So, this film is very creepy on two levels but uses the creepiness to make a very strong point about a couple of things very wrong about diagnostics, medicine and dysmorphia in a generation who is literally “cut off” from their bodies.
Watch the film here:
So we are presented with a character sitting in this grim basement warehouse deal about to have her breast removed because she feels it is full of insects.
So all that research I’ve been doing into this generation plays in tandem to this. “Insanity” on the part of “the doctor” and the patient?
No reality testing.
So this is the criteria for Dysmorphic out of the DSM:
Characteristics of BDD
BDD is a body-image disorder characterized by persistent and intrusive preoccupations with an imagined or slight defect in one’s appearance.
People with BDD can dislike any part of their body, although they often find fault with their hair, skin, nose, chest, or stomach. In reality, a perceived defect may be only a slight imperfection or nonexistent. But for someone with BDD, the flaw is significant and prominent, often causing severe emotional distress and difficulties in daily functioning.
BDD most often develops in adolescents and teens, and research shows that it affects men and women almost equally. About one percent of the U.S. population has BDD.
The causes of BDD are unclear, but certain biological and environmental factors may contribute to its development, including genetic predisposition, neurobiological factors such as malfunctioning of serotonin in the brain, personality traits, and life experiences.
So the little short is massively creepy?
At the same time the levels of anti-depressants et al prescribed into this generation have caused this “non-reality” and huge, huge problems with “reality testing.”
These kids live in a world brought up on the machine.
More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_dysmorphic_disorder
Fix for this?
Mirroring via my Alchemy Project using art & narrative would be a way to stop the isolation of the machine.
I also really feel that modeling “love” is going to be a pretty huge cure for many, many things. Culture in the machine age is suffering from empathy and love as stable concepts.
VALENTINE BONNAIRE - WRITER 