"I'm Sure Many Of The Other Home Viewers Out There Are Pleasantly Plump Or Chunky"
This article from MTV talks about everyone from Fat Monica to Shallow Hal to Tracy Turnblad, whose quote is the title for this entry. It's about Hollywood and the fat suit. Some quotes:
"Subconsciously or not, it's easier for the audience to laugh at the fat person if they know that the actor underneath is actually trim... But to the overweight person sitting in the audience, the experience must be similar to a black person watching an old blackface minstrel show."
Brought to my attention by, Livin' La Vida Low Carb, the king of the self-promoting blog, who has some interesting things to say about this article as well.
"You know, the writer of this story is right. Think about the last time you saw an overweight person playing in the lead role of ANY film that did not make an issue of their weight. Hmmmm? Need more time to think? None coming to mind? I couldn't think of any either."
And while I'm on the subject, that poster of Ryan Reynolds in the fat suit makes my eyes roll back up into my head.
"Subconsciously or not, it's easier for the audience to laugh at the fat person if they know that the actor underneath is actually trim... But to the overweight person sitting in the audience, the experience must be similar to a black person watching an old blackface minstrel show."
Brought to my attention by, Livin' La Vida Low Carb, the king of the self-promoting blog, who has some interesting things to say about this article as well.
"You know, the writer of this story is right. Think about the last time you saw an overweight person playing in the lead role of ANY film that did not make an issue of their weight. Hmmmm? Need more time to think? None coming to mind? I couldn't think of any either."
And while I'm on the subject, that poster of Ryan Reynolds in the fat suit makes my eyes roll back up into my head.
3 Comments:
I can't think of any movies but a couple of tv shows come to mind.
Gilmore Girls has three characters (Miss Patty, Babette, and Sookie) who are overweight. The writers have NEVER made a reference to their size or weight. LOVE that show!
Also the now defunct series "Ed" had a teenage actor (can't remember the character's name) who was obese. Again, no jokes at his expense or even mention of his weight until the actual actor's weight loss from his gastric bypass became noticable. This was written into the character's story in an episode in which the character elects to have weight loss surgery. I still remember the scene where the actor (who was probably about 300 lbs)lifted up his shirt and took a long look at himself in a full length mirror. The shot was set up so that the audience also saw his reflection in the mirror. The scene was handled so sensitively - the character wasn't disgusted by himself, but it was a moment of facing the truth and making a difficult choice to have the surgery.
I find that intelligent, well-written shows are much more likely to treat excess weight as simply a facet of the character, that is, to not make an issue of it all.
And to me that's the essence of fat acceptance.
Heavier women don't get lead roles in major films without the weight being an issue, but overweight men certainly do. John Candy, Marlon Brando, Jack Black, Kevin Smith, and countless others have had major films out in which their weight had absolutely nothing to do with the plot, or was even mentioned.
When Renee Zellweger and Kate Winslet are considered "zaftig", you know that there's something wrong with the world. Especially considering the fact that Russell Crowe and George Clooney can gain dozens of pounds for a role and are considered sexy while doing it.
I prefer Toni Collette's look around the time of "Muriel's Wedding" and Minnie Driver a la "Circle of Friends" to the much skinnier versions of themselves nowadays.
The ironic thing is that the "Shallow Hal" poster on livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com pictures a digitally enhanced Paltrow. Her butt and breasts don't even look like. So, even though she's held up as an example of thin & blond beauty, even that's not considered "perfect" enough. Crazy!
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