Copyright (c) 2013 Providence College All rights reserved. http://digitalcommons.providence.edu/auchs/2012/panela1 Recent Events in Health and Illness in the Media en-us Wed, 15 May 2013 17:53:39 PDT 3600 http://digitalcommons.providence.edu/auchs/2012/panela1/2 http://digitalcommons.providence.edu/auchs/2012/panela1/2 Sat, 31 Mar 2012 10:00:00 PDT Obesity is America’s number one leading health epidemic, affecting more than 93 million Americans today (OAC). From 1985 to 2010, obesity has gone from affecting an average of 10% of individuals in just about every state to today affecting 33.8% of people within each state. Children and adults alike all over the U.S. are being diagnosed with obesity and encouraged to change their lifestyles. Doctors are prescribing patients to lose weight, exercise, eat healthy, and in extreme cases, go under the knife, but none of these recommendations are making a dent in lowering the rate of obesity. Rather, the number of people who are obese in the United States is steadily increasing at an alarming rate. But why? Many people like to blame the individual who is battling the obesity disease for not making a change, but it goes beyond self-control and will power; obesity is a psychological disease and physical battle that has individuals struggling to re-invent their lives. With obesity at large, media outlets have become consumed with this epidemic and to make a profit in anyway on our weighty obsession, focusing their attention on broadcasting more weight-loss programs to influence viewers who identify themselves as overweight to lose weight in sake of their life and future. Yet, as the media has increased their attention towards this issue, they seem to have only encouraged more ridicule of overweight individuals and their struggles. Reality shows like The Biggest Loser and MTV’s Fat Camp, and cartoon series like The Simpsons and Family Guy, are four prime examples of how media attention towards obese individuals have taken a turn for the worse. All four shows have, at one point or another, come to show the obese in a negative light, either as being lazy, lacking will power, being made fun, unattractive, or in denial. Instead of helping them in their journey towards a healthier life, these television series are exploiting them. Because our culture so heavily revolves around television, by restructuring how we portray obesity on TV, we can make a small indent of change.

]]> Carly Babel http://digitalcommons.providence.edu/auchs/2012/panela1/1 http://digitalcommons.providence.edu/auchs/2012/panela1/1 Sat, 31 Mar 2012 10:00:00 PDT The discussion of mental health issues in the media significantly shapes public perceptions, most notably in negative portrayals that contribute to the stereotyping of mental health patients. Perhaps surprisingly, comics and graphic novels are forms of media that have potential to mitigate such stigma, despite earlier criticism of mental health stereotypes propagated in some comics. This is reflected in a recent trend of comics treating mental health issues in more sympathetic ways. This paper discusses three American comics from the last decade, examining depictions of post-traumatic stress disorder in Garry Trudeau's comic strip, Doonesbury, around 2005-2006, schizophrenia in Nate Powell's graphic novel, Swallow Me Whole (2008), and depression in a short Captain America comic (2011). An analysis of these examples reveals that comics in the United States have a unique and promising place in mental health education. Comics can reach an at-risk target audience, convey their messages in a visual and non-textual way, use narrative to present important issues in an accessible manner, use humor to enable the discussion of taboo topics, and, in some cases, use popular characters to raise the profile of a certain issue. They also have the potential to serve directly as therapy for mental health patients, a trend currently more visible in the United Kingdom and Canada. The comics and graphic novels discussed show, perhaps a larger trend of the media moving away from stereotyping and towards a greater visibility and understanding of mental health issues.

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