Disney airs children's body-image issues
Plumbs theme in special, series
By DONNA PETROZZELLO
Sunday, July 28th, 2002
(New York Daily News) -- Even in Mickey Mouse's house, young folks find fault with the way they look.
In fact, to children and teens, body image is as big a deal as it is with adults.
So executives at cable's Disney Channel, aware of the problems some of the network's viewers face when viewing their own bodies, set out to create a special - and special episodes of its popular series "Lizzie McGuire" - to confront the topic head on.
The special, "Confident For Life: Kids and Body Image," airs tonight at 7.
"I think we have to empower children and teens who are dealing with body image issues when they're young, because that's when the problems start blossoming," said Rich Ross, president of entertainment at the Disney Channel. "You hear about girls in second and third grade going on diets.
"We also know that childhood obesity is a growing problem," said Ross, who watched a friend battle anorexia. "So, you put it all together and you've got some pretty serious situations."
For tonight's special, director Barbara Kopple ("The Hamptons") and executive producer Laurie Meadoff talked with a variety of teens - some overweight and some who had battled anorexia - about how their desire to have a so-called "perfect physique" affected their lives.
"None of the teens on the tape are typical," said Kopple. "I loved doing a film about this topic because everybody goes through being teased and has issues with how they feel about themselves."
In one segment, students at West Essex Middle School in West Caldwell, N.J., talk about how images of women on TV, in movies and in magazines encourage men to desire women strictly on a physical level.
In another, overweight children at Camp Kingsmount in West Stockbridge, Mass. talk about ways in which they handle being taunted and teased about their size. Meanwhile, a high-school hockey player describes how his feeling of unhappiness over his weight led to self-starvation.
Patti Miller, a director of the California-based research and advocacy group Children Now, says that children and teens need to hear that it's okay not to look like their favorite TV or movie star.
"A documentary like this reinforces a positive message to kids that people look very different from the models on TV," Miller said.
"Confident for Life: Kids and Body Image" is the third in a documentary series developed by Disney to encourage children and teens to talk about problems they face. Previous shows, also directed by Kopple, addressed attention- deficit disorder and AIDS.
Plumbs theme in special, series
By DONNA PETROZZELLO
Sunday, July 28th, 2002
(New York Daily News) -- Even in Mickey Mouse's house, young folks find fault with the way they look.
In fact, to children and teens, body image is as big a deal as it is with adults.
So executives at cable's Disney Channel, aware of the problems some of the network's viewers face when viewing their own bodies, set out to create a special - and special episodes of its popular series "Lizzie McGuire" - to confront the topic head on.
The special, "Confident For Life: Kids and Body Image," airs tonight at 7.
"I think we have to empower children and teens who are dealing with body image issues when they're young, because that's when the problems start blossoming," said Rich Ross, president of entertainment at the Disney Channel. "You hear about girls in second and third grade going on diets.
"We also know that childhood obesity is a growing problem," said Ross, who watched a friend battle anorexia. "So, you put it all together and you've got some pretty serious situations."
For tonight's special, director Barbara Kopple ("The Hamptons") and executive producer Laurie Meadoff talked with a variety of teens - some overweight and some who had battled anorexia - about how their desire to have a so-called "perfect physique" affected their lives.
"None of the teens on the tape are typical," said Kopple. "I loved doing a film about this topic because everybody goes through being teased and has issues with how they feel about themselves."
In one segment, students at West Essex Middle School in West Caldwell, N.J., talk about how images of women on TV, in movies and in magazines encourage men to desire women strictly on a physical level.
In another, overweight children at Camp Kingsmount in West Stockbridge, Mass. talk about ways in which they handle being taunted and teased about their size. Meanwhile, a high-school hockey player describes how his feeling of unhappiness over his weight led to self-starvation.
Patti Miller, a director of the California-based research and advocacy group Children Now, says that children and teens need to hear that it's okay not to look like their favorite TV or movie star.
"A documentary like this reinforces a positive message to kids that people look very different from the models on TV," Miller said.
"Confident for Life: Kids and Body Image" is the third in a documentary series developed by Disney to encourage children and teens to talk about problems they face. Previous shows, also directed by Kopple, addressed attention- deficit disorder and AIDS.