For my final project, I created a short video documentary about the struggles that Latina women face as they attempt to find the balance between the conflicting messages that the media and their own family and culture are sending them in regards to body image and weight. Latinas comprise a large portion of the population of women suffering from some form of an eating disorder in the United States. Usually, it is these conflicting and, often, confusing messages from the media and Latino culture that engender these eating disorders.
Through a series of interviews, I chose three women who conveyed, in my opinion, most eloquently and precisely, how damaging these messages can be on a woman's life. By also speaking of my own experience struggling with an eating disorder on the documentary, I wanted to remove that "fifth wall", as they call it in theater, between myself and all the real women out there, and have viewers feel that element of authenticity and relativity in my message. I chose to film walking at the beginning of, and throughout, the film in order to once again give viewers that same sense by feeling as if they were seeing the same world I was seeing through their own eyes. In the end, I really wanted people to ask themselves if real Latinas really did have curves and really think about how dangerous, sometimes life threatening, the media and a critical culture can be for a Latina.
The documentary, overall, took a little over a month to develop. I did the producing and editing on my own using a combination of my slr digital camera, a flipcam, Garage Band, and Final Cut Pro. Here are some stills from the video.
One advertisement shot at Times Square.
A second advertisement of a woman in a provocative outfit and pose shot at Times Square.
Advertisements like these indirectly tell women they need to be blonde, tall, and unrealistically skinny to be beautiful. Shot at Times Square.
Screenshot of Jessica Melendez, one of the interview subjects included in the documentary.
Screenshot of Illeana Perez, another interview subject.
Gelene Harding, a third interview subject.
Link to full documentary available on youtube at : http://youtu.be/VsPHImG8gO4
Hi Zuleyka,
ReplyDeleteI just watched your piece and I absolutely loved it. It was so insightful and heartwarming to hear these young women spoke from the heart and share themselves with viewers.
Awesome work!
Do you plan ever doing a series about this or taking it into a feature length movie?
Thank you! I actually am hoping to further develop this video and hopefully have it fall into the right hands. It's an issue that hits close to home so I definitely want to keep working on it. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
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