It’s November 2023. “Wicked” has yet to grace the big screen, “brat” still means rude and we’re fresh off of Barbenheimer summer. The internet’s new boyfriend is none other than bleached-hair buzzcut sensation Tom Blyth. Blyth gained international recognition as an actor following his star turn in Hunger Games prequel “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” which follows a young Coriolanus Snow (the trilogy’s future villain) as he grapples with the implications of the 10th annual Hunger Games.
But behind the scenes, Blyth was playing the hunger games himself. He revealed to Variety that he lost weight to prepare for his role as the malnourished Snow. In his interview, he described following an intensely restricted diet consisting mostly of apple slices and almond butter for six months.
But Blyth’s case is simply a microcosm of a greater social phenomenon: Actors are taking their craft so seriously that they lose or gain weight for roles. And if it wasn’t already clear, I am not a fan.
There are articles trying to compile every instance of an actor changing their bodily composition for a job, but very few discuss the harmful implications of it. Many people may hear alarm bells when we think of this practice, but it’s hard to place our finger on what exactly the danger is. So let’s start with examining them from a scientific perspective.
A lot of these actors’ changes happen absurdly quickly, and rapid weight loss can have serious consequences. Losing weight too quickly can cause the human body to burn muscle, and it may also lead to dehydration, nutrient deficiencies, mental health issues and more. Methods that contribute to rapid weight loss include diet pills, dangerous “crash diets” (they work only in the short term and their unreasonable restrictions make for a highly inconvenient, non-balanced lifestyle), and intense overexercise (which can even open the door for easier injury).
Can weight change be done in a healthy way with the consultantation of a medical professional? Absolutely. Though, it’s not how, but why, performers undergo these changes that holds the most weight in the cultural conversation. Weight loss or gain for purposes of external validation, not personal health, is never truly “healthy.” When we sensationalize or praise these transformations, we’re fueling diet culture.
These changes indeed qualify as diet culture, not just method acting to an extreme extent, because they subconsciously perpetuate the idea that human bodies are to be changed at the convenience of someone or something else — namely, external expectations from the entertainment industry. Prioritizing the authenticity of a character you play over your own promotes a blatant disregard and skewed perception of personal health.
Changing your weight for a role also endorses the idea that bodily appearance is a defining factor of a character — and although it would be unreasonable to suggest that physical appearance has no effect on character, these effects should be studied, not stimulated.
In the case of Blyth, Coriolanus Snow is supposed to be skinny because he is living in a literal dystopian society, where the main premise is the underfed conditions of the citizens. Emulating Snow’s underfed frame is emulating his underfed lifestyle and inadequate nourishment. No matter how seriously someone takes their profession, I hope we can agree that it shouldn’t interfere with their health.
There are mental repercussions too. The mindset of disregarding your bodily cues is not going to go away the second you step off set. In fact, if you ignore your hunger cues for long enough, your body will start craving less nutritional food to get the energy it needs. Furthermore, waiting until you’re starving to eat often enables your body to ignore those cues once you let yourself eat to ensure you’re getting adequate fuel. It’s clear these are detrimental neurological pathways, ones that reinforce self-destructive mind games under the subtle guise of dedication, and the entertainment industry should not be putting them under such a spotlight.
In addition to the health risks of changing one’s bodily composition for an acting role, we have to consider the messaging it sends. When mainstream culture glorifies it, consumers of media normalize it, and we cannot risk validating often dangerous eating habits or romanticizing a lifestyle that neglects what one’s body communicates to them.
Unfortunately, the mindset these weight changes rely on transcends the entertainment industry to illustrate globally just how workaholic culture can go hand in hand with diet culture. Whether you’re being watched in theaters by millions of people or a high school student with a busy schedule, you shouldn’t have a commitment so all-encompassing that it negatively impacts your health and nourishment. Although this sounds obvious, it happens much more often than we realize, whether it’s strictly dieting in preparation for a role or simply rushing through breakfast in the morning. We all grapple with a million forces demanding our commitment, and, in a way, we always will.
But self-care and proper nourishment shouldn’t be neglected for the sake of these commitments, because they do not exist in opposition to our commitments — in fact, their relationship is conditional. Food is fuel and connection, not a reward, punishment or condition in a deal you make with yourself. It’s not an expendable part of your life. I, for one, can only dream of the performance Blyth may have been able to give if he had arrived on set after a nutritional breakfast. Responding organically to what your body actually needs, not what you think it should, is crucial for a well-rounded, actually “healthy” lifestyle.
Human bodies aren’t meant to morph to maximize convenience. We are not contortionists; we’re our own only constants amidst life’s constant change, and we are allowed to embrace that wholeheartedly.
