This is the feature article for my film.

2. Anorexia nervosa, simply known
as anorexia, is an eating disorder
characterised by low weight, fear of
gaining weight, and a strong desire
to be thin, resulting in food restric-
tion. Ivy Sterling knows all about
having anorexia as shown in the
up- coming short British social
realism movie, Paperweight.
Ivy goes through school
seemingly fine to everyone,
including her older sister Teagan.
Not even her best friend, Krysta
Blackwell, thinks there is anything
wrong with Ivy.
But what happens when nothing
is as it seems? What happens when
Ivy lets society’s standards on beau-
ty and body image get to her?
Society’s standards of beauty are
unrealistic for women and girls
alike, even for men although more
predominant in females.
They set high standards on
physical beauty and are constantly
surrounded by it through magazine
covers, billboards, commercials,
social media, TV shows and
movies.
Title: Paperweight
Director: Alhan Ismail
Running Time:
Plot: Following the life of Ivy
Sterling, a teenage girl who just
wanted to become an actress and
a model but is faced with serious
obstacles.
Anorexia has been portrayed
before in films such as For The
Love Of Nancy, Perfect Body and
To The Bone. While Paperweight
uses the same idea of a young
girl suffering from anorexia,
what makes it an original film is
that the main character, Ivy
Sterling, is represented by a not
well known actor, who is also the
same age as the character. This
allows the audience to be able to
connect with the character more
so than the previous films made, as
actors are usually more older than the
character they play. Topics such as
eating disorders are sometimes taboo
in media products and when they are
represented, they are often represent-
ed in either the wrong light or have a
few inaccuracies. Paperweight works
to fix those inaccuracies and portray
eating disorders like anorexia as
accurately and realistically as
possible. It also includes insight on
other causes of the disorder that mov-
ies do not touch upon. For example,
the majority of films that are based on
eating disorders use the idea that the
eating disorder came about because
of their image and society’s standards
on what beauty is. However, this is not
the only cause as stated at the end of
Paperweight.
PAPERWEIGHT
Inspired by To The Bone and Perfect Body, this short movie about eating
disorders will have you on the edge of your seat.
“Before taking on this role, I only knew
about eating disorders from what the
media would tell me but since then my
eyes have been opened to the reality of
the disorders”
“Eating disorders are so much more
complex than what the media portrays
and I’m glad that Paperweight touches
upon things that other movies don’t”
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