Not only is this woman's designed-and-made-in-Canada bathing suit a thing of the past, so too is this Canadian woman's figure. This 1945 ad shows a Vancouver woman, Yvonne de Carlo, modelling a cutting-edge bathing suit with new fabric (prior, women's bathing suits were made of heavy water-absorbing wool). The bathing suit was designed by two other B.C. women, Rose Marie Reid (design), and Marianne McCrea McClain (textile).
This Canadian man enjoying the summer sun in Montreal is also not how most Canadian men look, either. As a just released poll on Canadians' perceptions of their health shows, Canadians think they are lean, fit, and healthy but in fact 2/3 of Canadians are overweight and 20% are obese. Just as Canadians have deluded themselves that our national identity is that of a peacemaker (in fact, we are profiteering from waging war in Afghanistan and training police and security forces in Haiti, the West Bank, and Afghanistan), so too have we deluded ourselves that we are in shape, healthy and active.
This photo is more reflective of the average Canadian bodies today, as we eat more than we move. While there are lots of social and economic reasons for rising weights, inactivity, poor eating, and unhealthiness, one of the contributing factors to our delusion of thinking we are in shape and physically active when in fact we are overweight and sedentary, is the lie of the images on tv and other visual media. The bodies of people on TV and movies do not mirror us back to ourselves. They show illusions, simulacra, as if all men and women and teenagers and children are thin and lean.
'The Biggest Burger in Canada'The Adversary: 9 lb. Hamburger
Where to Slay It: Blondie's Restaurant -- Winnipeg, Manitoba
5 comments:
Yes, very good post. I remember back in the 50's/60's one hardly saw obese people. Most of us were quite lean and had good figures. What's happened?! Because we did have hamburguers and hot dogs in those years... Hugs, M.
Actually, our local Stanley Burger is a villain of the piece, too.
indeed, we did have burgers and fries, but I think one of the differences is that those were occasional treats and not considered supper! Also, serving sizes were way smaller.
BP, I will have to drive out to see the Stanley Burger! I have not experienced a SB but you've made me curious to get out to the Stanley Hotel.
Nowaday people eat industrial food with a great many additives. and all nutrients and vitamins are cleaned off in factories. Molecular formulas of nowaday food are so complicated with additives so it is very difficult to say what is it what we really eat. Our human bodies cannot decomposite this kind of complicated mess and this mess cannot be digested but it is getting stored into bodies. Liver, pancreas and stomach are getting weaker and weaker. Our bodies have no power left to digest food. No wonder why people are so thick now.
In 50's and 60's people could eat much pork fat ( läski ) without fattening because fats and other foods were without "modern" additives. Salt ( natriumklorid) used to be the only poison.
Hello Ari,
Indeed. And what's funny (or depressing) is that the food industry in North America have through these additives convinced folks that this pseudo-food is tasty and they get hooked on it. Real food, unaltered, then is seen as tastless, boring, too much work... So the tampered with and fake food filled with chemicals, colours, and preservatives become the staple.
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