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00:00I'm fat. It's just true, you know. I'm not afraid of it. It's just a descriptor.
00:05Today's film, TV, and cultural conversations are making big strides
00:09in addressing a number of long-entrenched prejudices.
00:12So why do many people still act like it's okay to mock, lecture, or belittle fat people?
00:17You see fat girls, they've always got lovely hair and lovely long nails.
00:21They make an effort. Anything but jogging.
00:24Fat phobia is so normalized and pervasive in our society
00:27that we might not even see all the ways it manifests.
00:30From stereotypes like the jolly comic relief or the gluttonous villain,
00:34to thin actors in fat suits and unattainable body standards in magazines,
00:37to the thousands of one-liner fat jokes seen in every TV comedy.
00:42See, it's a fat girl's name. Might as well be Gravy Jones.
00:45Even the body positivity movement, which has entered the mainstream in recent years,
00:49too often focuses on average-sized bodies.
00:52Today, at last, some more nuanced stories are destigmatizing
00:56and centering fat characters in all their complexity.
00:58And creators like Shrill's Aidy Bryant and Lindy West
01:01are reclaiming even the word fat.
01:03By not using the word fat, and treating it like there's something wrong,
01:08I was endorsing the idea that it's wrong to be fat,
01:11and I don't think that it is.
01:12What's your least favorite euphemism for fat?
01:15I can see them panicking, and I want to scream fat in their face.
01:19Here's our take on how fat phobia took over our favorite films and TV,
01:23and how new narratives are finally breaking through to challenge it.
01:31If you're new here, be sure to subscribe,
01:33and hit the bell to be notified about all of our new videos.
01:36On screen, fat actors have traditionally been excluded
01:45from playing complex lead roles,
01:47and instead have often been featured as one-dimensional side stock roles,
01:51such as the jolly fat person, the funny fat character,
01:55or the gluttonous villain,
01:56cartoonish characters who tend to be played as purely sinister or purely comedic.
02:01Early cinema brought us fat figures typically in the form of comic relief,
02:05like in the duo Laurel and Hardy.
02:06Hey!
02:08Is that an egg?
02:09Sorry, I don't smoke!
02:13While these portrayals aren't as overtly harmful as fat shaming,
02:17they perpetuate the disrespectful idea that fatness is inherently funny,
02:21creating an environment in which anyone who's not real thin
02:24is prone to ridicule,
02:26and resulting in very real social anxiety.
02:29It's also telling what kind of comic relief characters
02:31fat actors often are asked to play.
02:33Too frequently, their humor isn't derived from witty dialogue or wordplay,
02:37they're just fat, that's the joke.
02:39And the audience is also prodded into laughing at situations
02:42that showcase how the character is clumsy or gluttonous,
02:45reinforcing damaging stereotypes that fat people have no self-control,
02:48and are fat because they're weak.
02:50And it is their own fault.
02:52Meanwhile, the fat villain and fat bastard
02:54are two related tropes that use a character's physical weight
02:57to symbolize corruption, selfishness, or abuse of power.
03:00In examples ranging from Eric Cartman to Ursula and Vernon Dursley
03:04to the fat bastard himself,
03:06outward fatness is coupled with inner evil,
03:08associating weight with some kind of moral bankruptcy.
03:11This character is often shown eating to excess.
03:14They're off-putting gluttony,
03:15made to feel directly linked to greed or wickedness of the soul.
03:19They're given an unrealistically obnoxious,
03:21almost impossible to sympathize with personality,
03:24and made to stand in the way of a typically slim hero.
03:28You're never going back to that school.
03:31You're never going to see those freaky friends of yours again.
03:34So where do these one-dimensional
03:35and overwhelmingly negative portrayals of fat people come from?
03:38And why are so many of us afraid of seeing
03:40even a little weight gain on the scale?
03:42I guess I didn't realize how big I was
03:44until I saw it on your faces.
03:45I've been avoiding mirrors.
03:47While historically an ample physique
03:49was actually a status symbol of the ultra-wealthy,
03:52in the modern world being fat
03:53is associated with lower-class signifiers.
03:55It's also stigmatized in our culture
03:57as a personal failing,
03:58assumed to be an indicator of junk food addiction,
04:01impulsive eating, and general laziness.
04:03Every time you turn it on,
04:04they got somebody in there talking about lose weight,
04:06get healthy, get in shape,
04:08got everybody looking all anorexic
04:09and talking about that's healthy.
04:10I know what healthy is.
04:11One of the main drivers behind fatphobia
04:13is the fear of becoming sexually undesirable,
04:16which stems from unattainable beauty standards
04:18Westerners have been exposed to for generations.
04:21The barrage of underweight models in advertising
04:24and the fashion industry
04:25belie the fact that plus-sized women
04:27make up almost 68% of shoppers.
04:30Another dynamic at the root of fatphobia
04:32is a judgment about health
04:33and the belief that simply being fat
04:35will always lead to long-term medical issues.
04:38These blood tests are going to show you
04:40the damage that you've been doing to your body,
04:42and my hope is that it will incentivize you
04:43to finally lose some of this disgusting weight you've put on.
04:46While there are legitimate health concerns
04:48surrounding a poor diet and lack of exercise,
04:50our cultural conversation has often misrepresented
04:53the relationship between health and body size
04:55as more direct than it actually is.
04:58A University of Washington study from 2010
05:00found that obese adults can achieve good,
05:02even above-average cardiovascular health
05:05with moderate exercise.
05:06And a 2013 study concluded
05:08that there may be factors that potentially confound
05:10the relationship between weight loss and health outcomes,
05:13such as increased exercise,
05:15healthier eating,
05:15and engagement with the healthcare system.
05:17In other words,
05:18it's not the number of pounds you drop
05:20that makes you healthy,
05:21it's the moderate lifestyle changes you make
05:23while trying to drop pounds
05:25that make weight loss appear to be the cause
05:26of improved health.
05:28Even if many endorsers of fat shaming
05:29may genuinely believe their intentions are good,
05:32I don't need to do blood work
05:34to know that your overall health
05:35will be improved by losing weight.
05:37It's just a fact.
05:37Telling people that losing weight
05:39will automatically improve their quality of life
05:41is not always true
05:42and can exacerbate self-esteem
05:44and mental health problems
05:45of people with hard-to-lose genetic fatness.
05:53The utterly dominant narrative of fatness
05:55as an inherently bad thing
05:57for one's health and sex appeal
05:58led to perhaps the most popular fat character trope
06:01of the modern era,
06:02the reformed fat person
06:03who tries to beat their fatness.
06:05Though this trope was most vividly seen
06:07in reality TV shows like
06:09The Biggest Loser,
06:10a show where failure to lose weight is punished
06:12and extreme weight loss is rewarded,
06:14fictional fatness has often featured
06:16similar story arcs.
06:17In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,
06:19when the Banks family and their doctor
06:20encourage Uncle Phil
06:21to adopt an intensive diet regime,
06:23the episode is about how difficult
06:25he finds it to cut down
06:26on fatty foods and exercise.
06:28I can't do this.
06:29I can't give up.
06:30My favorite food's called turkey.
06:32Oh my god.
06:35Turkey.
06:35When he eventually gives in to his cravings,
06:38he has a heart attack
06:39the second he bites into a hamburger.
06:41Despite his high-stress job
06:43and hectic home life,
06:44his fatness is positioned
06:45as the sole reason
06:46for his near-death experience.
06:48I was scared.
06:49You're like Superman to me.
06:51Yeah.
06:53Cheesecake is my kryptonite, huh?
06:54Shame around fatness
06:55dominates even in the streaming era.
06:57In This Is Us,
06:58Kate's weight loss holds her back
06:59from beginning a romantic relationship
07:01with Toby.
07:01When Toby,
07:02who is a lot more philosophical
07:03about his weight,
07:04abandons his diet,
07:06Kate ends their relationship,
07:07unable to be with someone
07:08not committed to weight loss.
07:10And it's only when Toby resumes his diet
07:12that Kate takes him back.
07:13I'm back on the diet.
07:14Not for you, for me.
07:15But also for you,
07:16so that you'll be with me.
07:17These portrayals of attempting
07:19to overcome fatness
07:20are perhaps even more insidious
07:21than the fat comic relief or villain,
07:23because they suggest
07:24that a fat character
07:25can never enjoy life
07:26or be anything but miserable
07:28until they lose weight.
07:29The same problematic assumptions
07:31are present in the formerly fat trope,
07:33a slim character who has fatness
07:35as part of their troubled backstory.
07:37That's me,
07:37six years and 600 pounds ago,
07:39before I knew how much
07:40I hated myself.
07:41These characters constantly
07:43fight off old weight gain
07:44in order to maintain
07:45their current success or happiness.
07:47Frequent references
07:47to fat Monica in Friends
07:49paint a picture of someone
07:50who was unable to understand
07:51her value,
07:52attract romantic partners,
07:53or be treated with
07:54even a modicum of respect
07:56by her peers
07:56until she became skinny.
07:58What was Monica's nickname
07:59when she was a field hockey goalie?
08:01Big fat goalie, correct.
08:02If we look closer,
08:03we can see how Monica's psyche
08:04is actually very damaged
08:06by being conditioned
08:06to view fatness
08:07as an innate character flaw
08:09she has to outrun.
08:10In fact,
08:11the overly controlling,
08:12neurotic attitude
08:13that is her character Shtick
08:14can be seen as
08:15a defense mechanism
08:16she's developed
08:17to stop fat Monica
08:18from getting out
08:19and spoiling her career
08:20and relationships.
08:21And the fat girl inside of me
08:22really wants to go.
08:24I owe her this.
08:25I never let her eat.
08:27In New Girl,
08:28we see a similar dynamic
08:29play out for Schmidt,
08:30whose flashback storylines
08:31imply that when he was
08:32fat Schmidt,
08:33he could never truly
08:34live up to his potential
08:36and was someone
08:36to be laughed at.
08:37A more positive strain
08:39of the old fat comic
08:40relief character as Hero
08:41did emerge on screen
08:43starting in the 80s and 90s.
08:44Comic legends like
08:45Chris Farley,
08:46John Goodman,
08:47Jack Black,
08:47and John Candy
08:48showed us a different side
08:50of the plus-size trope
08:51through characters
08:51who were nuanced,
08:52heartfelt,
08:53and wickedly funny,
08:54but not relying entirely
08:56on cheap,
08:56shallow fat jokes
08:57to get laughs.
08:58Once I get up on stage,
08:59start doing my thing,
09:01people worship me
09:02because I'm sexy
09:04and chubby.
09:05These characters
09:06could also break
09:06decades-old beauty standards
09:08by being shown
09:08as sexually appealing
09:10or having romantic subplots.
09:12Way to go,
09:12Tommy Callahan.
09:13But even these mostly
09:18positive portrayals
09:19reflected a double standard
09:21in Hollywood and life,
09:22because this hero
09:23was almost always male.
09:24With a few notable exceptions,
09:26like Roseanne,
09:26female characters on screen
09:28have overwhelmingly been used
09:29to reinforce the idea
09:30that being skinny
09:31is the same as being attractive.
09:32We tell all people,
09:34but especially women,
09:36that you can only have a good life
09:38in a certain body.
09:39And in my opinion,
09:40that's political.
09:40I think it really saps women's time
09:42and women's money
09:43and women's power.
09:44And although social psychology studies
09:46have shown that people tend
09:47to overestimate the female thinness
09:49or male muscularity
09:50that the opposite sex
09:51actually desires,
09:53film and TV's inescapable
09:54and unrealistic depictions
09:56of what constitutes
09:57a normal or sexy body weight
09:58help explain why there are
10:00such high rates of body dissatisfaction
10:02and eating disorders
10:03in young women.
10:04One 90s study found that,
10:06after being introduced
10:06to Western television,
10:08the island nation of Fiji's rate
10:09of depression, anxiety,
10:10and bulimia
10:11all dramatically increased
10:13among females.
10:14In Fiji,
10:15and just like elsewhere
10:16in the South Pacific,
10:17in Polynesia,
10:18you often find that cultures
10:19traditionally value large bodies.
10:22Eating disorders were rare
10:23if non-existent
10:25in Fiji prior to TV.
10:28Like extreme cases of obesity,
10:30the desire to be skinny
10:31has become an epidemic
10:32in its own right,
10:33with 30 million Americans
10:34having experienced
10:35an eating disorder
10:36in their lifetime.
10:37This has led activists
10:38to get behind
10:39the body positivity movement,
10:41with even the fashion industry
10:42attempting to redress
10:43their wrongs
10:44through inclusive advertising.
10:46So how are films
10:47and TV shows reconciling
10:49with the unbelievably
10:49fat-phobic environment
10:51and set of stereotypes
10:52they helped to create
10:53and perpetuate?
10:54You call yourself
10:55Fat Amy?
10:57Yeah, so Twigvitch is like,
10:58you don't do it
10:58behind my back.
11:00The primary way
11:05fatphobia manifests
11:06in movies and TV
11:08is through characters
11:08defined by their fatness.
11:10But as the body positivity
11:11movement grows,
11:12we're seeing more characters
11:13whose fatness is simply
11:15not the focus of the story
11:16or whose experience
11:17is dealt with
11:18in a more interesting way.
11:19In the 2018 film Dumplin,
11:21the protagonist Willow Dean
11:22is shown constantly at odds
11:24with her former pageant
11:25queen mother, Rosie.
11:26You're not eating that greasy
11:27stuff over at Harpy's, right?
11:28But unlike in a reformed
11:30fat character story arc,
11:31Dumplin makes clear
11:32that Rosie is the one
11:33who needs to accept
11:34her daughter,
11:35rather than Willow Dean
11:36needing to change
11:37her body type
11:38to become accepted.
11:39Shrill, a comedy
11:40based on the life
11:41of journalist Lindy West,
11:42richly details
11:43the full life
11:44of a fat person.
11:46To present this
11:46very, very
11:47lovable, beautiful, sexy,
11:50whole person is, I think,
11:54a little bit radical.
11:55Fat phobia is present
11:56in every realm of Annie's life
11:58when she's speaking
11:59with her gynecologist,
12:00You should think about
12:01gastric bypass.
12:02You're at a good age for it.
12:03out to dinner with her mother,
12:04Oh, no, no, no.
12:06No bread for us.
12:07and reading comments
12:08about her writing on the internet.
12:09See that one that says,
12:11um, oink, oink.
12:12She's frequently treated
12:13as less than by everyone
12:15from her not-quite-boyfriend
12:16to her boss
12:17to a fitness professional
12:18who feels entitled
12:19to publicly comment
12:20on Annie's health.
12:21I was just trying to help you,
12:22you fat bitch.
12:24In its early episodes,
12:25Shrill converses
12:26with the reformed fat character's
12:27story structure,
12:28as we see Annie begin to realize
12:30how fat phobia has shaped her life,
12:32giving her low self-esteem
12:33and a tendency to put up
12:35with unacceptable treatment.
12:36You're cool with going
12:37out of the bag again, right?
12:39Um, yeah.
12:42Yet Annie's solution
12:43isn't to lose weight.
12:44It's just stop accepting
12:46these biases,
12:47stand up for herself
12:48and embrace her body.
12:49From this point on
12:50in the series,
12:51Annie's story
12:51and conception of her life
12:53becomes so much broader.
12:54Shrill also includes
12:55not just one fat character,
12:57but a cast of diverse characters.
12:59How long have you
12:59had this event?
13:00Gosh, this is our third year
13:02and it just keeps getting bigger.
13:04Wow.
13:04Well, I love this.
13:06I really support
13:07everything that's happening right now.
13:09Radha Blank's
13:09the 40-year-old version
13:10deals with fatness
13:12in a slightly different way
13:13by kind of not dealing with it.
13:15The fact that Radha Blank
13:16is a fat woman
13:17is never mentioned
13:18and it doesn't color
13:19her interactions.
13:20She's shown to be
13:21sexually desirable,
13:22professionally successful
13:23and respected
13:23by the young students
13:24she mentors.
13:25I've been writing plays
13:27and teaching theater
13:29to teens in Harlem.
13:31Hey guys.
13:32Official son.
13:33That's my teacher, yo.
13:35Patty Cakes does similar work
13:37by putting a fat protagonist
13:38into a recognizable
13:39Cinderella framework
13:40where her happy ending
13:41isn't found in accepting
13:42her body type
13:43but in being recognized
13:44as a talented artist.
13:46Patty and Jerry,
13:47we will be legendary.
13:48These characters' fatness
13:49fades into the background
13:50and becomes just one
13:52fairly insignificant aspect
13:53of who they are,
13:54allowing their other traits
13:55and talents to shine.
13:57Blacks be having
13:58hox-stable achievements,
13:59but these white producers
14:00just don't be believish shit.
14:02Body positivity
14:03naturally aligns
14:05with movements
14:05for people of color,
14:06the queer community
14:07and disabled people.
14:09Fatphobia is deeply rooted
14:10in complex structures
14:12like capitalism,
14:14patriarchy and racism.
14:16But just like
14:17each of those movements
14:18faces its own political
14:19and cultural challenges,
14:21fatness brings with it
14:22a specific set
14:23of extremely complex
14:24challenges in our world.
14:26The emergence of Lizzo
14:27as a sexy, talented,
14:28fat black female superstar
14:30whose music centers
14:31on self-love
14:32seemed like a real
14:33watershed moment
14:34for body acceptance
14:35in popular culture.
14:36But strangely,
14:37Lizzo's status
14:37as a body-positive icon
14:39has become so cemented
14:40that there was backlash
14:41when she went on
14:42a juice cleanse.
14:43Like, as a big girl,
14:44people just expect
14:45if you are doing
14:47something for health,
14:48you're doing it for,
14:49like, a dramatic weight loss,
14:51and that is not the case.
14:52Lizzo is far from
14:53the only fat celebrity
14:54to come under fire
14:55after losing weight.
14:56Celebrities like Adele
14:57and Rebel Wilson
14:58have all faced controversy
15:00from personal decisions
15:01about their bodies.
15:02If a fat public figure
15:03attempts to change
15:04their diet or exercise habits,
15:06it's often seen
15:06as them giving into oppression
15:08or becoming part of the problem.
15:09Thus, the admirable drive
15:11to celebrate fat bodies
15:12comes into conflict
15:13with the unconditional
15:14acceptance of all bodies
15:15and underscores
15:16just how deeply fatphobia
15:17has hurt people
15:18and caused divisions
15:19in our culture.
15:20Given these tricky dynamics,
15:22figures like Lizzo
15:23have sought to draw attention
15:24to systemic issues
15:25that drive discrimination
15:27against fat people,
15:28like in the entertainment
15:29and fashion industries.
15:30Body positivity,
15:31yes, we want to end
15:32harassment and shame,
15:34but we also are working
15:35to dismantle a system
15:36that oppresses fat people.
15:38It's more productive
15:39to identify and shame
15:40the larger root causes
15:42of fatphobia
15:43rather than shaming
15:44the individual choices
15:45of fat people,
15:46whatever those may be.
15:48Movies and TV
15:49have an important role
15:50in this process.
15:51Storytellers can foster empathy,
15:53prioritize three-dimensionality,
15:55and depict the real inequities
15:56fat people face
15:57in their day-to-day lives
15:59so that we can all
16:00finally see the fatphobia
16:01that for so long
16:03has been all around us.
16:05As far as I'm concerned,
16:05a swimsuit body
16:06is a body with a swimsuit on it.
16:11This is The Take
16:12on your favorite movie,
16:13shows, and culture.
16:14Thank you so much
16:15for watching
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16:17Please subscribe
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16:27See you next time.
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