TV Rant: Supersize vs Superskinny

[andygates]

Wow, what a foul programme.  Under the thinnest of "health is good, hm'kay" veneers we get two poor individuals who are paraded as physical and psychological freaks ("she eats a cake every hour!" - "she runs a marathon before a breakfast of coffee and dexedrine!") before being made to spend time eating what the other one eats.  We get to watch the inevitable skinny person's distress as they run out of internal space (their mental issues notwithstanding - this is pretty much torture if you've got food issues) and the fat person's distress as their digestive system, rigged to fuel a hefty body, runs on empty (and if you've never been fat and hungry, you've no idea *how* hungry that can be, srsly).

I mean, why not just set fire to some kittens or something? 

There's a line between interesting (if prurient) health telly and torture porn.  "Freaky Eaters" is the good side; "Supersize vs Superskinny" is the bad side.  It's gratuitous and cruel.

Comments

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Yes, but there are good ones and bad ones. Freaky Eaters is the good side: you get the nutter who looks funny, all the pleasure of not being them and the vicarious squick of someone analyzing their poo, but the guidance they get is positive and self-affirming and actually helps.

Someone could watch that and then think, "maybe I won't have pizza again tonight, that green stuff isn't really my deal but it worked for tellyboy."

That won't work with the torture-n-humiliation method. I swear, they'd never get that past an ethics committee if it was a psychological trial.