Jodi De Souza (www.jodidesouza.com) and produced by idoje. We are delighted that the very talented Max Williams has agreed to be the Director of Photography.
What We Need & What You Get
We want to raise $25,000 so we can shoot and edit this film then send it off to film festivals worldwide.
We are currently raising money through kickstarter … please do have a look at our page!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/730079582/beautiful
We would love for you to contribute to help make this film a possibility. There are several perks to any financial donation … you could even come to the premier in London, be an extra in the film or get your name on the credits!
We realise everyone doesn’t have money, but it will help us even if you simply forward this page to friends to pass on the message. We are passionate about the cause and you can be too. Tweet about it, join our facebook page and encourage others to join in.
Support our voice today so we can make a difference in our world.
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