How many of you have seen the film ‘Bedtime Stories*
We watched it on DVD last night (we’re always slow to see films, because the nearest cinema is so far away) and I was saddened and taken aback by the fun being poked at gluten free food. The mother, portrayed as a health freak who wouldn’t let her children watch TV or eat junk food, had provided a gluten free cake which no one had eaten. There were repeated comments about how bad it smelled.
How offensive is this?
Already children who have to eat gluten free for their health are feeling ‘different’; how is making fun of their food going to make them feel better? It just confirms in people’s minds that this diet is a joke. My family of five (one coeliac child) sat watching this together, and we caught each others eyes, smiled, and pricked up our ears at the first mention of gluten free cake, only to go quiet when the negative comments came.
Then there was a lot of by-play about adding wheatgerm to everything these children ate. Hello? Wheatgerm? And a gluten free cake? Clearly this is inconsistent, and simply adds to the idea that living gluten free is a lifestyle of choice, usually opted for by ‘dippy hippies’.
The film was fun, and the children laughed a lot – we have four guinea-pigs, so they really enjoyed the scenes with Bugsy. But I was sadly disappointed by the cheap cracks at what – for many people – is a medical necessity, and not a fad diet.
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Wow. I haven’t seen this film yet, and am surprised there is even mention of the gluten-free diet in it. That’s really disappointing that they have made such a negative comment about it. Some children are very sensitive to this kind of comment. And, it might lead to friends making negative comments about gluten-free food. We don’t need anymore negativity. Leading a gluten-free life is challenging enough without it! Not sure if I want my kids to see the movie now. But if I do, at least I’ll be prepared to talk to my kids about it. Thanks for the warning.
Hi Heather – I agree! We don’t need more negativity. I wonder why people think it’s OK to laugh at gluten free food? I can’t believe they’d laugh at diabetes, for example, yet diabetics need to manage and monitor their eating too.
But once we got past that, the children enjoyed the film, and they thought it hilarious; adults less so: it isn’t a classic.