Embrace the documentary is part biopic, part documentary is my description of the exceptional movie exploring the issue of body image in modern society. Australian woman Taryn Brumfitt engages women in exploring the question of beauty, body image and body acceptance. Brumfitt’ journey into the subject started with her own revelation of negative body image and her desire to not pass that on to her daughter. The first part of the movie chronicles Brumfitt’s experience with body image issues. Then viewers follow her as she travels the world from the Dominican Republic to New York to talk with fashion editors, photographers and others about navigating the current perception of beauty in Western culture.
Embrace provides a great deal of useful and accurate information about the way social media, the fashion industry and diet industry create a false impression of the ideal female body. There are interviews with experts on body image as well as ordinary folks who had experiences that required them to rethink their ideas of beauty. The sexualization of girls in fashion, the conditioning of boys to view women as objects through video games are some of the pertinent issues explored. Also featured in the movie is the Sydney Skinny, an event in Australia in which Taryn participated.
When the credits started to roll after an hour and a half I found myself wanting more. It felt as if she had only begun to scratch the surface of such a deep-seated issue. I found myself wishing the voice of black women or at least native aboriginal women was present in this film. The bodies of women of color have tended to be extremely fetishized in western culture. Also women of color have been forced to adopt the beauty standards of the dominant culture to be accepted and get ahead. There is a segment which shows photographs of women of color but no extended interview where women color give their expert voice to their experience.
There is also definitely an opportunity for someone to make a similar movie from a male perspective. Having heard about this movie for some time and following Brumfitt’s promotional tour through her Twitter account I am glad I was finally able to see her effort. Brumfitt does a good job of taking the viewer inside the experience of the women in the film. She has definitely accomplished something worthwhile that will be meaningful for many people. The overall quality of the filming was top-notch. While there was lots of home video footage, it didn’t make the movie feel cheesy or cheap. In fact, that gave it a more personal homey touch. Naturists/nudists and those who live clothes free will want to watch this because it addresses a subject that is large part of the experience. I wholeheartedly encourage the reader to watch this documentary movie. It is currently playing on Netflix or can be rented/bought using the links below from Amazon. EMBRACE IT!
Would like to hear impressions from women who have watched the movie.
