THE COUNTDOWN: 5 Most Inspiring Lifetime Movies
By Mimi Walker, Contributor
Mimi, our resident original movie expert and all-around empress of television-viewing, counts down her top five Lifetime movies for loving your bod.
5. Perfect Body (1997)
Sometimes when we’re being critiqued on something, it’s hard to find the line between constructive criticism and verbal abuse. This movie, about a gymnast who is physically ridiculed by her coach and forced to diet and over-exercise, shows the dangers of a toxic environment. This movie shows that if you are in a situation where someone is psychologically hurting you under the guise of being helpful, get out. Don’t be intimidated; know when a line is crossed. It’s not worth harming your body. Find training in exercise, or whatever you love, that has a positive, encouraging working environment.
4. A Secret Between Friends (1996)
The message of this story is to encourage and empower your friends rather than get caught up in the petty, competitive pattern that girls sometimes follow when it comes to self-control. A new student befriends a kindhearted popular girl, who soon starts revealing her secrets about binging and purging; they form an ED allegiance. They both realize when its too late that their friendship was initially based on trust, openness and genuine care for each other before they got caught up in a game. The movie also encourages women to be loving and careful when speaking about the fluctuation of one’s weight; a few misplaced words can trigger a lifelong battle. The lesson is to teach each other to be healthy and wise about the pitfalls of weight obsession; don’t follow trends, don’t hurt the ones you love, and know that there are other ways to cope with loneliness or anxiety.
3. The Karen Carpenter Story (1989)
This is a tragic cautionary tale for young girls to not let naysayers get to you. Karen Carpenter was one of America’s most talented vocalists and harmonizers, but she allowed a stray comment about her weight obliterate her self-esteem. In the end, she died of heart failure from anorexia at age 32. While heartbreaking, the message of her story is to hold your natural talents, potential and abilities far above your exterior. They are so much stronger than one stranger’s opinion. For one’s trivial remark, there are plenty more people who know you are beautiful as you are. Know yourself, and don’t try to please others; it’s a war of attrition.
2. For the Love of Nancy (1994).
There’s such a searing realism to this film. Tracey Gold (from Growing Pains) plays the lead, an ordinary girl who gets caught up in a simple fascination of losing weight. At the time, Gold really was anorexic, thus the film takes on a gritty autobiographical tone. The ribs and bones sticking out; it’s sickly real and really sick. This is one of the best ED Lifetime movies because it’s not about some ballet dancer or gymnast who has outside sources pressuring her to be thin, and there’s no grand catalyst; it’s just about a college-age girl who doesn’t know how to cope, but comes to terms in the end.The film explores the psychological effects about self-control, fear, and social isolation that subtly take over the lives of those suffering eating disorders. Look up Tracey Gold interviews for extra inspiration on how to break away from the eating disorder and developing a healthy body image.
1. To Be Fat Like Me (2007)
Kaley Cuoco of The Big Bang Theory stars as a high school athlete who decides to go undercover in a fat suit for a film project to see how overweight people are treated in our society. Her motivation for the project is not to show that inner beauty reigns totally; she discovers that food issues stem from stress and low self-esteem, whether we overeat or undereat. We allow people’s opinions to influence how we mold our figures. We lash out at those who, seemingly, put food above their health, but we don’t know the whole story. We face food everyday; it’s a personal choice how we choose to consume it, not anyone else’s.
The film’s final quote:
“What I learned was about more than weight…it was about identity. Who owns yours? The crowd? Your friends? Your parents? Or…you? A jock, a fat girl…for one summer I was both in one of the oldest caste systems in America. Because, fat or skinny, popular or freak, it all comes down to this: the world will tell you who you are, until YOU tell the world.”
Mimi, our resident original movie expert and all-around empress of television-viewing, counts down her top five Lifetime movies for loving your bod.
5. Perfect Body (1997)
Sometimes when we’re being critiqued on something, it’s hard to find the line between constructive criticism and verbal abuse. This movie, about a gymnast who is physically ridiculed by her coach and forced to diet and over-exercise, shows the dangers of a toxic environment. This movie shows that if you are in a situation where someone is psychologically hurting you under the guise of being helpful, get out. Don’t be intimidated; know when a line is crossed. It’s not worth harming your body. Find training in exercise, or whatever you love, that has a positive, encouraging working environment.
4. A Secret Between Friends (1996)
The message of this story is to encourage and empower your friends rather than get caught up in the petty, competitive pattern that girls sometimes follow when it comes to self-control. A new student befriends a kindhearted popular girl, who soon starts revealing her secrets about binging and purging; they form an ED allegiance. They both realize when its too late that their friendship was initially based on trust, openness and genuine care for each other before they got caught up in a game. The movie also encourages women to be loving and careful when speaking about the fluctuation of one’s weight; a few misplaced words can trigger a lifelong battle. The lesson is to teach each other to be healthy and wise about the pitfalls of weight obsession; don’t follow trends, don’t hurt the ones you love, and know that there are other ways to cope with loneliness or anxiety.
3. The Karen Carpenter Story (1989)
This is a tragic cautionary tale for young girls to not let naysayers get to you. Karen Carpenter was one of America’s most talented vocalists and harmonizers, but she allowed a stray comment about her weight obliterate her self-esteem. In the end, she died of heart failure from anorexia at age 32. While heartbreaking, the message of her story is to hold your natural talents, potential and abilities far above your exterior. They are so much stronger than one stranger’s opinion. For one’s trivial remark, there are plenty more people who know you are beautiful as you are. Know yourself, and don’t try to please others; it’s a war of attrition.
2. For the Love of Nancy (1994).
There’s such a searing realism to this film. Tracey Gold (from Growing Pains) plays the lead, an ordinary girl who gets caught up in a simple fascination of losing weight. At the time, Gold really was anorexic, thus the film takes on a gritty autobiographical tone. The ribs and bones sticking out; it’s sickly real and really sick. This is one of the best ED Lifetime movies because it’s not about some ballet dancer or gymnast who has outside sources pressuring her to be thin, and there’s no grand catalyst; it’s just about a college-age girl who doesn’t know how to cope, but comes to terms in the end.The film explores the psychological effects about self-control, fear, and social isolation that subtly take over the lives of those suffering eating disorders. Look up Tracey Gold interviews for extra inspiration on how to break away from the eating disorder and developing a healthy body image.
1. To Be Fat Like Me (2007)
Kaley Cuoco of The Big Bang Theory stars as a high school athlete who decides to go undercover in a fat suit for a film project to see how overweight people are treated in our society. Her motivation for the project is not to show that inner beauty reigns totally; she discovers that food issues stem from stress and low self-esteem, whether we overeat or undereat. We allow people’s opinions to influence how we mold our figures. We lash out at those who, seemingly, put food above their health, but we don’t know the whole story. We face food everyday; it’s a personal choice how we choose to consume it, not anyone else’s.
The film’s final quote:
“What I learned was about more than weight…it was about identity. Who owns yours? The crowd? Your friends? Your parents? Or…you? A jock, a fat girl…for one summer I was both in one of the oldest caste systems in America. Because, fat or skinny, popular or freak, it all comes down to this: the world will tell you who you are, until YOU tell the world.”