Wacky fat people in movies

If you're reading this blog, you're probably a good friend of mine.  And if you're a good friend of mine, you probably already know about the Bechdel test.  But if not, now would be a great time to educate yourself!  So that's where this post is starting today.

To summarize, the Bechdel test gauges female presence in a movie.  In order to pass, two women with names must talk to each other about something other than a man.  For more information, you can visit bechdeltest.com.

You just can't deny this test.  It doesn't sound like that much to ask!

The Bechdel test isn't used to show whether a movie is feminist or not; it just has two female characters, with names, that talk about anything other than a man.  And I'm not boycotting movies that don't pass the Bechdel test - some of the greatest films I have ever seen do not fit the criteria.  But movies do not become great because of their lack of female presence, they become great in spite of it.

It's so important for movies to portray women depicted as people, with people issues, displaying depth of character and personal growth, rather than women people, with women problems, either static, nagging, or fully-formed and perfectly wise, inspiring the worship and growth of the rest of the cast.  Either way, movies lacking female characters run the risk of portraying women who lack depth, even humanity, and fall victim to crude stereotypes.

But stupid comedies aside, we do have a lot of serious movies that capture women as flawed, complex, interesting people who face tough decisions and experience emotions all across the spectrum.

(April, "Revolutionary Road")

(Ree, "Winter's Bone")

(Marge Gunderson, "Fargo")

(Thelma & Louise, I'mserious)

These are all leading characters.  They are (usually) White and (come on, this is Hollywood we're talking about) thin.

What happens when we get a fat women (and often a fat man) character in a movie?  I mean, when we actually see them.  Well, we see fat men more often than fat women.  But when they do make an appearance, they are played for laughs, not for depth.  Or if we're lucky, depth comes much later on.

Hollywood starts us out early, with Disney movies:

Here's Aladdin's (albeit strong) woman (of color):

(I can never find those Disney princesses just standing like normal people, GAH.)

Not that Aladdin is without his haughty, enchanting, exotic female admirers:

But, inevitably .  .  . it's all fun and games until the fat lady, well, sings.

Then there's this movie, which was considered a triumph for the portrayal of a fat woman in a comedy:

(Megan, "Bridesmaids")

Eventually, Megan turns out to be engaging, wonderful, and quite lovable.  But man does she have to prove herself.  In her first few scenes, she is overly talkative and exceedingly strange.  (Although for me, with my brother's wedding pending, unexpectedly relatable.)  There's that scene on the airplane where she makes a total scene - but turns out to be justified.  And of course, in the trailer, she's the only one shown to have gastrointestinal issues in that one horrifically gross scene, where everyone is. . . well, I don't want to give anything away.

Maybe the movie's crowning triumph is that it features TWO fat women:

Oh, yeah, not weird at all.

Don't get me wrong, I really loved Bridesmaids.  And I thought both fat characters were hysterical and well-acted.  Buttttt why is it ALWAYS the fat girl with the absurdly strange/downright toxic personality?

It's interesting, when I googled "comedies with fat characters", of which I know there are so many, for some reason I kept seeing Martin Lawrence as Big Momma and Martin Lawrence again in "Norbit".

"Norbit"

Yes, these are revoltingly dumb films, but there is an old precedent for shaming fat women in movies as comedic gold.  And these less blatant nods to our society's fat hate, those quick laugh, largely un-google-able moments, exist in cult movies, great movies, movies that I grew up watching and love.

I tried to find the kissing booth scene from Revenge of the Nerds, but all I could find was this quote:

Lewis: [in line at the Kissing Booth at the Homecoming Carnival] Hi, Betty. 
Betty Childs, Pi-Delta-Pi: A nerd? I'm not kissing a nerd. 
Lewis: You have to. I paid my money. 
Betty Childs, Pi-Delta-Pi: [Lewis tries to kiss Betty] It's time for my break. 
Stan Gable: [Stan brings a short, fat, ugly woman, instead] Kiss this, nerd. 

Ugh.  And once again, I loved that movie.  But yuck.  They bring the same actress into several scenes, the terrifying fatty who scares all the nice boys away.

Then there's stuff like this, that just confounds me:

I wasn't too into The Hangover because of stuff like this.  Is the line "it's funny because he's fat!" supposed to be funny because he's fat?  Or because it's offensive and the token Asian character is saying it?  Or the situation is not funny but his saying that makes it funny?  I don't get it.  Did people laugh at this?

I offer these crude examples as a small, obvious portions of a fat-shaming whole, where almost every comedy I have ever seen includes a fat person, even in the smallest of roles, who is quirky, off-beat, incompetent, lazy, mean-spirited, and a general laughingstock.

In a later post, I hope to return to movies that deal with fatness in a more balanced way.  I wish I could go more in depth, but I'm not really a movie buff.  In the meantime, help me out, comment and leave a comedy that played a fat person for big laughs.