Christina With An A

I’ve been a little baffled by the reaction to Pixar’s newest short film, “Bao.” Based on internet comments, it seems there have only been a handful of people who liked or appreciated it. The majority found it weird and “didn’t get it.” What’s not to get? Sure, it’s a little unusual compared to some of the other Pixar shorts like “For the Birds,” which Pixar itself calls “deceptively simple” in terms of its plot and humor. Maybe that’s where viewers got lost with “Bao”: it is neither simple nor light, which one would expect for children’s entertainment. For those who haven’t yet seen “Bao,” the short film preceding The Incredibles 2 , let me give you a rundown of the story. Like most (all?) Pixar shorts, there is no dialogue, which I find quite impressive. The short opens with an older Chinese-Canadian woman preparing dumplings and an extravagant meal for her husband, who gobbles up some of the food before leaving for work abruptly. The mother begins to clean up the mess when one o...

Eating disorders, as I have recently learned, are not necessarily about being thin or controlling weight. I say “necessarily” because I am neither a doctor nor a therapist, I have no experience with eating disorders myself nor with people who have eating disorders, and the only source of information I have regarding eating disorders comes from what I’ve read in biographies and, as of last night, the new Netflix original movie, To the Bone , starring Lily Collins and Keanu Reeves. My boyfriend and I are always looking for a new show or movie to watch. We stumbled across this one a few nights ago and thought it seemed interesting. Last night, we delved into it, and I was not prepared for it. Something particular about this movie hit close to home for me: at one point, Karen, the inpatient counselor played by Alannah Ubach, points out to her group of inpatients (and to viewers alike) that eating disorders are not always about numbers on the scale—they can, in fact, be a result of ad...