A film blog for students of my classes at Santa Clara University. Use this blog to discuss the films we are studying, classic films, current releases or production issues you encounter while making your own films.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Bite Size documentary
What is the theme of this movie and how does the story help reveal it?
The film "Bite Size" intertwines the lives of 4 young individuals who suffer or have suffered from obesity. The theme of this movie is the constant battles these children have to undergo, whether it's with their weight, their peers ridiculing them, their self-esteem, or their family. Each one of the individuals in this film goes through one of these battles, and these struggles reveal some of the challenges that many children and teenagers in America go through, even when they aren't overweight. Struggling for acceptance from your peers, your family, and yourself are things that all of us have gone through during one point of our lives or another. This film shows uses the topic of obesity and diabetes to help shed light on these other challenges. The use of children as the stars of the film really helps propel this story into a compelling one for the audience.
This is a film about childhood obesity but the real theme is uncovered through the stories of each child. I think that the true theme is parental influence. In each story I saw a common factor- a child struggling with his/her weight and a parent struggling to help. Emily was a child who spent a large amount of time at weight loss camps, but continued to gain weight when she returned home. Her parents didn't know what to do-- they spent their savings to help Emily lose weight but could not keep the weight off of her not matter what they tried. Emily also had two obese sisters. Emily's parents tried to be good influences for her, but they supplied the food to the house, bought the diet coke and watermelon, and failed in their efforts to help Emily. Another story that revealed the film's true theme was Moy. Moy struggled with being "fat", but throughout the film we continued to get a sense that many of Moy's bad nutritional habits were picked up from his father. Towards the end of the movie, his father had health scares and decided to make changes that would benefit both him and his son in the long run. These examples revealed to me what the filmmaker was really trying to say. In the Q&A after the film screening, Greta said that their main target audience was parents, which further made me believe that this was the theme they were getting at. They wanted to make a movie that inspired parents to get more involved with their children's dietary habits and educate themselves on proper diets to be able to become better influences for their children.
I would say that the theme of this film is obesity, specifically pertaining to children. Each of the four children in the film struggled with their weight and all seemed to be bullied at school because of that. Obesity has been a epidemic plaguing the Unites States for a while now, and even though there have been many programs established in hopes of reversing the problem. However, after watching this film, I think a lot of the struggles the children are facing are stemming from the parents. This shows us that the change has to happen from the home and from those who set the example for others. The parents seemed to really struggle about having to change their eating habits even when it was negatively affecting their children lives. Until the idea of fast food is reinvented, there are less processed food and heather lifestyles (that incorporate exercise) become the norm, it is unlikely we will see immediate change.
The theme of the movie Bite Sized is childhood obesity as well as the lack of awareness of children's health by parents. The film follows the lives of four children and visually demonstrates their struggle with food. Most of their parents do not know how to help their children make healthy food decisions, which has influenced the health state of the children. Some of the kids try to get help through weight loss programs or outside health food programs, yet when they come home, they are tempted with the junk food that their parents buy. Because of the lack of awareness by the parents, they are incapable of helping their children overcome the weight battle.
The theme of this documentary is overcoming a huge challenge -- the challenge of becoming healthy and losing weight. The documentary profiles several high school aged students accross the US through thier personnal fight for weight loss. Each story is compelling and unique; however, the documentary seemlessly connects the stories to this overall theme.
I feel like there are multiple themes to this film. The first theme is achieving a goal, such as overcoming obesity. This is portrayed throughout the entire story by witnessing the transformations of each child in this film. No matter the story, each overweight character experienced a character arc, and found the courage to overcome the lack of confidence and motivation. For instance, the young male with anger control issues finally learned how to deal with them and push others to strive. The group of girls were able to finally get passed their stubbornness and ended up performing in a little skit. Another theme addressed is the direct correlation between poverty and obesity. This was shown by the the display of the children's environments. For instance, the counselor at poor Oakhurst school wasn't even able to purchase new PE equipment for the students. At the end of the film, we see the children at that school purchasing all this junk food and even saying that there isn't any good food in that town. Proper B-Roll of fast food chain restaurants helped portray this point. As for the others, notice the younger girl who was able to go through an expensive program and was doing better than all the other children at the beginning. Finally, I think the final theme is that obese children need an authoritative figure to motivate them. If you notice in the film, the majority of the parents weren't helpful. Instead, they were like the mean children at school who said negative things towards their kids about their image. A great example was the father of the young boy who loved sitting and playing video games all day. His father was eating just as much junk food as he was and using negative reinforcement to try and motivate his son. Even his son said his father isn't credible because he's a hypocrite. Even with the young girl who followed the program and fell into a relapse after, her parents weren't motivating her to do better; instead, they were just criticizing her for falling back into her old habits. People need help to motivate themselves, especially young kids who are suffering and need the support of their parents.
The theme of this movie to me is awareness of child obesity. The story of 4 young children that are overweight and the struggles they go through with motivation to lose weight and become healthy is what brought the theme out to me. I think that this movie showed how obesity is a continuing problem and parents need to become aware that their own actions can affect their children.
I would say that the main theme of Bite Size is realizing and overcoming childhood obesity in America. The film's story helps reveal this theme by chronicling the trials and tribulations, along with some triumphs, that four children/pre-teens face in terms of their weight. They all face obstacles that get in their way, such as Emily's constant temptations after coming back from MindStream, which she describes as "The Biggest Loser for kids," a second time. Her family isn't as willing to give up their eating habits, therefore she struggles on a daily basis to resist the unhealthy food always surrounding her. Another example is Moy who doesn't really realize his problem because the same behaviors he exhibits, such as eating junk food and watching movies, are also portrayed by his father who he looks up to. It takes both Emily and Moy's families to accept the problem and deciding to do something about it in order to truly inspire change in their children. As we glimpse their lives a year later, Emily is continuing to struggle, but Moy seems to be on the path to health, as he has begun to like sports and exercise with his father.
It is difficult to pinpoint one theme in the documentary, as it had many prevalent ones, but I'd have to say the idea of self-change is the most prevalent. The film even opened on a quote about it, and the theme resonated throughout the film, and even fit well with the other prevalent themes as well as was seen in all 4 of the children's stories. In the case of the child who was struggling with obesity because of his father, the theme of familial relations came into play, but it also fit in the idea of self change and self improvement as well, because it showed how the kids really had to take it upon themselves to make the difference, no matter how their peers or family acted. The girl from Florida revealed similarities to this as well, as all her sisters were obese, but she took it upon herself to improve. Along with familial relations, bullying also came into play frequently, as the two african american children had to deal with bullying and pressure from peers while on the path to self-change. While each substory had themes of its own, I feel these three themes were the ones that permeated multiple story lines the most.
The theme of this movie was support and perseverance. With self-love and having someone help you make the right decision becoming healthier is an attainable goal. Childhood obesity is real and families battle through it everyday. When children have a coach, councilor and or parent who is their personal cheerleader these children can attain any goal. It was so upsetting to hear parents complain about their lazy kids who are coach potatoes, eat a lot of junk food and don’t exercise but the majority if not all of them at bad food and didn’t work out either. When a child or family member decided to loose weight it should be a group thing so that everyone can be healthy and so that one person will feel like they aren’t alone in the struggle. I know what its like to be chubby and to have people make fun. I went to a “fat camp” 2 years ago. It was so hard continuing to be healthy. But living with my friends who eat healthy and work out every day really helped me and in fact I lost even more weight! Everyone needs a support system, not hypocrites; especially children!
The theme of this film is young teenagers struggling with realizing that their obesity is something that their family and them can control. The kids, unfortunately, are surrounded by the causes of what makes them obese daily, these causes happen to be their parents. In one instance, we meet a young girl from Florida named Emily, who's family struggles with eating healthy. She had already been to therapy to learn to eat healthy and to lose the weight she had before becoming obese. When she came home from camp we see her being affected by the unhealthy eating actions her two sisters and parents partake in in front of her. She will not eat the unhealthy food at first but then it becomes too much to handle. Her parents see she is starting to gain her weight back and decide that they also need to contribute and change their eating habits to help with their daughter who is struggling. This is only one example, but the rest of the kids that we meet are all affected by their families eating habits. And like Emily and her family, the parents realize they need to make changes to better their children's health.
The theme of Bite Size is personal responsibility. The connection made in the film is that in order to be healthy and lose weight, the challenge begins with one's own personal decisions. The film is not tackling the issue of obesity from a corporate or legislative standpoint. Instead they are making the issue a personal one and it humanizes the issue to it's core. This is supported by the way we enter the lives of four kids and their families to see how they deal with it and the effects it has on them. The film also reinforces personal responsibility by sending the message that it comes down to the individual and being able to motivate themselves and control the way they eat. Personal responsibility is not restricted to the child at risk because parents and family members themselves have an obligation to also make wise decisions and become an example for others.
The main theme found in the documentary "Bite Size" is hope for a better and healthier life in the midst of a world that promotes unhealthy lifestyles. We can clearly see this in the stories of Deanna, Moy, and Davion who find what they love in dance, physical video games, and football to give them an opportunity to reduce their weight and make themselves happier with their bodies. Even Emily, who at the end of the film has gained weight back after going to the weight loss school found hope through her supportive parents who got rid of soda and unhealthy snacks in the household out of respect for Emily to continue to live as healthy a lifestyle as possible. The structure of the story plays into this theme as well. The story starts out by introducing these 4 characters during the point in their lives where it seems hopeless- whether it be Moy living with a dad who constantly eats junk food and promotes unhealthy habits or Davion not believing in himself that he can be a member of his school's football team. It then progresses through each of their journey's to find hope- which comes in different forms for each, but in the end leads to a greater happiness and potential to lead a healthier life.
13 comments:
The film "Bite Size" intertwines the lives of 4 young individuals who suffer or have suffered from obesity. The theme of this movie is the constant battles these children have to undergo, whether it's with their weight, their peers ridiculing them, their self-esteem, or their family. Each one of the individuals in this film goes through one of these battles, and these struggles reveal some of the challenges that many children and teenagers in America go through, even when they aren't overweight. Struggling for acceptance from your peers, your family, and yourself are things that all of us have gone through during one point of our lives or another. This film shows uses the topic of obesity and diabetes to help shed light on these other challenges. The use of children as the stars of the film really helps propel this story into a compelling one for the audience.
This is a film about childhood obesity but the real theme is uncovered through the stories of each child. I think that the true theme is parental influence. In each story I saw a common factor- a child struggling with his/her weight and a parent struggling to help. Emily was a child who spent a large amount of time at weight loss camps, but continued to gain weight when she returned home. Her parents didn't know what to do-- they spent their savings to help Emily lose weight but could not keep the weight off of her not matter what they tried. Emily also had two obese sisters. Emily's parents tried to be good influences for her, but they supplied the food to the house, bought the diet coke and watermelon, and failed in their efforts to help Emily. Another story that revealed the film's true theme was Moy. Moy struggled with being "fat", but throughout the film we continued to get a sense that many of Moy's bad nutritional habits were picked up from his father. Towards the end of the movie, his father had health scares and decided to make changes that would benefit both him and his son in the long run. These examples revealed to me what the filmmaker was really trying to say. In the Q&A after the film screening, Greta said that their main target audience was parents, which further made me believe that this was the theme they were getting at. They wanted to make a movie that inspired parents to get more involved with their children's dietary habits and educate themselves on proper diets to be able to become better influences for their children.
I would say that the theme of this film is obesity, specifically pertaining to children. Each of the four children in the film struggled with their weight and all seemed to be bullied at school because of that. Obesity has been a epidemic plaguing the Unites States for a while now, and even though there have been many programs established in hopes of reversing the problem. However, after watching this film, I think a lot of the struggles the children are facing are stemming from the parents. This shows us that the change has to happen from the home and from those who set the example for others. The parents seemed to really struggle about having to change their eating habits even when it was negatively affecting their children lives. Until the idea of fast food is reinvented, there are less processed food and heather lifestyles (that incorporate exercise) become the norm, it is unlikely we will see immediate change.
The theme of the movie Bite Sized is childhood obesity as well as the lack of awareness of children's health by parents. The film follows the lives of four children and visually demonstrates their struggle with food. Most of their parents do not know how to help their children make healthy food decisions, which has influenced the health state of the children. Some of the kids try to get help through weight loss programs or outside health food programs, yet when they come home, they are tempted with the junk food that their parents buy. Because of the lack of awareness by the parents, they are incapable of helping their children overcome the weight battle.
The theme of this documentary is overcoming a huge challenge -- the challenge of becoming healthy and losing weight. The documentary profiles several high school aged students accross the US through thier personnal fight for weight loss. Each story is compelling and unique; however, the documentary seemlessly connects the stories to this overall theme.
I feel like there are multiple themes to this film. The first theme is achieving a goal, such as overcoming obesity. This is portrayed throughout the entire story by witnessing the transformations of each child in this film. No matter the story, each overweight character experienced a character arc, and found the courage to overcome the lack of confidence and motivation. For instance, the young male with anger control issues finally learned how to deal with them and push others to strive. The group of girls were able to finally get passed their stubbornness and ended up performing in a little skit.
Another theme addressed is the direct correlation between poverty and obesity. This was shown by the the display of the children's environments. For instance, the counselor at poor Oakhurst school wasn't even able to purchase new PE equipment for the students. At the end of the film, we see the children at that school purchasing all this junk food and even saying that there isn't any good food in that town. Proper B-Roll of fast food chain restaurants helped portray this point. As for the others, notice the younger girl who was able to go through an expensive program and was doing better than all the other children at the beginning.
Finally, I think the final theme is that obese children need an authoritative figure to motivate them. If you notice in the film, the majority of the parents weren't helpful. Instead, they were like the mean children at school who said negative things towards their kids about their image. A great example was the father of the young boy who loved sitting and playing video games all day. His father was eating just as much junk food as he was and using negative reinforcement to try and motivate his son. Even his son said his father isn't credible because he's a hypocrite. Even with the young girl who followed the program and fell into a relapse after, her parents weren't motivating her to do better; instead, they were just criticizing her for falling back into her old habits. People need help to motivate themselves, especially young kids who are suffering and need the support of their parents.
The theme of this movie to me is awareness of child obesity. The story of 4 young children that are overweight and the struggles they go through with motivation to lose weight and become healthy is what brought the theme out to me. I think that this movie showed how obesity is a continuing problem and parents need to become aware that their own actions can affect their children.
I would say that the main theme of Bite Size is realizing and overcoming childhood obesity in America. The film's story helps reveal this theme by chronicling the trials and tribulations, along with some triumphs, that four children/pre-teens face in terms of their weight. They all face obstacles that get in their way, such as Emily's constant temptations after coming back from MindStream, which she describes as "The Biggest Loser for kids," a second time. Her family isn't as willing to give up their eating habits, therefore she struggles on a daily basis to resist the unhealthy food always surrounding her. Another example is Moy who doesn't really realize his problem because the same behaviors he exhibits, such as eating junk food and watching movies, are also portrayed by his father who he looks up to. It takes both Emily and Moy's families to accept the problem and deciding to do something about it in order to truly inspire change in their children. As we glimpse their lives a year later, Emily is continuing to struggle, but Moy seems to be on the path to health, as he has begun to like sports and exercise with his father.
It is difficult to pinpoint one theme in the documentary, as it had many prevalent ones, but I'd have to say the idea of self-change is the most prevalent. The film even opened on a quote about it, and the theme resonated throughout the film, and even fit well with the other prevalent themes as well as was seen in all 4 of the children's stories. In the case of the child who was struggling with obesity because of his father, the theme of familial relations came into play, but it also fit in the idea of self change and self improvement as well, because it showed how the kids really had to take it upon themselves to make the difference, no matter how their peers or family acted. The girl from Florida revealed similarities to this as well, as all her sisters were obese, but she took it upon herself to improve. Along with familial relations, bullying also came into play frequently, as the two african american children had to deal with bullying and pressure from peers while on the path to self-change. While each substory had themes of its own, I feel these three themes were the ones that permeated multiple story lines the most.
The theme of this movie was support and perseverance. With self-love and having someone help you make the right decision becoming healthier is an attainable goal. Childhood obesity is real and families battle through it everyday. When children have a coach, councilor and or parent who is their personal cheerleader these children can attain any goal. It was so upsetting to hear parents complain about their lazy kids who are coach potatoes, eat a lot of junk food and don’t exercise but the majority if not all of them at bad food and didn’t work out either. When a child or family member decided to loose weight it should be a group thing so that everyone can be healthy and so that one person will feel like they aren’t alone in the struggle.
I know what its like to be chubby and to have people make fun. I went to a “fat camp” 2 years ago. It was so hard continuing to be healthy. But living with my friends who eat healthy and work out every day really helped me and in fact I lost even more weight! Everyone needs a support system, not hypocrites; especially children!
The theme of this film is young teenagers struggling with realizing that their obesity is something that their family and them can control. The kids, unfortunately, are surrounded by the causes of what makes them obese daily, these causes happen to be their parents. In one instance, we meet a young girl from Florida named Emily, who's family struggles with eating healthy. She had already been to therapy to learn to eat healthy and to lose the weight she had before becoming obese. When she came home from camp we see her being affected by the unhealthy eating actions her two sisters and parents partake in in front of her. She will not eat the unhealthy food at first but then it becomes too much to handle. Her parents see she is starting to gain her weight back and decide that they also need to contribute and change their eating habits to help with their daughter who is struggling. This is only one example, but the rest of the kids that we meet are all affected by their families eating habits. And like Emily and her family, the parents realize they need to make changes to better their children's health.
The theme of Bite Size is personal responsibility. The connection made in the film is that in order to be healthy and lose weight, the challenge begins with one's own personal decisions. The film is not tackling the issue of obesity from a corporate or legislative standpoint. Instead they are making the issue a personal one and it humanizes the issue to it's core. This is supported by the way we enter the lives of four kids and their families to see how they deal with it and the effects it has on them. The film also reinforces personal responsibility by sending the message that it comes down to the individual and being able to motivate themselves and control the way they eat. Personal responsibility is not restricted to the child at risk because parents and family members themselves have an obligation to also make wise decisions and become an example for others.
The main theme found in the documentary "Bite Size" is hope for a better and healthier life in the midst of a world that promotes unhealthy lifestyles. We can clearly see this in the stories of Deanna, Moy, and Davion who find what they love in dance, physical video games, and football to give them an opportunity to reduce their weight and make themselves happier with their bodies. Even Emily, who at the end of the film has gained weight back after going to the weight loss school found hope through her supportive parents who got rid of soda and unhealthy snacks in the household out of respect for Emily to continue to live as healthy a lifestyle as possible. The structure of the story plays into this theme as well. The story starts out by introducing these 4 characters during the point in their lives where it seems hopeless- whether it be Moy living with a dad who constantly eats junk food and promotes unhealthy habits or Davion not believing in himself that he can be a member of his school's football team. It then progresses through each of their journey's to find hope- which comes in different forms for each, but in the end leads to a greater happiness and potential to lead a healthier life.
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