SU film student combats society’s idea of perfection

Abby Tattle produced this documentary during her senior year at Syracuse University as part of her television, radio and film capstone course. Abby is currently pursuing her career in California. 

It was during my second semester of freshman year at Syracuse University, that I realized my fear of gaining the “freshman fifteen” had propelled me down a dangerous, obsessive, fatphobic path of excessive exercise and restrictive eating.

Perfection is a man-made concept, and as humans, we strive to fit the narrow definition of Western idealized definition of a “perfect life,” i.e. a thin body, stable office job, a romantic partner always at your side — you get the point. But this is an exhausting, unsustainable practice, and one that EMANCIPATED seeks to combat through open discourse.

As director, my hope is that this documentary is able to educate the audience and awaken them to the reality and prevalence of eating disorders. These diseases are egregious, pervasive, and can even be deadly. Unfortunately, they are also highly stigmatized, often neglected, mislabeled, or more often than not, completely disregarded. Through EMANCIPATED I hope to show the importance of loving your body as it is and help spread love and body positivity.