Slim Hopes

Synopsis

Jean Kilbourne's award-winning video Slim Hopes argues that the stories advertising tells about food, femininity, and the female body contribute to disordered eating. From ads that glamorize emotional eating with catch-phrases like ""you can never have too much,"" to ads that promote thinness and tell women to watch what they eat, Kilbourne takes the advertising industry to task for sending young women, in particular, a set of deeply contradictory and unhealthy messages about food. In the process, she offers productive new ways to think about anorexia, bulimia, and other life-threatening eating disorders.

Release Date:1995

Duration:30 min

ISBN:1-893521-60-5

Subtitles:English

Trailers

Watch the trailer

Filmmaker Credits

Executive Producer, Director, Editor

Sut Jhally

Director of Photography

Charles Pappert

Assistant Editor

Sanjay Talreja

Production Assistant

Shannon Monahan

Production Assistant

Tom Gardner

Filmmaker Biographies

Jean Kilbourne

Contributor

Jean Kilbourne is internationally recognized for her pioneering work on alcohol and tobacco advertising and the image of women in advertising. Her films, slide lectures and television appearances have been seen by millions of people throughout the world. She was named by The New York Times Magazine as one of the three most popular speakers on college campuses today.

Resources: Downloads and Related Links

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Praise

"Slim Hopes offers ways to endorse alternative female images."

Donna Lee King, Teaching Sociology

"Shocking and empowering! This video is must viewing. After viewing it, you will never look at advertising and women's bodies in the same way again."

Christiane Northrup, M.D.
Author, Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom

"Jean Kilbourne's work is pioneering and crucial to the dialogue of one of the most underexplored, yet most powerful, realms of American culture -- advertising. We owe her a great debt."

Susan Faludi
Author, Backlash and Stiffed