MovieChat Forums > Thin (2006) Discussion > Brittany just frusterated the hell out o...

Brittany just frusterated the hell out of me

posted 17 years ago by AnOceanBetweenUs
8 replies | jump to latest

She's 15 years old for christ sake! She's just content to spend the rest of her life in places like Renfrew or die trying to be thin like all the popular girls at her school. It's shallow and it's selfish. I am a 17 year old high school senior and I can't stand girls who cannot see past high school or past their youth. Brittany just cannot see the big picture because she's so young and she doesn't seem to notice or care how serious her situation is, she just wants to be thin. When she said "I just want everyone to let me die" I wanted to slap her. Nothing anyone said got through to her, not even older women who have wasted their lives being anorexic and bulimic and who have a hell of a lot more life experience that Brittany does. I just wanted someone to slap her across the face and say "yeah, your dying! Get a *beep* clue!"

And her mother needs a reality check too. "Chew and Spit?" thats disgusting and hurtful to her daughter.

I hope now that she is older, Brittany will have gotten herself together and matured, because in spite of everything I just said, I wish only the best for her and I want her to get better.

When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all. -Futurama

[–] starberre 17 years ago

She frustrated the crap out of me too, but I have to think about her background, her age, and her current mental state (well, current in the film). She had a mother with an eating disorder, and probably looked up to her mother and her mother's thinness. She was 15, and at that age most kids are still totally self-centered (not saying all, and not saying it's a bad thing, but just about everyone at that age goes through that phase), pushing the limits, and fighting for control. She wants to be thin because she thinks it's socially more acceptable, and she finds that she can control her weight by not eating, purging, etc. So her teenage mindframe is such that she wants to be in control, and her ED is the one thing she has complete control over. Then you stick her in a rehab facility while she is still pushing back and testing limits, it doesn't surprise me one bit that she acted and felt the way she did.
I just hope that now that she's a little older that she's had a wake-up call and a slap in the face. I was a LOT like her when I was 13-14-15 and for some reason her story stuck with me the most.

Nobody likes you either!

[–] AnOceanBetweenUs 17 years ago

I get what you mean Starberre. I understand the whole teenager thing. I mean, I still am a teenager! I remember what being 15 was like. But unlike Brittany, I understood that I wouldn't be 15 forever. I could see down the road, and I hate when some people can't see that.

Brittany made me angry and still broke my heart. I looked at all of those older women who have spent their lives in place like Renfrew and regret never being able to go out into the world and live, and I can't help but think that that's what Brittany will grow up to be. Yes she has a problem, yes she is having a hard time, but only she can fix that. And it just hurts that she doesn't want to fix it. She just gave up.

When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all. -Futurama

[–] starberre 17 years ago

She, to me, was one of the most heartbreaking ones. It was clear that she wasn't ready to be in Renfrew and that she'd pretty much been forced to go there by whomever. Most of the other girls, it seemed, had admitted themselves to the facility. I guess I empathized with Brittany on some level because I've been in a similar situation, and when you aren't ready to be helped, there's nobody that can help you. I agree though that she was frustrating and I wanted to reach right through the screen and throttle her at times. She just doesn't/didn't get how everything she was doing is going to lead to her dying, and she has a family that cares about her but that doesn't seem to matter to her. I really wish they'd do a follow up on these girls!!

Nobody likes you either!

[–] pharring-1 17 years ago

Eating Disorders are mental illnesses. You're (it's not spelled *your*) young, and therefore it's understandable that you don't understand the difference between seeing things clearly and having a *mental* disorder. What you're suggesting is akin to slapping a schizophrenic across the face and saying "There ARE no voices, you idiot!"
You are in no position to judge someone's mental state or to suggest they will grow out of it. I can't stand when pretentious teenagers think they know everything.

[–] AnOceanBetweenUs 17 years ago

First of all I am not a pretentious teenager, and I do not think I know everything. I'm not downplaying the severity of what is wrong with Brittany or the fact that she needs serious help. I am saying that the fact that she does not want help is very frusterating to me. She had support, she was surrounded by women who had been anorexic their whole lives and were offering her advice. And nothing got through to her. It frusterates me when people reject help beacuse they would rather be sick than go out into the world and LIVE. It is a good thing that Brittany is still young and maybe someday someone will get through to her and she will want to get better.

I am not judging Brittany, I wish her all the best and I want her to get well. All that I ask is that she take some responsibility for her own actions. She can CHOOSE to get better or she can CHOOSE to spend the rest of her life in places like Renfrew. It's up to her. She's seriously ill, and she cannot get better by herself. She needs help to get better, and so far she's has chosen not to accept it.

And I know the difference between "your" and "you're" by the way. I hate it when pretentious, patronizing, adults talk down to other people.

When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all. -Futurama

[–] JessCTate 17 years ago

That's the biggest problem with having this sort of mental disorder. It doesn't matter how many people are supporting you, or if you have your whole life ahead of you, or anything. If you don't <i>want</i> help, you can't get better. It's as simple as that. Take it from someone who is going through cognative behavioral therapy for her second year to help end cutting issues, if someone doesn't want help, there's nothing you can do.

I definatly understand being frustrated, because as a human being, you don't want to watch someone hurt like that when they have options, but that's not how the human mind works. You may know you need help, but you just... don't care.

-JTC-
"Where's the Sealer?"

[–] hodie 17 years ago

I just wanted someone to slap her across the face and say "yeah, your dying! Get a *beep* clue!"

Others to the contrary, I felt the same frustration. She was just taking up a bed that could be used by someone who wanted help.

God save Donald Duck, vaudeville and variety

[–] holly61 (989) 4 years ago

Brittany had no interest in her future or her education it was just her eating disorder. It's not even immaturity, it's a combination of hyper focus and no value for ones self beyond the physical body. she saw beauty in thinness, maybe even an identity. Apparently she never recovered.