Star Tribune

"Documentary explores world of eating disorders," Allie Shah
- November 13, 2006

"Thin," a new HBO movie, focuses on four women struggling in treatment.

Photographer Lauren Greenfield has made a career out of documenting youth culture. Her groundbreaking book project "Girl Culture" examined the way girls express themselves through their bodies. Now, in "Thin," her first documentary, she's focused a video camera on four women struggling with eating disorders at a Florida treatment center -- Brittany, 15, Shelly, 25, Alisa, 30, and Polly, 29.

We spoke with her about the issues raised in her new book, published in tandem with the HBO documentary that airs Tuesday.

Q Why did you decide to focus your lens on eating disorders?

A This really grew out of "Girl Culture." I spent five years looking at how the body has become a primary expression of identity for girls and women and how girls make their bodies into all-encompassing projects -- from the most ordinary and seemingly innocuous projects, like makeup and fashion, to the most self-destructive projects, like eating disorders.

I was interested in eating disorders because it was the most pathological body project, and the most dramatic example of how we use our bodies as our voices. That was what kind of got me there. But once I spent some time at Renfrew [the treatment center in Coconut Creek, Fla.], once I got to know these women, I got really captivated and really involved on a personal and professional level. It just really sucked me in.

Q In the movie, you profiled four patients. What attracted you to their stories?

A Like most of the people I find in the subjects that I work with, it's not a science. It's a very intuitive process. They all turned out to be very different people with different stories. I was definitely looking for that, but their stories unfolded while I was there, too.

I was introduced to Shelly by the clinic, and I was interested in her story because she was a twin. She also was a nurse and had battled an eating disorder for many years and she came in on a feeding tube, which is a pretty severe situation. She had been in treatment before and wanted this time to be different, so I thought that would be interesting.

We bonded and her story really developed, and we're still in very frequent touch. After the movie, I continued with her for another year. Actually, this summer she got married and I photographed her at a fitting for her wedding dress.

Q Were there signs of hope that they would overcome their disorders?

A Alisa has been in a solid recovery for the last year. Shelly has been struggling steadily since she left treatment. She's had some recent weight gain but she's struggling. Both Polly and Brittany have had periods of recovery and periods of relapse. It is a hard story in the sense that there are no easy fixes. It's not like you go to treatment and you're better. On the other hand, recovery is possible. Alisa had a very serious relapse after the treatment that I filmed. She went back to treatment for several more months and then began a very stable recovery. So for some people, it takes multiple treatments.

Q What caused these women to develop their eating disorders?

A There's no sure cause of an eating disorder. People think it's a mix of personal history, but also genetics, personality, family dynamics. And then the greater culture that we live in that creates a climate that is ripe for triggering eating disorders for people who are predisposed.

But in the movie I tried not to point to those things very directly. I mean, everyone has their own story and there are hints of what the triggering factors for each person are, but I tried not to make those too-causal links, because it's not that simple. A lot of people are children of divorce or victims of sexual trauma who don't develop eating disorders. And, of course, we all live in a media culture that encourages dieting and puts very thin models and actresses on a pedestal. We may be a culture full of chronic dieters, but we're not all anorexic.

Q What's your next project?

A Well, I'm still working on the "Thin" project. I'm working on a museum exhibition now that I hope will come to Minneapolis. For my next project I'm going to continue where "Girl Culture" left off, with a sociological project relating to body image. But I feel like at this point if I talk about it, I'll jinx it.