Paula Notting left a very helpful comment on her opinions of my bog dating back to the 20th Feb. (How important is Self Image in Dance?’ She very helpfully suggested that academically, it would be beneficial for me, and others, for me to reflect back on this specific post and record more of my thoughts on the second article of which I was drawing everyone’s attention too.

Paula Notting left a very helpful comment on her opinions of my bog dating back to the 20^th Feb. (How important is Self Image in Dance?’ She very helpfully suggested that academically, it would be beneficial for me, and others, for me to reflect back on this specific post and record more of my thoughts on the second article of which I was drawing everyone’s attention too.
I have decided to get it back out from the file from the ‘Feb’ section and post my reflective thoughts on it. I have realised how my reflection on something will actually change and ideally is a process which needs to be updated in accordance to everything that is going on around me.
On second reflection, the article really focuses on more of a more general spectrum of media, with the film the ‘Black Swan’, just being one specific film to be mentioned. He film itself then obviously provokes the debate of ‘self image’, and the possible obsession with it in the dance industry. In my bog I was expressing my anger at the fact that dancers can be stereotyped to become too obsessed with self image, and this portrayal of the idea that every dancer will be eventually affected by eating restrictions that lead to anorexia or bulimia etc of some form in their professional career. This stereotype, and the fact that this is what’s being shown in today’s media, made me really quite concerned. Coincidently, ting in to the studying we are doing on reflection at the moment, had I been experimenting with something creative such as a coloured painting, my page would have been smothered with the brightest red paint I cold find to signify m anger!
The article is really trying to express how, as a nation however, we must actually clearly get some form of twisted pleasure out of watching films that portray such issues. This however, does not actually prove anything with regards to the question I was initially proposing. My question refers specifically to the importance, or lack of importance as it may be, of self image in dance. Whets evident, and possibly the most important factor here, upon this second reflection of mine, is that why, as a nation, even in this economically difficult time, we will happily pay an average of £5 per ticket to go and watch a film that portrays a concept of eating disorders and self obsession of image goes hand in hand with having dance as your professional practise. We all know that this is simply just not the case, right?!
The articles’ headlining quote sums it up for me, although again I must admit, reading it again, my blood boils and I am desperate to stand up and fight to change this principle. ‘We’ do not ‘love the dark side’, and not all of us agree that ‘Natalie Portman’s demented dancer is an awards darling, but upbeat Julia Roberts doesn’t stand a chance’. I feel that, at a time when the media, and in particular the ‘Oscars’ have such power over the general public at the moment, they also have a responsibility. Films like this are simply irresponsible and unhealthy. There is actually no reason why Julia Roberts, in one of her many characters, be it movie stars in ‘Notting Hill’, a prostitute in ‘Pretty Woman’, or a woman’s rights leader and mother in ‘Erin Brokovitch’, could suffer from a mental health disorder.