An Analysis on Full House and
How D.J. Deals with Societal
Expectations of Beauty and Body Image
Full House is a television show that I have always loved to watch while growing up, and I still get all excited whenever I see it playing today on television. The focus is on one family which consists of Danny and his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and Michelle. When the girls were younger, their mother had passed away leaving Danny to care for the girls all by himself. Because of this, he recruited his best friend, Joey, and his brother-in-law, Jesse (the brother of the deceased wife), to move into his house to help him raise his girls. Overall, the show is humorous however there are dramatic moments as well. With raising three girls, Danny has no idea what he is in for and so he needs all of the help he can get. As D.J., the oldest daughter, begins to develop into her teenage years, she begins  |
| D.J. showing Kimmy what she wishes to look like |
D.J. had the thoughts of body image floating around in her head, however never had any incentive to do anything about it, or change herself, until her best friend, Kimmy Gibbler came over to deliver an invitation to her birthday party, which would take place at a swimming pool. Realizing that she would have to wear a bathing suit in front of everyone, D.J. instantly becomes upset, stating that there is no way she would wear a bathing suit in front of everyone with how her body looked at that time period. So, she decides to take matters into her own hands and develops her own strict diet and routine for herself. Her first step in her body image change is seen when she tapes up pictures of a number of different models and their half-naked bodies on the family's kitchen fridge in order to deter her from eating anything if she was ever tempted to open up the refrigerator. D.J's Uncle Jesse's fiance, Becky, witnesses D.J. doing this and begins to explain to her what types of food would be good for her to eat if she was trying to lose weight, however this was a very negative thing for Becky to do since D.J. is so young and wasn't even overweight to begin with.
As time goes on, D.J. stops eating all together in order to gain faster results of weight loss, however her family does not know this. D.J. then complains about her lack of weight loss to her Uncle Jesse who advises on going to the gym. I find it strange that no one told D.J. that she didn't need to lose weight... or even ask her why she wanted to in the first place, but that's besides the point. At school, D.J.'s younger sister, Stephanie, picks up on the fact that there is something going on with D.J. She then realizes that D.J. has been giving her school lunches to Kimmy Gibbler to eat, and then finds out that she has been skimping out on all of her other meals as well, meaning that D.J. is on the road to anorexia. Naomi Wolf includes in her book, The Beauty Myth, that "up to one tenth of all young American women, up to one fifth of women students in the United States, are locked into one-woman hunger camps. When they fall, there are no memorial services, no intervention through awareness programs, no formal message from their schools and colleges that the society prefers its young women to eat and thrive rather than sicken and die. Flags are not lowered in recognition of the fact that in every black-robed ceremonial marches a fifth column of death's-heads," (Wolf 181). It is extremely beneficial that Full House created an episode based around eating disorders and the pressures that young women go through with their body image and trying to meet society's expectations of beauty. Since the show was fairly popular, and in my mind still continues to be, even though it has 'ended,' it demonstrates that other girls are going through the same pressures as well and how to cope with them and ultimately surpass them.
Stephanie becomes worried, as any normal sister would be, however D.J. makes her promise (pinky promise to be exact) that she will not tell their father or anyone else in their family, and that it will all be over as soon as Kimmy's birthday party passes. One day when they meet in the kitchen, Stephanie demands that D.J. eat the sandwich that their father had made for her. After Stephanie leaves the kitchen, she continues spying on D.J. to see if she actually eats the sandwich. Then, of course, D.J. avoids eating the sandwich by feeding it to their pet dog, Comet, who gladly eats it up in about three bites.
Later on in the episode, resulting from D.J.'s interest in going to the gym, the whole family decides to take a trip to the gym. D.J. enters the gym and immediately asks her family which machine will burn the optimum amount of calories, and her father references her to the stationary bike. He informs her that she should start out slow, however after Danny walks away, D.J. cranks up the speed and rides the stationary bike like there's no tomorrow (which is the start of the video to the right of this text; a snippet from the episode displaying D.J. in the peak of her body image crisis and where her family finally learns about it and takes action). After working out on the stationary bike for a while, D.J. runs over to the scale to see if she has lost any weight, then become disappointed when she realizes that she has not. So, she turns to the elliptical machine which ultimately sends her over the edge causing her to become dizzy and almost faint while getting off of the machine. Once the family realizes this, they immediately return home and it is implied that D.J. takes a nap in order to feel better, since she claimed that she was only tired. Naomi Wolf continues by explaining the serious health risks that can be associated with anorexia by stating, "there are no reliable statistics about death rates from anorexia, but a disease that strikes between 5 and 10 percent if American women, and has one of the highest fatality rates for a mental illness, deserves the kind of media investigation that is devoted to serious and potentially fatal epidemics...The National Institutes of Health has, to date, no education and prevention program whatsoever. So it appears that the bedrock question- why must Western women go hungry- is one too dangerous to ask even in the face of a death toll such as this... This disease is a deadly one. Brumberg reports that 5 to 15 percent of hospitalized anorexics die in treatment, giving the disease one of the highest fatality rates for a mental illness," (Wolf 182). The show does not demonstrate these drastic facts in its storyline, however it is obvious that D.J.'s health and mental health are quickly deteriorating as a result of her starvation and this is necessary for all young girls to see so that it discourages them from engaging in the same types of acts themselves. Other side effects that could arise from more long-term anorexia include, "hypothermia, edema, hypotension, bradycardia (impaired heartbeat), lanugo (growth of body hair), infertility, and death," (Wolf 183). Luckily, thanks to her sister, Stephanie, D.J. never got very far in her anorexic habits.
After D.J. awakens from her nap, the rest of the family begins to question her to see if she is feeling alright. Joey had even cooked up D.J.'s favorite dinner for her, but when he asked her to try it, she declined his offer, stating that it was because she had just brushed her teeth. With it being dinner time, the family found her dismissal of the food odd and Danny began demanding answers as to why D.J. is acting so strange. D.J. becomes very defensive and snappy when answering any of their questions. She also tries to evade the situation by slipping out the door to Kimmy's house, stating that she was going to go eat dinner there. However, Stephanie stops her from going by releasing D.J.'s secret that she hasn't eaten for three days. This then results in a father-daughter conversation between Danny and D.J. where Danny explains to D.J. that she is just as beautiful as any of the models in her magazines. D.J. denies this, however, and asks him to find any woman in there that has a round face and chubby cheeks like hers. Given that Full House is a family-based sitcom, D.J. ends up realizing the error of her ways and finds peace with her body image thanks to her chat with her father. The ending of this type of situation is completely unrealistic, however I understand that it is what the show needed to do in order to wrap up the episode.
One method, originating from the ideas of Jean Kilbourne, that young women can partake in to fight against the body images being portrayed in magazines that disturb them, like D.J., is that "when you're reading a magazine and those irritating subscription cards fall into your lap, write on the card something like "stop exploiting women" or "feed your models" and mail it. It costs them something like 30 cents for every one that's sent back. It takes about 10 seconds, and it cleans up litter," (Jervis 336). In order for women to receive the change that they are looking for, we need to be persistent in getting the knowledge across of the false perceptions of women and how society expects them to carry themselves. A woman should have the choice to be able to look and carry herself in any way she wishes, without any criticism from anyone else since it is her body and her life. One young woman who has been receiving an exceptional amount of grief for this type of occurrence is Miley Cyrus. However, more on that to come with the next post!
Sincerely,
Samantha
After D.J. awakens from her nap, the rest of the family begins to question her to see if she is feeling alright. Joey had even cooked up D.J.'s favorite dinner for her, but when he asked her to try it, she declined his offer, stating that it was because she had just brushed her teeth. With it being dinner time, the family found her dismissal of the food odd and Danny began demanding answers as to why D.J. is acting so strange. D.J. becomes very defensive and snappy when answering any of their questions. She also tries to evade the situation by slipping out the door to Kimmy's house, stating that she was going to go eat dinner there. However, Stephanie stops her from going by releasing D.J.'s secret that she hasn't eaten for three days. This then results in a father-daughter conversation between Danny and D.J. where Danny explains to D.J. that she is just as beautiful as any of the models in her magazines. D.J. denies this, however, and asks him to find any woman in there that has a round face and chubby cheeks like hers. Given that Full House is a family-based sitcom, D.J. ends up realizing the error of her ways and finds peace with her body image thanks to her chat with her father. The ending of this type of situation is completely unrealistic, however I understand that it is what the show needed to do in order to wrap up the episode.
One method, originating from the ideas of Jean Kilbourne, that young women can partake in to fight against the body images being portrayed in magazines that disturb them, like D.J., is that "when you're reading a magazine and those irritating subscription cards fall into your lap, write on the card something like "stop exploiting women" or "feed your models" and mail it. It costs them something like 30 cents for every one that's sent back. It takes about 10 seconds, and it cleans up litter," (Jervis 336). In order for women to receive the change that they are looking for, we need to be persistent in getting the knowledge across of the false perceptions of women and how society expects them to carry themselves. A woman should have the choice to be able to look and carry herself in any way she wishes, without any criticism from anyone else since it is her body and her life. One young woman who has been receiving an exceptional amount of grief for this type of occurrence is Miley Cyrus. However, more on that to come with the next post!
Sincerely,
Samantha
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