Can Hollywood learn to tell stories about women above a size 4?
| Los Angeles
Sonya Renee Taylor has complicated feelings about the NBC series, 鈥淭his Is Us.鈥�
She was thrilled to see that one of the show鈥檚 main plotlines centered on Kate, a woman whose complex relationships with family, food, and love are exquisitely portrayed by Chrissy Metz. Nothing like that had been produced 鈥� would even have been possible 鈥� in the 1980s, when Ms. Taylor was growing up. 鈥淭here were not bodies that looked like mine on television,鈥� she says.
But the fact that Kate鈥檚 story revolves largely around her misery over her weight doesn鈥檛 sit well with Taylor, a performance poet who runs a company called The Body Is Not An Apology and advocates for what she calls radical self-love.
鈥淗ooray, there鈥檚 this fat woman in a lead role,鈥� Taylor says, 鈥渂ut when do we get over the idea that fatness is the worst thing that can happen to you?鈥�
Taylor鈥檚 conflicted reaction to Kate鈥檚 character speaks to a broader, but equally discordant, discourse around body and beauty norms, and the portrayal of weight in Hollywood. There鈥檚 no doubt that film and TV have begun to respond to audiences鈥� desire for characters, especially female characters, larger than a size zero 鈥� or six or 12. That鈥檚 clear in ; the development of shows and films with plus-size leads, like 鈥溾��, 鈥溾��, and 鈥溾��; and Ms. Metz鈥檚 nomination at this Sunday's Emmy Awards for her role in 鈥淭his Is Us.鈥�
It鈥檚 just as clear that Hollywood maintains petite as standard size. Leading roles 鈥� indeed, most roles 鈥� still go to actors who are far thinner than average. (The National Center for Health Statistics the average American woman is just under 5 foot 4 and weighs 168.5 pounds.) The weight-loss-as-victory narrative is still a primary plotline for both plus-size characters and actual celebrities. And the likes of actor聽 and model聽 still say they鈥檙e told they鈥檙e too fat.
The tension reflects a peculiar cultural moment. While the body positivity movement is coming into its own both on- and offline, messaging around the 鈥渞ight鈥� shape and size continue to dominate popular media. It鈥檚 a moment that academics and advocates alike say calls for a kind of societal self-reflection 鈥� an occasion to ask ourselves what we value most in our culture and how we鈥檇 like those values represented in the media we consume.
鈥淗ollywood can be a way of humanizing and creating empathy. It can be very powerful,鈥� says Abigail Saguy, a cultural sociologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of the 2013 book, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 Wrong with Fat?鈥� The question is whether the industry and its audiences are willing or ready to change the conversation around fat and body image.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure how strong that desire is yet,鈥� Professor Saguy says.
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In one of her first scenes on 鈥淭his Is Us,鈥� Kate stands in front of a scale in her underwear. She pulls off her earrings, takes a deep breath, and steps onto the edge. And then she tips backwards and falls. It鈥檚 Kate鈥檚 rock bottom: sitting on her bathroom floor, ankle aflame, miserable in her own body.
鈥淪he has this kind of epiphany,鈥� Metz explains on YouTube. 鈥溾�楳y life is passing me by, and how do I fix it? If my self-worth is attached to my weight, let me focus on this in order to change my life and the trajectory of where it鈥檚 going.鈥欌��
To some, the scene is resonant. 鈥淢ost people affected with obesity are pictured in a very stigmatizing, biased way 鈥� and play into those stereotypes of fat means stupid or lazy,鈥� says James Zervios, a founding member of the Obesity Action Coalition, a nonprofit that works to empower people with obesity and provide access to care and resources.
While weight loss drives Kate鈥檚 decisions through the show鈥檚 first season, she is also more than her size; she鈥檚 funny and charming and smart, and her on-again, off-again relationship with Chris Sullivan鈥檚 Toby is almost too adorable. It鈥檚 a powerful departure from caricatures like 鈥淔at Monica鈥� from 鈥淔riends,鈥� who is treated as a joke until she becomes thin, or the bumbling Klumps in 鈥淭he Nutty Professor鈥� series, Mr. Zervios says.
But to others, Kate personifies a principal and problematic narrative for the fat person in Hollywood: In order for a character of size to be worthy 鈥撀爋f attention, of love, of dignity 鈥� he or she needs to want, or be trying, to lose weight. His or her other attributes become nothing but add-ons to that singular defining goal.
鈥淲hen the only stories you see outside of the sassy fat friend are people who are dieting and miserable with their bodies, it makes you feel that鈥檚 the way all fat people are,鈥� says Sarah Hollowell, a self-professed 鈥溾�� of essays, poetry, and young adult fiction. 鈥淵ou start to feel that the only part of your story that matters is when are you going to be skinny.鈥�
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For most of human history, fat was considered a sign of wealth and strength. It wasn鈥檛 until the late 19th century, as the food supply increased, that elites in the West began to cultivate an aesthetic that hinged on thinness and, particularly for women,聽delicacy. 鈥淚t became low-class and immoral to be fat,鈥� says Emily Fox-Kales, author of 鈥淏ody Shots: Hollywood and the Culture of Eating Disorders.鈥�
Then 20th-century medical professionals linked negative health effects to excess weight. By the time former US Surgeon General C. Everett Koop declared obesity in 1996, Western culture had done a complete about-face about fat: The goal became to shed it at all costs, and bodies that continued to carry it merited derision.
Popular media reflected and perpetuated those attitudes. While there were exceptions, such as the 1980s hit, 鈥淩oseanne,鈥� fat characters usually were the butt of the joke or reviled villains 鈥� think Jabba the Hutt or Danny DeVito鈥檚 Penguin in 鈥淏atman Returns.鈥� In other cases, fat was portrayed as punishment. The 聽for 鈥淔attitude: A Body Positive Documentary鈥� features a clip from 鈥淪cooby-Doo鈥� in which Daphne 鈥� the svelte, red-haired sleuth 鈥� is transformed into a chubby version of herself. 鈥淣ow you have brought the curse down upon yourself!鈥� a voice booms, as Daphne screams.
鈥淗er curse is she has to be a fat lady. Her curse is she has to look like me,鈥� feminist critic and author Lindy West says in the documentary. 鈥淎nd I鈥檓 supposed to show that to my kids and have them internalize that narrative?鈥�
This isn鈥檛 to say that weight has no bearing on health, notes Saguy at UCLA. But a person鈥檚 value shouldn鈥檛 rest on how fit they are. Plus, the double whammy of hostility from the medical community and pop culture creates a feedback loop that is neither helpful nor accurate, she and others say.
鈥淭here is no study that says someone who has been fat shamed is healthier than someone who isn鈥檛,鈥� says Kjerstin Gruys, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her recovery from an eating disorder inspired her 鈥� and write a book about it. 鈥淎ny time the solution is 鈥榯hese people need to know that they鈥檙e fat and it鈥檚 a problem,鈥� you鈥檙e creating inequality and shame and neither of those things predict good health outcomes.鈥�
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As polarizing as Kate鈥檚 character in 鈥淭his Is Us鈥� has been for body positivity advocates, the role is nonetheless a marker for gradually changing views around size and weight. Among those preceding her are Ms. McCarthy鈥檚 Sookie St. James in 鈥淕ilmore Girls,鈥� Nikki Blonsky鈥檚 Will Rader in ABC鈥檚 鈥淗uge,鈥� Rebel Wilson鈥檚 Fat Amy in the film series 鈥淧itch Perfect,鈥� and Gabourey Sidibe鈥檚 Becky in the Fox hit 鈥淓mpire.鈥�
None of these characters are perfect. Rather they are at times tortured, ambitious, and vengeful, as well was funny, silly, and in love. And that鈥檚 precisely the point, says Lindsey Averill, co-creator of 鈥淔attitude.鈥澛�
鈥淭he representations we need are not representations that are specifically saying only positive things about fat bodies,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he representations we need are those that actually represent the lives of fat people.鈥�
For now, at least, there鈥檚 yearning for more. August saw the release of 鈥淧atti Cake$,鈥� which follows Jersey native Patricia Dombrowski in her quest for rap glory. Newcomer Danielle Macdonald, who plays Patti, will also star in the 2018 film 鈥湺俪艹颈璞艟辈遭��,鈥� based on the novel by Julie Murphy about a self-proclaimed fat teenager who enters a beauty pageant in her Texas hometown.
Ms. Murphy, who grew up almost avoiding books and movies with fat people in them because 鈥淚 knew what I was going to get,鈥� recalls the first time she saw the 2015 film 鈥淪py.鈥� The movie featured McCarthy sporting a dark trench and a sleek dark hairstyle.
鈥淚t was like a moment when you catch your breath and you see someone who looks like you, and you don鈥檛 realize how much you鈥檝e wanted that and needed that until it happens,鈥� Murphy says. 鈥淚 hope 顿耻尘辫濒颈苍鈥� can be that moment for somebody.鈥�
Next year will also see the release of the AMC adaptation of Sarai Walker鈥檚 novel 鈥淒ietland,鈥� which examines society鈥檚 disdain for fat women through the eyes of Plum Kettle, the 300-pound assistant to a teen magazine editor. 鈥淚 had been really reluctant to sell the TV and film rights to 'Dietland鈥�,鈥� Ms. Walker says. 鈥淚 was like, 鈥楴o way is this going to be Gwyneth Paltrow in a fat suit.鈥欌��
She says she was surprised聽鈥� and pleased 鈥� when executive producer Marti Noxon handed her a screenplay that stayed true to the story she鈥檇 written. 鈥淲hen I read the pilot, I had tears in my eyes,鈥� Walker says.
Taylor, the poet, says these are reasons to celebrate, even though a broad acceptance of size is 鈥渇ar slower moving than some of our other awakenings around bodies.鈥�
Still, she says, 鈥淭he more we鈥檙e willing to tell stories that are filled with rich, diverse people, diverse bodies, who have rich, diverse experiences that are both awesome and awful, hard and triumphant, the more we begin to see that reflected in our world.鈥�
