The two projects that I have chosen to relate to my musical art piece are Avia, 16 (from the series Thin) and Cathy, 53 (from the series Thin). The first thing anyone would ask is how pictures of two women relate to making a musical piece rooted in the depression of another person. Well considering the political climate a lot of it makes its origin with cultural capitalism. Cultural capitalism is “the set of social practices, social norms, values and patterns of behavior that are attributed to the capitalist economic system in a capitalist society, and is the accumulation of knowledge, behaviors, and skills that a person can tap into to demonstrate one's cultural competence and social status” (Nicki Lisa Cole, 2019). People with eating disorders are looked at with very judgmental lenses especially because these thoughts have bubbled up in the social norm of what the average human should look like. Often cultural capitalism is misidentified with the aesthetic of pop culture, but I think the best mundane meaning of it is the appropriation of identity. People with eating disorders are looking to validate themselves but the constant rate of progression regarding cultural appropriation is making it impossible to be branded as “human” and not thin or obese. In chapter one of “Seeing Power,” Thompson states “What proved most striking about capitalism’s ecstatic devotion to cultural production wasn’t its flattening ability – it was its potential to produce thousands of new identities” (Thompson, 2015). Thompson believes that new identities will be made, but this will not affect people with eating disorders in terms of being normalized in everyday society.
Their identities are being attacked which ties into the cultural capitalism and how companies thrive in judging your intentions, preferences and preying on your likes and dislikes. For instance, take a person with bulimia for example. Socio-Political Masses have constructed exuberant propaganda to overzealously prioritize the agenda of the companies in the food business. The tailor and cultivate advertisements that will evoke abnormal cravings within people suffering from bulimia, considering this tactic how is this not being combated with public opinion. This incongruity between what is being demanded from society and what is being consumed from society has led many “individuals to become fully immersed in obsession over food, appearance, and mechanisms through which they can control their bodies. For some, this obsession leads to healthy eating and increased activity levels, for others, it becomes a revolving door of crash diets and weight-loss medication, and in extreme cases eating disorders” (McMillin, 2013). Society has forced its norms on people who are self-conscious about their appearance and weight. In “Seeing Power” Thompson states “…The Post-World War II counter-culture movements lent activism a new, aesthetically diverse identity, but they failed, for the most part, to prioritize politics” (Thompson, 2015). Although Thompson is speaking in a general manner regarding socialism and the newfound culture being appropriated, the reference could still go as far as a reference to the initial rise of cultural appropriation and the constant ridicule of the identity attached to people with eating disorders.
My project is about depression and drug abuse but I chose these two pieces of art because this was the closest thing that I can relate my musical piece to. Just like the stigma surrounding the cultural atrophy of people suffering from eating disorders, depression should definitely be labeled as a political issue alongside eating disorders. While researching I found a personal essay from a person named Bobby London. London states “I am depressed because I live in a white-supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist world. I am depressed because people that look like me are constantly being murdered. I am depressed because the State has purposely made it difficult for black families like mine to survive. I am depressed because I have suffered traumas from white supremacy and the police state. I am depressed because the only way this will end is if we have continual revolutions. I am depressed because I don’t know if I’m going to know how it feels to be free” (London, 2015). This is a heartfelt cry for help and this matter of political unjust should be plastered on news outlets instead of some insignificant scuffle between the Kardashians. Avia is depressed because of the constant ridicule she tolerates regarding her extremely thin figure but it isn’t something she can control. She is suffering from anorexia.
On the other hand, Cathy is being ridiculed because she is obese. But they are not to blame some are born with them or “…begin with the best of intentions -- a desire to lose weight and control eating. But in some people, those good intentions go badly wrong, resulting in anorexia nervosa, bulimia, binge eating, or other disorders” (Jaret, n.d.). This link could be developed vice versa as well though. This is where the notion of identity really comes to fruition. Social norms may make people who developed eating disorders “…Feel as people that they’re not good enough,” Sacker says. “They become obsessed with perfectionism. That perfectionism begins to focus on what they eat. But underlying it is depression and anxiety. Often, these patients have suffered a lot of emotional trauma” (Jaret, n.d.). People with binge eating disorder are frequently overweight or obese, for instance. This can lead them to feel “chronically depressed about the way they look. After succumbing to an episode of binge eating, they may feel disgusted with themselves, worsening their depression” (Jaret, n.d.). I related this to my project especially because of the same self-destructive abuse they are cause themselves without reason or control.
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Works Cited
Andrea. (2015, August 5). EATING DISORDERS ARE A POLITICAL ISSUE: BULIMIA NERVOSA AND ADVANCED CAPITALISM. Retrieved November 8, 2019, from SCIENCE OF EATING DISORDERS: https://www.scienceofeds.org/2015/08/05/eating-disorders-are-a-political-issue-bulimia-nervosa-and-advanced-capitalism/Andrea. (2015, January 25). WHOSE CULTURE IS IT ANYWAY? DISENTANGLING CULTURE AND EATING DISORDERS – PART 3. Retrieved November 8 , 2019, from SCIENCE OF EATING DISORDERS: https://www.scienceofeds.org/2015/01/25/whose-culture-is-it-anyway-disentangling-culture-and-eating-disorders-part-3/
Fisher, M. (2012, July 16). Why mental health is a political issue. Retrieved November 8, 2019, from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jul/16/mental-health-political-issue
Jaret, P. (n.d.). Eating Disorders and Depression. Retrieved November 8, 2019, from WebMD: https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/eating-disorders/features/eating-disorders#1
London, B. (2015, July 31). Depression is Political. Retrieved November 8, 2019, from This Is Bobby London: https://thisisbobbylondon.com/2015/07/31/depression-is-political/
McMillin, P. R. (2013, April 1). Understanding the Cultural, Social, and Biological Enviorment Where Eating Disorders Thrive. Retrieved November 8, 2019, from CU Scholar: https://scholar.colorado.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1634&context=honr_theses
Nicki Lisa Cole, P. (2019, September 23). What Is Cultural Capital? Do I Have It? Retrieved November 8, 2019, from ThoughtCo.: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-cultural-capital-do-i-have-it-3026374
Thompson, N. (2015). Seeing Power Art and Activism in the 21st Century. United States: Melville House Publishing. Retrieved November 8, 2019
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