The mistreatment and negative portrayal of fat people in film and television has been happening for years and needs to be called out.
By: Jillian Gonzales
Content/Trigger Warning: Mentions of anti-fat stigma and body image
Donald Tong/Pexels
It is no question that film, television and popular culture have largely fuelled the toxic ideals society holds about body image today. Film is a medium that, for the most part, focuses on mirroring the harsh realities of society’s norms and so it stands to reason that this medium also reflects the anti-fat stigma embedded in our structures, policies and everyday lives.
So, it is a difficult relationship to navigate. That being said, fatphobia is real and there are many negative portrayals of fat people in the media, especially in film and television. It is important to call out fatphobic ideologies for their toxic and harmful effects and look for ways that film productions and the industry can improve how they portray fat people.
Virgie Tovar, a fat activist and expert on fat politics and body image, defines fatphobia as a “form of bigotry and a form of discrimination that says that people of higher weight are inferior physically, intellectually, morally and health-wise.” These attitudes and behaviours take shape through individual and systemic interactions that marginalize and target fat people. The belief that we are an open-minded and accepting society simply does not exist especially when looking at the treatment and judgement of fat people. And film is no exception.
Think about some of the ways fat people are portrayed in films. These characters are almost always the butt of the joke. These jokes can also be directed towards the actors that portray them. Casting directors target these actors to fit and carry out their image of the “funny” characters. It may seem that actors are putting themselves in positions of being laughed at but it is us as audiences that allow it to happen.
Look at Drake and Josh as an example. Josh Peck starred in the Nickelodeon sitcom and at the beginning of the show, he was fat. However, in the middle of the series, the actor went through a weight loss that made headlines. The jokes directed to Josh’s weight on the show died down and he was taken seriously. This begs the question: why must characters and actors shrink their bodies in order to be deserving of compassion, nuance and validation? Even today, people bring up this weight loss from over a decade ago and Josh himself is tired of hearing about it. He made a TikTok which ultimately asks for people to not define him for his weight. It may seem obvious – but someone's weight does not define them.
The late great John Candy was also subject to being the butt of fat jokes. John Candy was a Canadian actor, most popular in the ‘90s and early 2000s. Though he really showed his abilities as an actor, many of his roles were very similar to one another. He was often the butt of jokes focused on his body. He was most known for his roles in Home Alone, The Great Outdoors, and Uncle Buck. Most notably in Uncle Buck, he was the central character and was still portrayed in a way where he was not taken seriously. His whole character was based on the fact that he was irresponsible and too much of a jokester. The sad reality of this is that it’s usually expected for fat people to be put in these roles; they are simply seen and hired to add comedic relief and writers usually fail to add substance to the character.
It is easy to think that what is seen on a screen is simply just for entertainment purposes; however, these kinds of narratives surrounding fat people have serious and harmful impacts on the so-called “beauty standard.” There is irreparable harm towards audiences and actors because now there is a box they are put in, not only on the screen, but how they are seen in real life.
These portrayals of fat people produce negative stereotypes that push society into further stigmatizing and pathologizing their bodies. When weight loss is the central or only component of their character arc, we manipulate audiences into thinking that all fat people are chasing weight loss, which is not true. In addition, headlines celebrating someone’s weight loss and giving praise towards celebrities solely for their weight loss creates the notion that one will only be treated with respect if they’re thin.
In an interview with Jonah Hill on The View, he opened up about the impact of being weight-shamed as a child. He spoke about his magazine, Inner Children, which centred around him writing to his younger self about how to handle his weight and appearance being discussed by people around him. The biggest takeaway from this conversation is that fatphobia doesn’t just affect your self-esteem; it can affect every aspect of your life. Especially in the film industry as an actor, again, there is a box one is put in. And when we continue to consume this content willingly as an audience, we enable filmmakers to continue creating it. We too are complicit as viewers in an anti-fat film industry.
CBC also looked into the relationship between fat people and the workplace. The article most notably mentions that there is “no minimum weight that is considered ‘fat’”, so this begs the question of who or what defines what it means to be “fat”? During the summer of 2021, there was a trend on TikTok where young people showed characters and celebrities from their childhood that the media convinced them were “fat.” How is it that there were so many shapes and sizes of people (mainly women) that were featured yet most people would argue that they were not the “conventional” definition of fat?
The CBC article also calls on bosses and people in higher positions to enforce more diverse and accepting workplaces. If someone is able to get the job done, they should be able to work. This goes for film productions and all other workplaces. The Canadian magazine Chatelaine mentions that 54 per cent of fat Canadians face stigmatization. Marginalization in the workplace has become so normalized and blatant when there should be no room for it anywhere.
The National Film Board of Canada created a 24-minute documentary, Tales of Ordinary Fatphobia, focusing on the harms of fatphobia and how it has been so normalized today. The video uses animation and voiceover to tell the story of youth who experience fatphobia and how it has affected them. A doctor in the film speaks to the psychological, social and self-damaging effects of the ultimately abusing behaviour fatphobia has on a person, especially at such a young age.
Film impacts people as they are able to see themselves through different lenses. Having fat actors play one-toned characters is destructive. Films and TV should instead shed light on the real stories and struggles one may go through. A recent show like Shrill, starring Aidy Bryant as the protagonist, focuses on the ups and downs of being a fat person. However, the main focus and objective of the show is to have Bryant’s character go through life without changing her body to please the so-called “acceptable” beauty standard. A show like this is made to empower fat people and not just typecast fat actors to play one-note roles, but give them realistic ones.
Movies and shows like Mike and Molly, Pretty Little Liars, Friends, Sex and the City and many more, promote negative and problematic narratives where being fat is treated as a mere vessel for condemnation or humour. In Pretty Little Liars and Friends, having characters in fat suits is a complete mockery and is blatantly disrespectful to fat people, who cannot simply just take a suit off whenever they want.
Some of these shows are directed towards younger female audiences. When talking about body image and beauty standards, the harmful messages in these shows pile onto damaging beauty narratives, as there is such a one-dimensional, presumed way for women in particular to look. In a blog post on The Nasty Woman Club, Demi Lynch, the owner of the blog, talks about different films from her childhood and how their portrayals of fat people damage their own body image which is a very relatable experience.
Listening to those who are othered in the media can change the film industry and media’s coverage of fat people. Normalizing different body shapes and sizes can create welcoming environments for people to feel seen and heard.
Anti-fatness is a systemic issue, and we need to address the marginalization of fat people at its roots. Social media and film alone can’t solve this issue, but they can be powerful tools in reaching out and giving a voice to those who are marginalized. Bringing attention to fat actors, filmmakers and artists can allow them to tell their own stories. Your body and appearance do not define you and so we should not let film make us think differently.