We've known for a long time that images of females on screen
overwhelmingly promote thin white bodies.
Fat women in film or television are still a rarity, and when
they are included, its a case of always
the bridesmaid never the bride (quite literally, when was the last time you saw
an overweight woman as the romantic lead
in anything other than My Mad Fat Diary?)
Walt Disney once said "Movies can and do have
tremendous influence in shaping young lives in the realm of entertainment
towards the ideals and objectives of normal adulthood" if we think King
Disney has a point, how then do movies and TV shape how fat women view themselves? particularly when we consider what we are watching as we transition from teens to womanhood
The limited fat archetypes presented in the moving image,
have I believe, affected how many plus size women feel they must behave to take
their place in society.
If it seems like a stretch consider this. Growing up we copy
what we see, both in our real environment and in the universes offered to us
via screens. Films and TV are the campfire tales of our generation. Thoughts
around how women should behave and interact are deeply ingrained in our psyches
via the medium of entertainment.
Even if we are able to distance ourselves from the presented
ideals, some of those stereotypes have a tendency to stick. As plus size women
try to find their place in a society which is overwhelmingly negative toward
them, inhabiting personality traits that are universally accepted can seem like
the only way forward.
I don't for one second suggest that fat women make this
decision consciously, but as we strive to fit in, wearing some of the approved
persona's from the world of film and TV can be as easy as slipping into a pair
of slippers.
The adoption (however unwittingly) of some of the
characteristics and behaviours presented on screen (scripts usually written by
white men it should be noted) can I believe really effect how fat women thrive and take their space as
individuals. Its another example of our body shape dictating how we experience
the world and how the world experiences us. Here are some of the fat character
tropes I feel we are offered on repeat.
The Waterproof Shoulder
To compensate for their perceived lack of physical currency,
fat women in film are often represented as being pragmatic, down to earth,
carers. Tending to the needs of others (usually thinner, blonder, women) A
willingness to take a backseat or be a support act is taken as a given. Fatness
we are told, precludes us from being the object of love or the main protagonist.
Instead we wait patiently with tubs of ice-cream and a homely hug, just grateful
to share in some of the thin, white radiance. Newsflash, your size does not
mean you have to always play second fiddle to someone else drama. You are queen
of your own kingdom. Be a good friend, yes, but expect some of it back to. To
steal from Alanis Morrisette "you are not the doctor"
The Reformed Fatty
Probably best exemplified, by the "Fat Monica" character
in Friends. Being a former fatty is usually written into dramas as a dirty
secret, a lapse in judgement that has been rectified. To have been fat is
presented as far worse than having been a bad friend, a cheat or a murderer. The
message is clear-do not slide back, fatness will not win you Chandler Bing. Thinness
did that. This message is of course devastating to anyone who struggles to stay
within societal norms of an "ideal" weight. To live your life as a "Before'
picture, to have even gone from Thin Monica to Fat Monica rather than the
reverse is a story we never get to see. We need to stop equating thinness with
success and fatness as a temporary problem waiting to be solved.
The Yoyo Dieter With Low Self Esteem
Possibly one of the most disturbing ways Hollywood
deals with fatness is when they write a character who looks perfectly normal,
but who is constantly referred to as overweight or fat. Bridget Jones Diary is a
classic example of this (another is the character of Benny played by Minnie
Driver in Circle of friends, who spoke often of how her weight gain for the
part really damaged her early career, she looks to be around a size 12 in that
production)
From comedy shots of Bridget's big bottom sliding down a
fireman's pole, to her need to wear "big knickers" to hold in her
tummy, Bridget's character is written as flaky, undisciplined and
quintessentially "the girl next door"
The fact that she is viewed as overweight and that she
discusses the numbers on the bathroom scales endlessly is humorous, until you
realise its really a comedy about disordered eating and how to maintain
relationships with slightly disinterested men.
When the "rakish" Daniel dumps Bridget for a slim
American, her response is to start an exercise regime (resulting in her
hilariously falling off an exercise bike because you know, fat girls in gyms) Bridget's endless understanding as she chases
after the emotionally unavailable Mark Darcy plays perfectly into the idea that
"fat women work harder at relationships" there is a subtext of
gratitude and of putting up with shit.
The Loud Funny One
I sometimes wonder
if studio execs once sat around a table and having figured out that fat women
were keen to see representations of themselves on the screen
decided this "Fat women will be permitted but (and this is important)
only if they are loud and funny" For me this is one of the
most toxic stereotypes that is applied to plus size females on screen.
That to earn our seat at the table (which we will probably break, to the mirth
of our slimmer co-stars) we will all have to become "Fat Amy"
Madcap, without vanity, telling the fat joke before anyone else can.
I think many, many plus
size women have at some point played the "fat Amy" card. cracking pre-emptive
jokes about their size, being "jolly" as if a dress
label over a 14 means you are a natural comic. Sure lots of fat women are
naturally very funny and witty, but often these skills have been honed as
a reaction to endless taunts and cruelty. The other side of the coin is
that as fat women are simply humans like everyone else (yes really) many don't
feel jolly, or want to wise crack. they may be sensitive, keen to merge into the background,
careful with words. Characters like Fat
Amy may seem progressive,
after all they show a fat woman in control, giving zero effs about what anyone
thinks about her, but in truth everything about her, even the name she
introduces herself with, is a reaction to fatphobia.
The Emotionally Desperate
Fat women having relationships is either totally ignored in
the majority of films and TV or presented as being slightly desperate and
sexually aggressive. As much as I love the film Muriel's Wedding the premise is
simply that a fat unattractive girl is so desperate to land a handsome husband
she agrees to a fake wedding. At times she almost gurns at her soon to be fake
husband. The film Bridesmaids also illustrates this beautifully. When main
character Annie (who despite being written as being a bit of a mess is still
slim and blonde ) is seem to be settling for second best in the relationship
department her hook up is with Don Draper in a luxury condo, Megan the fat
bridesmaid played by Melissa Macarthy propositions a stranger on a plane and
despite all but stripping for him is rejected. Her feelings appear to be unhurt
and this is a characterisation you see again and again. The idea that plus size
women have thicker skins, that rejections hurt less, that they don't require
the emotional depth or connections their thinner counterparts take for granted.
Why fat women are never really wooed on screen? We deserve all the wooing.
Being Fat Makes Us Work Harder On Our Personalities
How often have you heard a fat woman described as being a "really
nice person" it seems that to forgive the crime of not being slim, plus
size women must work twice as hard at being "good and kind" Summed up
brilliantly in the film Shallow Hal (Gweneth
Paltrow "hilariously" wearing a fat suit) we see Jack Black unable to
see anything but the beauty inside people and (just for shits and giggles) he "accidentally"
dates a fat chick. Its all OK we are told because she is a really "nice
person" The problem with this perspective is that it yet again enforces an
idea that to be tolerated by the world, we as fat people, must be extra nice. But
what if that isn't our temperament? what if you are a bossy, sassy, free
thinker? What if you don't particularly want to have to wear your "good
nature" as a sort of wristband to allow you entry into the festival of
thinness? I'm all for being good to each other but I'm more for women being
allowed the freedom to be whoever they want to be and the tired old idea that
only with a "pretty face" and "nice
personality" are we acceptable needs to be retired from the silver screen
and from life.
So that's my take on the fat stereotypes in TV and film. I
would love to hear yours. More importantly what types of characters do you want
to see? What’s missing? For me I want plus size superheros, fat women playing
roles that never once reference size and yes, a romcom where the fat leading
lady can't decide between two lovers and is counselled by her thin friend ( its
Sleepless in Seattle the reboot)
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