Fat Bodies Don’t Exist for Your Entertainment
It’s time to stop using bigger bodies as cautionary tales and punchlines
Recently, my boyfriend and I watched the BBC’s Sherlock. I had watched the first few episodes before, and was excited to see where the series went. I’ve loved Benedict Cumberbatch since before it was cool to like Benedict Cumberbatch. I was enjoying it thoroughly until suddenly, I wasn’t.
We were in the midst of the episode “The Abominable Bride” when there appeared Sherlock’s brother Mycroft in a fat suit, just gorging on everything within reach. There are so many more creative things the producers of this show could have done, and actually did during this episode than make fun of fat people and perpetuate stereotypes about heavy people being slothful gluttons. But once again, here we are.
This is a cycle that repeats time and time again.
Last year, it was John Lithgow in a fat suit in Bombshell. Before that, it was Chris Hemsworth (Avengers: Endgame), John Travolta (Hairspray), and Gwenyth Paltrow (Shallow Hal). Watching Dodgeball with my kids recently, I was reminded how much of Ben Stiller’s character in that movie revolves around how disgusting fat bodies are, and the portrayal of fat people as unhappy, slovenly, and out of control. I…
