Sarah Yahm

"Thinness and Salvation" tackles the moral panic about the so-called obesity epidemic from an unexpected angle. The beginning of this piece looks at the political purposes the obesity epidemic serves in our current climate and then examines why we, as individuals, consent to this perpetual anxiety about fat. In the second section the producer compares the attitudes of christian dieters and california foodies towards foot and fat, revealing an underlying similarity between the two seemingly disparate groups. The final conclusion? In our contemporary at-risk society, in our industrial world filled with invisible and pervasive toxins, we rely on food and self regulation as a way to mystically guarantee ourselves health and salvation. "Unhealthy Obsession" replicates the internal world of a student at the Academy of the Sierras, the first weight-loss boarding school for teenagers.