Report on Labor Practices and Health Impacts in the Entertainment Industry: A Case Study of Alyson Stoner’s Memoir

Introduction

An excerpt from Alyson Stoner’s forthcoming memoir, “Semi-Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything,” provides a critical case study on the intersection of health, labor, and inequality within the entertainment industry. The account of her audition process for the film “The Hunger Games” highlights significant challenges to achieving several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those concerning health, decent work, and institutional integrity.

Analysis of Health and Well-being (SDG 3)

The memoir details a severe compromise of physical and mental health, directly contravening the principles of SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being. Stoner’s experience underscores systemic failures to protect the health of young performers.

• Eating Disorders and Malnutrition: To conform to the character’s physical description, Stoner, already underweight, engaged in extreme caloric restriction, exacerbating a pre-existing eating disorder. This pursuit led to a state of starvation and a subsequent binge-purge cycle, demonstrating a critical failure in promoting mental and physical well-being.
• Dangerous Physical Exertion: At 17, Stoner was permitted to attend a “medical weight loss camp” where she underwent seven hours of daily exercise on a calorie deficit. This regimen, which included fourteen-mile hikes and heavy lifting, was medically inappropriate for an underweight minor and posed a severe risk to her health.
• Negligence by Medical Professionals: The report reveals two instances of medical institutional failure.
  1. An industry-referred doctor knowingly ignored a heart murmur and symptoms of dizziness and blackouts in a 10-year-old Stoner to prevent work stoppage, prioritizing production over child health.
  2. Medical staff at the weight loss camp approved the dangerous regimen for an underweight minor, citing the acting role as sufficient justification.

Decent Work and Institutional Failures (SDG 8 & SDG 16)

Stoner’s account exposes exploitative labor conditions and a lack of institutional oversight, which are antithetical to SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth and SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.

Key Findings:

• Unsafe Working Conditions (SDG 8): The pressure to secure a role created an environment where a minor was subjected to unsafe and unhealthy practices. The industry’s implicit demand for a specific physique, coupled with the complicity of medical professionals, constitutes a hazardous working environment, failing to meet Target 8.8 of protecting labor rights and ensuring safe work environments.
• Institutional Complicity (SDG 16): The actions of the doctors and the weight loss facility represent a failure of institutions to provide justice and protection for a vulnerable individual. By prioritizing industry demands over medical ethics and a minor’s well-being, these institutions demonstrated a lack of accountability and integrity.

Gender Inequality and Systemic Pressures (SDG 5 & SDG 10)

The narrative also sheds light on underlying issues of gender stereotypes and power imbalances, relevant to SDG 5: Gender Equality and SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities.

• Gendered Physical Standards (SDG 5): Despite the character of Katniss Everdeen being a “strong female lead,” the focus of Stoner’s preparation was on achieving a “characteristically thin” physique. This illustrates a persistent industry bias where a female actor’s physical appearance is prioritized, reinforcing harmful gender stereotypes.
• Power Imbalances (SDG 10): The case highlights the significant power disparity between a young performer and the established Hollywood system. Stoner’s feeling that she had to “commit to strenuous training without fully succumbing” reveals the immense pressure placed on individuals with less power to conform to industry expectations, even at great personal cost.

Analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in the Article

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being: This is the most central SDG in the article. It directly addresses Alyson Stoner’s struggles with an eating disorder, the extreme physical demands she placed on her body, and the resulting mental and physical health crises. The article also highlights failures in the healthcare system, where medical professionals overlooked serious health risks for the sake of a Hollywood production.
• SDG 5: Gender Equality: The article implicitly touches upon this goal by highlighting the intense pressure on female actors to meet specific, often unhealthy, physical standards. Stoner’s desire to portray a “strong female lead” was paradoxically tied to a requirement to be “characteristically thin,” showcasing the gendered pressures within the entertainment industry regarding body image.
• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth: The article details an unsafe working environment for a young actor. The fact that a doctor ignored a heart murmur in a 10-year-old to ensure she could work, and that medical professionals approved a dangerous weight-loss regimen for an underweight minor for an audition, points to a violation of safe working conditions.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

1. Target 3.4: By 2030, reduce by one-third premature mortality from non-communicable diseases through prevention and treatment and promote mental health and well-being.
   • The article provides a detailed account of an eating disorder, which is a serious mental and physical non-communicable disease. Stoner’s experience with a “full-body emergency alarm for food,” bingeing until her “jaw was too sore to chew,” and fading “into delirium” illustrates a severe lack of prevention and adequate treatment for her condition. Her final state of having “vacant eyes and a distant mind” underscores the profound negative impact on her mental health and well-being.
2. Target 3.8: Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services…
   • This target is relevant due to the failure of quality healthcare described. An “industry-referred doctor” discovered a heart murmur but chose not to report it because it “might stop the production company from letting you work.” This is a direct example of a failure to provide quality and ethical health services. Similarly, doctors and trainers permitting “an underweight minor to do seven hours of fourteen-mile hikes” demonstrates a lack of responsible medical oversight.
3. Target 8.8: Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers…
   • Alyson Stoner’s experience as a minor highlights an unsafe working environment. The pressure to engage in extreme physical training while underweight, coupled with a history of medical professionals ignoring health issues like a heart murmur for the sake of a film role, points directly to a work context where labor rights and safety, especially for a minor, were not protected.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

1. Implied Indicator for Target 3.4: Prevalence of eating disorders and mental health conditions.
   • The article is a case study of an eating disorder. While it doesn’t provide statistics, it describes the symptoms and triggers in detail (“teetered past the edge of deprivation,” “biggest binge of my life”). Measuring the prevalence of such conditions, particularly within high-pressure industries like entertainment, would be a direct indicator of progress toward promoting mental health and well-being.
2. Indicator 8.8.1: Frequency rates of fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries, by sex and migrant status.
   • The article implies the risk of non-fatal occupational health issues. The doctor ignoring a heart murmur and the “dizzy spells and blackouts” Stoner experienced are examples of health problems directly linked to her work environment. The extreme training regimen she undertook for the audition, which was permitted by doctors, constitutes a work-related health risk that could be tracked under this indicator as a non-fatal occupational health issue.

SDGs, Targets and Indicators Summary

Source: variety.com