Neuroscience
The Machinist, a 2004 film directed by Brad Anderson, features the emaciated skeleton of Christian Bale as a haunted character named Trevor Reznik. He suffers from chronic insomnia ("haven't slept in a year" [which is impossible]), a cleanliness obsession that compels him to scrub his hands and bathroom floor with bleach, and a massively unhealthy case of anorexia complete with regular weigh-ins.
Reznik was involved in a horrible tragedy, is an outcast at work (even before causing an accident that amputates a co-worker's arm), and begins interacting with elusive individuals. You wonder how he has the energy to do anything, let alone work in a machine shop. He can only find solace in the arms of the proverbial hooker with a heart of gold, with Jennifer Jason Leigh in the typecast role. While they're in bed together, it seems the petite Jason Leigh might crush him.
I recently watched the film for the first time, and Bale's anorexic body obviously played the starring role. The 6 foot (1.83 m) tall actor lost 60 pounds (27 kg) for the part, reaching a low weight of 119 (54 kg). This put his body mass index (BMI) at 16.1, clearly in the range that should not have been allowed by the film crew.
He supposedly starved himself for 4 months, consuming only coffee, apples, and tuna. Was that really necessary? No. 140 pounds would have been sufficient. Usually anorexia is viewed as a disorder that only occurs in girls, but it can affect boys (and men) as well (Woodside et al., 2001; Scagliusi et al., 2009).
But Christian Bale is definitely not one who goes in for moderation, either in his personal life or his acting choices. For a nice analysis of Bale's performance and the spectacle (and specter) of his body in The Machinist, see Weight Watching: Method Acting as a Label and Subtext in The Machinist.
References
Scagliusi FB, Nakagawa KA, Campos RM, Kotait M, Fabbri A, Sato P, Cordás TA. (2009). Nutritional knowledge, eating attitudes and chronic dietary restraint among men with eating disorders. Appetite. Sep 3. [Epub ahead of print]
Woodside DB, Garfinkel PE, Lin E, Goering P, Kaplan AS, Goldbloom DS et al., (2001). Comparisons of men with full or partial eating disorders, men without eating disorders, and women with eating disorders in the community. American Journal of Psychiatry 158:570–574.
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Neuroscience
Anorexia, Insomnia, and Paranoia
The Machinist, a 2004 film directed by Brad Anderson, features the emaciated skeleton of Christian Bale as a haunted character named Trevor Reznik. He suffers from chronic insomnia ("haven't slept in a year" [which is impossible]), a cleanliness obsession that compels him to scrub his hands and bathroom floor with bleach, and a massively unhealthy case of anorexia complete with regular weigh-ins.
Reznik was involved in a horrible tragedy, is an outcast at work (even before causing an accident that amputates a co-worker's arm), and begins interacting with elusive individuals. You wonder how he has the energy to do anything, let alone work in a machine shop. He can only find solace in the arms of the proverbial hooker with a heart of gold, with Jennifer Jason Leigh in the typecast role. While they're in bed together, it seems the petite Jason Leigh might crush him.
I recently watched the film for the first time, and Bale's anorexic body obviously played the starring role. The 6 foot (1.83 m) tall actor lost 60 pounds (27 kg) for the part, reaching a low weight of 119 (54 kg). This put his body mass index (BMI) at 16.1, clearly in the range that should not have been allowed by the film crew.
He supposedly starved himself for 4 months, consuming only coffee, apples, and tuna. Was that really necessary? No. 140 pounds would have been sufficient. Usually anorexia is viewed as a disorder that only occurs in girls, but it can affect boys (and men) as well (Woodside et al., 2001; Scagliusi et al., 2009).
But Christian Bale is definitely not one who goes in for moderation, either in his personal life or his acting choices. For a nice analysis of Bale's performance and the spectacle (and specter) of his body in The Machinist, see Weight Watching: Method Acting as a Label and Subtext in The Machinist.References
Scagliusi FB, Nakagawa KA, Campos RM, Kotait M, Fabbri A, Sato P, Cordás TA. (2009). Nutritional knowledge, eating attitudes and chronic dietary restraint among men with eating disorders. Appetite. Sep 3. [Epub ahead of print]
Woodside DB, Garfinkel PE, Lin E, Goering P, Kaplan AS, Goldbloom DS et al., (2001). Comparisons of men with full or partial eating disorders, men without eating disorders, and women with eating disorders in the community. American Journal of Psychiatry 158:570–574.
- The Special Issue Spotter
Emotion and disorders of emotion (Nature Neuroscience). Sociologies of problem gambling (American Behavioural Scientist). Personality and personal relationship processes (Journal of Social and Personal Relationships). Making instructional cartoons...
- How A Dentist Visit Can Trigger Anorexia
Dental treatment can, in rare cases, trigger anorexia nervosa in those susceptible to the illness, a psychiatrist has claimed. Tony Jaffa, of the Phoenix Adolescent Eating Disorders Centre in Cambridge, reports that out of approximately 100 case referrals...
- Body Image - It's 'healthy' People Who Are Deluded
We’re all going to die and there’s nothing we can do about it. Depressing? Well, it’s been argued that depressed people are the sane ones because they see the world for how it really is. Now consider this – a study has found people with eating...
- The Extrastriate Body Area And Visual Distortions In Anorexia
Contour Drawing Rating Scale (Thompson & Gray, 1995) - established as a reliable and valid measure of body size perception. Anorexia nervosa, an obsessive and unrelenting quest for thinness, is one of the most deadly psychiatric disorders. The documented...
- Bsci 105 For Psyc Majors - Anorexia Nervosa, Metabolism, & Osmosis
To support our students in BSIC 105 the Department has developed a series 5-10-minute supplemental videos exploring some of the topics you learn in BSCI 105 and how they are related to familiar (and interesting) psychological phenomena. In this...