What’s behind the Angelina Jolie syndrome?
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- Published on Sunday, 13 December 2015 11:10
- Written by The Hindu
With the media constantly bombarding audiences with cancer, sanitisers and all manner of strange diseases, people are experiencing Hypochondriasis or Nosophobia, the fear of illness or disease, which has led to growing healthism, a peremptory idea of self-preserving behaviour.This approach criticises everything that fails to fit into the glamorous standards of a beautiful, young and slim body. In extreme forms, healthism is close to eugenics, which selects a ‘correct’ heredity. “But even simple concerns about the ‘standards’ of physical condition may provoke hypercorrection, such as surgery on a healthy body,” said Evgenia Golman from the HSE Faculty of Social Sciences Department of General Sociology.
Vigilant monitoring.The ‘Angelina Jolie syndrome’ has been frequently mentioned in the media recently, implying increased attention to the probability of dangerous diseases. This results not only in the vigilant monitoring of health, but also in possible attempts to prevent even hypothetical diseases, including by means of surgery on a healthy body.The famous case of the actress, who underwent a preventive mastectomy, is symptomatic of this obsession and fits into the healthism concept.
More signs.More widespread displays of healthism include the boom in diets, fitness, plastic surgery and organic food, as well as the popularity of mobile apps for health monitoring. Such ‘body worship’ is extensively supported by beauty salons, manufacturers of bioactive supplements and ‘superhealthy’ food, fitness and yoga centres, and, ultimately, even healthcare officials in many countries.Popular healthcare policy today often shifts the responsibility for health from healthcare institutions to individuals themselves, and shifts the focus from treatment to prevention, including prevention of even purely hypothetical pathologies, Golman explained in her paper.
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Angelina Jolie-Pitt adds to her tattoo collection as she reveals symbolic new ink on her forearm at the Cambodia Film Festival
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- Published on Friday, 11 December 2015 20:00
- Written by Daily Mail
Angelina Jolie-Pitt has revealed a brand new tattoo on her forearm.The 40-year-old actress and director stepped out at the Cambodia Film Festival in Phnom Penh last weekend with the ink clearly visible on the inside of her left arm, a new addition to her ever-growing collection of body art.Complete with a thin, intricate outline in black ink it is thought the tattoo is an homage to the thousands who lost their lives during the country's Khmer Rouge reign, as she is currently in the country working on a film about the atrocities.The ink appears to be in the style of the Southeast Asian sak yant style of tattooing, which is often constructed with lines of script, geometric patterns and animal shapes.The style is linked to Buddhist beliefs and those who wear sak yant often believe their tattoos genuinely lend them magical powers, bringing good luck or protection from evil spirits.Angelina already has a large collection of tattoos, including the phrase 'Know your rights' written in gothic print across her nape, the word 'Determination' in Arabic script inside her right forearm and a large Latin cross tattoo on her hip.She also has ancient Khmer script - the language of Cambodia - etched onto her back, the lines of text written down her left shoulder blade in Bangkok, Thailand in 2003.The five vertical rows, which are said to 'ward off bad luck', translate as: 'May your enemies run far away from you. If you acquire riches, may they remain yours always. 'Your beauty will be that of Apsara. Wherever you may go, many will attend, serve and protect you, surrounding you on all sides.' The Academy Award-winning actress has previously spoken out about how her six children are keen to get their own inkings, as both she and her husband Brad Pitt have a large collection between them.
The star - who also has a large tattoo of a tiger on her lower back - told Radio Times magazine last year that she does not want her offspring to follow them into the movie business, but that she is loathed to stop them from getting tattoos of their own.'My kids rebelling would be if they all became brain surgeons. They're already asking me about tattoos. How do I say "No"?,' she said.'It's especially hard for dads and girls,' she said. 'For some reason men get a little more sensitive when the daughter gets a tattoo. And Brad thinks the girls can do no wrong. He's mush in their hands!' Angelina and Brad are parents to six children: seven-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox, Shiloh, nine, Zahara, 10, Pax, 12 and Maddox, 14.And, in a sweet tribute to her large brood - the eldest three of whom were adopted from various countries - she has each of the coordinates of their places of birth (Cambodia, Vietnam, Ethiopia, France and Namibia) etched onto her left arm. Angelina is currently in Cambodia to direct a movie version of the harrowing Khmer Rouge memoir, First They Killed My Father.Angelina is bringing human rights activist Loung Ung's 2000 memoir of the same name to life with her screen adaptation, which she has also co-written.First They Killed My Father tells the harrowing tale of Ung's life through the Khmer Rouge years, under the reign of dictator Pol Pot, and her escape from the 'killing fields' in the 1970s.The film will also star Angelina's son Maddox, who hails from Cambodia: he'll also help out on the production side of things.
The Unbroken director first expressed an interest in adapting the book after reading it over a decade ago.'I was deeply affected by Loung's book,' she said previously. 'It deepened forever my understanding of how children experience war and are affected by the emotional memory of it. And it helped me draw closer still to the people of Cambodia, my son's homeland.''Films like this are hard to watch but important to see,' she continued of the movie, which is set for release in late 2016.'They are also hard to get made. Netflix is making this possible, and I am looking forward to working with them and excited that the film will reach so many people.'Ung has said of the adaptation, which will be produced by Cambodian film-maker Rithy Panh: 'Angelina and I met in 2001 in Cambodia, and immediately, I trusted Angelina's heart. 'Through the years, we have become close friends, and my admiration for her as a woman, a mother, a film-maker and a humanitarian has only grown. It is with great honour that I entrust my family's story to Angelina to adapt into a film.'
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Angelina Jolie Covers Elle France's Latest Issue!
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- Published on Friday, 04 December 2015 04:44
- Written by Just Jared
Angelina Jolie flashes her perfect smile on the cover of Elle France‘s December 2015 issue.The 40-year-old actress and director’s cover was revealed today on the magazine’s official Twitter account.Angelina‘s latest film By the Sea, which she wrote, directed, and starred in with her husband Brad Pitt, is currently playing in theaters. Be sure to check it out if you haven’t already!
For more from Angelina, visit Elle.fr.
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Angelina Jolie wants to help women feel proud of their bodies.
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November 2015 13:02
- Written by TV3
The actress decided to undergo a double mastectomy in 2013 when she found out she had an 87 per cent chance of developing breast cancer due to a defective BRCA1 gene. In her new film By the Sea she shows some skin and hopes it will help others in her position learn to love the way they look."I didn't want to hide and wanted to show women that these operations don't equal the end," she explained to Germany's TV Movie magazine."You can still have breasts. They might be slightly different to the touch, but you can still feel like a woman. We shouldn't have to be ashamed."But that's not to say filming By the Sea was easy for Angelina. At times she worried about flashing so much flesh on camera and had to stop herself from taking scenes out."There were lots of scenes I wanted to change or cut," she told the New York Times. "I realised it was going to be me (naked) in that bathtub. But I told myself, 'Put all of that aside... You can't change or cut this scene because you've had a mastectomy, or because we're married and people are going to analyse this or that. That would be cheating.'"Luckily her husband Brad Pitt has been by her side throughout. He also stars in the film and has been her rock."I knew through the surgeries that he was on my side and that this wasn't something where I was gonna feel less of a woman, because my husband wasn't gonna let that happen," Angelina recently explained to revered US broadcaster Tom Brokaw.
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The 'Angelina Effect' Has Doubled Preventative Mastectomy Procedures In The U.K
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November 2015 12:59
- Written by Huffington post
Two years after the actress Angelina Jolie went public about having a gene mutation linked to breast cancer and her preventative double mastectomy, a new U.K. study has shown that the number of preventative operations of this kind has risen.Angelina Jolie's announcement in May 2013 that she had had a double mastectomy caused a media storm. The American actress carries a mutation in the BRCA1 gene, as did her mother, who died of breast cancer. She explained that she decided to have the operation to eliminate the 87 per cent risk that she would one day develop breast cancer.Her decision led to renewed interest in breast cancer genetic research which a research team at a breast cancer prevention clinic at the University Hospital of South Manchester in the U.K. decided to investigate.In their study, which was published in the journal Breast Cancer on November 25, the researchers noted that the number of double mastectomies carried out in their clinic had more than doubled between January 2014 and June 2015, reaching a total of 83 procedures, whereas only 29 preventive mastectomies had been performed there between January 2011 and June 2012.While they did not question the patients about their underlying reasons for having the operation, professor of clinical genetics Gareth Evans and his team believe that the "Angelina Jolie effect" did much to encourage them.At the breast cancer prevention clinic at the University Hospital of South Manchester, the number of operations performed on women with BRCA1/2 gene mutations increased from 17 between January 2011 and June 2012, to 31 from January 2014 to June 2015.The researchers noted that there was even an increase in the number of procedures on high-risk women without the BRCA1/2 gene mutation (up from 12 to 52 over the same period).The researchers pointed out that there is normally a period of 9 to 12 months between the initial consultation and the operation. This could explain the rise in preventative mastectomies at the beginning of 2014, some 9 months after Angelina Jolie made her announcement.The study's authors say the effect has been prolonged. They would be interested to see whether other hospitals, in the UK and elsewhere, have noted similar results.
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