MIT Lecture Series Committee

unrated
100 minutes

view trailer

format: DVD

America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments (2011)

FREE Admission, sponsored by Active Minds @ MIT. Refreshments will be served at 6:00. Opening remarks will begin at 6:45, followed by the film at 7pm. After the film there will be a panel discussion featuring the film's director Darryl Roberts, and experts in eating and body image issues.

In an instant, 29 million Americans became fat, out of shape and dangerously obese...and they did it without taking a single bite of food. It was all the result of a decision to change the national standard for obesity. The question is "What was behind a ruling to declare so many people to be fat? Was it political, financial or for the good of humankind?" The answer lies in a new film by award-winning director Darryl Roberts who, in a follow-up to America The Beautiful, examines the cause of our country's obsession with dieting. You'll find out that diet companies have raked in huge profits because of the new standards -- guidelines the weight loss industry helped structure. America The Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments also weighs in on the raging debate between doctors who say fat is healthy versus those who disagree. [www.rottentomatoes.com]

A priceless reminder about the value of being able to accept yourself just the way you are without succumbing to the societal pressure to measure up to an unattainable, ideal body-type.
      -- Kam Williams, AALBC.com. Read this review.