Movie Critique (Center Stage) 1

Center Stage - A movie critique from a psychological point of view

The movie depicts a journey of a group of youngsters

pursuing their dreams to secure a prestigious spot in the

American Ballet Company, which can only be filled by 3 male

and 3 female dancers. The story begins with a series of intense

country-wide auditions to select 12 potential young dancers to

join the American Ballet Academy (ABA). Things only got

tougher as these youngsters have to attend classes and work

hard to impress the director and instructors in order to obtain a

leading part in the final dance workshop. This workshop would determine their fate in the

dance industry.

The story focused on the students quest to be the best, among them, Jody (a girl who

strives to excel but is always not good enough), Maureen (a star student of ABA heading

towards success, but is bulimic), Eva (very talented young dancer, but her bad attitude had

hindered her advancement as she went against the director and instructors), Charlie (a

naturally talented student), Erik, Emily and Sergei. Who among these students will shine and

be offered a job in the company? What obstacles will they face along their way?

As this movie took place in the ballet arena, there was a lot of emphasis being put on

the figure, weight and size of dancers. Every single person in the academy were scarily thin

and it was shown in a way that sticky thin was the only acceptable norm. Jody, who was not

sticky thin as the others, was constantly commented on her body type and bad feet.

Instructors seemed to focus a lot on the fact that she was not a ballet dancer material and was

once even suggested to leave the academy. There was a scene where a fellow student, Emily,

got into trouble for her eating habits and was eventually rejected from the academy due to her

increasing weight. Jody too was under a lot of pressure to perform and felt demoralized that
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her ballet is always under scrutiny. She acknowledges that her body and feet were different,

but Jody was very focused on her goals of wanting to be a professional dancer. Therefore, she

stayed and ventured out to try other dance forms in order to revive her passion for dancing,

where she coincidently met Cooper (one of the best dancer who wants to choreograph his

own stage). Cooper spotted her talents and it matched his style of dance. He then offered her

a spot in his play for the prestigious workshop, which she gladly accepts.

Maureen, on the other hand, has been in ABA since 9 years old, and is deemed the

prima donna of the academy. She had the ideal body and near perfect techniques of a ballet

dancer. Everything about her just seemed ideal, but glimpse of her eating disorder slowly

surfaced in the movie when she met Jim (a pre-med student). Maureen was seen to be

cautious about her diet (eating salad) and to throw up whatever she eats. She continued eating

and purging, dancing which at the end, was given the lead role in the director’s play. Her

interaction and newly found relationship with Jim, made her realized that dancing was not her

dreams and it only made her unhappy and sick. She finally admitted her problem to Jim after

being stuck with the news of Erik’s fractured ankle that had forced him out of the workshop.

On the day of the workshop, Maureen shocked everyone, including her mother, when Eva

went on stage in place of her. Maureen who was later confronted by her mother, expressed

her misery and sadness, and do not wish to continue walking that path.

Finally, Jody was offered to be a principle dancer in Cooper’s new company, where

else Eva and four others were presented with a place in the company. Maureen on the other

hand, was happier and seeking help for her eating disorder.

I really found the body size norm to be weird. I felt that Emily, who got expelled, was

actually not fat in any way but the others were just seriously underweight. Everyone was

extremely thin and I find it very absurd that the girls are under so much pressure to maintain

their body weight, figure and to be thinner. Jokes about their weight were thrown about
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casually, on how the male partners would be have a hard time to lifting them if they were any

heavier. Students were penalized and reprimanded for not looking after their weight. I felt

real uncomfortable with it.

So, does Maureen Cummings meet the criteria of bulimia nervosa according to DSM-

IV-TR? From the movie, there were no signs of excessive eating (binging) within any period

of 2-hours, nor the lack of control over food. We do not have solid information regarding the

frequency and duration of her eating disorder, but it can be inferred from the length of the

training in the academy (assuming her eating disorder began there) that it has prolonged for

more than 3 months. I was wondering about her eating patterns where there was a scene

showing her eating only salad, and another seen displayed her reluctance to eat a slice of

pizza (when she eventually ate it, she was able to eat the rest of the pizza). Is she refraining

and selecting her food to avoid temptation and reducing the tendency of provoking her

binging?

I could also not make a strong conclusion regarding Maureen’s self-evaluation being

influenced by body shape and weight. Even so, it can be deduced that by her being in an

environment place high importance on body image, her self-evaluation is partially if not

entirely influenced by her body shape and weight. She was shown in a scene where she had

gone for pizza, later returned home to check her body and proceed to purge. Maureen was

portrayed to be using inappropriate compensatory method (purging) to prevent weight gain.

There are scenes of her eating and later going into the toilet and then, hearing sounds of her

purging. Even so, we could not see any explicit behaviors of purging. We do not know the

exact method being used to induce vomiting.

Nevertheless, she showed no physical signs of fatigue or any health related problems

associated to her eating disorder. She was still the high-flying dancer in the group. As for her

environment, I felt it played a big part in the development of her eating disorder. Maureen
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had a controlling mother and all the while, she had been living her mother’s dream and not

what she really wants. Her mother is also an influencing figure because she was seen in the

movie with Maureen, and together, they were picking out their lunch (salad) while indirectly

talking about the topic of weight and body shape. They both anticipated future problems for

Emily when they saw her eating a lot. The academy itself was a place that encourages the

development of eating disorder, as they constantly encourage their students to be fit and thin.

Apart from that, Maureen has a status to safeguard. She is the best student and definitely a

model for the rest to follow. People will be looking and watching out for her. So much

attention is given on her that she feels the need to meet those expectations.

In general, I cannot be 100% sure to make the conclusion that Maureen Cummings is

actually suffering from bulimia as there are too few supporting evidences. Much information

and its link to the disorder were not portrayed out in the movie. The only prominent symptom

that was shown is her purging behavior after food intake.

I particularly appreciated the fact that at the very end, Maureen was seen to sort of

admit her disorder and recognizes that it requires time to work on bulimia. It depicts exactly

that treatment would not be easy and quick. On the whole, I felt that this was a good movie,

but it did not clearly portray the behaviors of a person with bulimia. More focus was given on

her actions of purging. If I had not known the disorder, I would imagine being bulimia is

merely purging after eating.

Maureen Cummings
Axis I 307.51 Bulimia Nervosa, Purging type (Provisional)
307.50 Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (Provisional)
Axis II Deferred
Axis III None reported
Axis IV Parental stressor (living mother’s dream), requirement for training, best student of
ballet academy (ABA’s prima-donna)
Axis V Current CGAS and GAF: 69