Movies that make fun of fat people

[late 0]

The other night my dh and i were watching Norbit wihch was not very entertaining to say the least, but as i was watching i realized that all of the fat jokes and the attitudes displayed towards the fat people bothered me. My dh who does not have a weight issue thinks that sometimes i am too sensitive beacause it hits too close to home. THat may very well be true but i am tired of the way sterotypes of fat people continue to be in all of these movies. Does anyone else the problem here?

[Jachut 487]

I guess, never having gotten past a BMI of 35, I havent ever been the butt of jokes and stares, so I cant really say that I can identify in that it hits too close to home. I wasnt happy with myself, but I looked like a million other people walking around, there was always someone fatter to be started at.

What I think is that the thought of being that obese is so horrific to most people, it scares them and that's why they make fun of it. What I dont understand is why. There's lots of worse things you could be like a thief or a wife beater, or a paedophile! Seems we tolerate those things better than the simple fact of obesity! Its insane.

It leaves a nasty taste in my mouth too, I dont really get fat humour, even when wrapped in a moral message like in Shallow Hal, oh, yeah, the fat girl is really a good person. Well why the hell wouldnt she be? I dont need some cheesy movie to teach me that lesson.

[bitteroldhag 0]

I get very tired of this, but the good side is that the fat women are usually men in drag. One wonders why fat men in drag are so funny.

[Leona06 0]

Still I don't think its a good message to send to kids watching the movie-

I don't think spreading FEAR of Fat is a good thing for today's youth.

People should not be ASHAMED to be overweight! It is something that can be fixed, it is not a character flaw...

ugh I certainly hate the mainstream screaming that anorexia is a good thing...

[TommyO 5]

This is a far bigger issue than making fun of fat people. The question is when is it acceptable to make fun of a specific group of people. For example if you were to watch any of the Austin Powers movies it is very evident that Mike Myers pokes fun at anyone and everyone. If I am offended at fat jokes because I am fat should I not then realize that making fun of people with moles on their faces is equally offensive or should I only be concerned about that which offends me?

I don't know the answer but I believe strongly that as long as the humour is not directed at a racial minority society will not care. I also beleive that it's good that we are generally apposed to making fun of minorities but we also must remember that the message is important. If for instance the we use humour to simply insult some group then it is wrong. If however the humour is intended to point out social injustice then it has some merrit. An example might be this a comic telling a joke about a fat person eating all the food at a buffet may be in poor taste to some but a comic telling a funny strory about overweight people eating diet food all the time is less offensive because it points out that eating diet food is not likely to work.

I don't know where to draw the line but I also know that where I choose to draw the line really does not matter.

Finally saying "jokes about fat people eating all the food at the buffet is in poor taste" is a pretty good pun.

Cheers

TommyO

[skyeblu79 0]

I didn't think that Norbit was funny either. It didn't have anything to do w/the fat jokes though.

Another movie that comes to mind was Shallow Hal. I thought it was funny.

[insubordination 0]

People often tell me I look like Gwenyth Paltrow.....in Shallow Hal. I don't mind that fat funny movies so much. It's just typical low-brow 'humour'.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape? is the one that really made me feel uncomfortable. I find that so hard to watch that movie. Hits a little to close to home.

[tifferoni326 0]

OMG if anyone told me i looked like the girl in Shallow Hal...I might, no i would go crazy on thier butt. Not that she wasnt pretty etc, but that whole movie was directed at emphasizing how fat she was...

Anyone see the movie Summer Catch..Well in it this character is seeing this girl behind his friends back and he wont tell his friends bc shes "fat" ok whatever..well they show this girl..shes like a size 14 or so..not fat...just not freaking paris hilton thin. Made me so mad!! I would kill to b a 14..and according to the casting people shes fat...grr..

I cant watch anything that makes fun of fat people. of course I also dont watch movies and stuff that make fun of retarded people, deaf people, handicapped people...Im kinda a bleedin heart

[lisah25 3]

It does bug me a lot, it's playing into old stereotypes.

And I was surprised to see it in an old I Love Lucy re-run the other day. Plot was about Ricky mentioning an old girl-friend being in town and Lucy getting very jealous, having nightmares where he runs of with the former flame. So, she invites her over to check out the compatition, and the woman is overweight. When Lucy sees her, she's totally relieved. Because of course Ricky wouldn't be at all interested in *that*.

[newgirl07 0]

It does bug me a lot, it's playing into old stereotypes.

And I was surprised to see it in an old I Love Lucy re-run the other day. Plot was about Ricky mentioning an old girl-friend being in town and Lucy getting very jealous, having nightmares where he runs of with the former flame. So, she invites her over to check out the compatition, and the woman is overweight. When Lucy sees her, she's totally relieved. Because of course Ricky wouldn't be at all interested in *that*.

I heard that she was very competitive with the woman who played Ethyl (Vivian Vance) and always wanted Vivian to be heavier than she was. Apparently, she always freaked out when Vivian lost weight and "looked better."

[skyeblu79 0]

People often tell me I look like Gwenyth Paltrow.....in Shallow Hal. I don't mind that fat funny movies so much. It's just typical low-brow 'humour'.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape? is the one that really made me feel uncomfortable. I find that so hard to watch that movie. Hits a little to close to home.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape really got to me too..That was so sad. It was a really good movie though.

[skyeblu79 0]

Another movie I just thought of was Baby Cakes. I think that's what it was called w/Ricki Lake. I hated the part where the girlfriend beat up Ricki Lake's character. I can't stand watching that part.

And I know this isn't a movie, but Growing Pains was one of my favorite shows growing up. I never really noticed when I was a kid, but watching it in reunions I noticed that they really gave Carol (Tracy Gold) a hard time. It doesn't shock me she got an eating disorder.

[Maurdan 2]

I have a BMI over 50, but I honestly love Shallow Hal.

Some of the jokes are stupid, fat jokes but I thought the overall storyline was good.

[marjon9 6]

Since movies are the topic of discussion, I'll mention one of my all time favorites that is sort of in the Shallow Hal genre, Muriel's Wedding. It's an amazing (and very funny) story of a really unglamorous, overweight, plain-looking woman who faced her own demons and triumphed in her own life, leaving in the dust her shapely and shallow former "friends" who rejected her in the past for not being cool enough to be in with the in crowd. This is a really uplifting film.

[insubordination 0]

Muriel's Wedding is one of my favourite movies. Not to everyone's tast however.