thoughts on HUGE, the newsweek article, and the whole fat-people-on-tv thing

by Marzipan on July 9, 2010 · 18 comments

This post could also be entitled A HUGE love letter to Jessica Bennett of Newsweek.

I have been almost blissfully ignoring the HUGE abc family debut and internet backlash/support issue, mostly because I thought the show was boring and not worth mentioning, but it is now an inescapable topic. This week Jessica Bennett wrote an article for Newsweek online reviewing the show, a review I found nauseating at best but not all together deplorable. Bennet begins her article stating,

There are a few things you might expect from a television show calledHuge. The title conjures a reality freakfest: an hour or so of game-show challenges for morbidly obese contestants, whose bodies and lifestyles are just grotesque enough to keep us watching. Put that show on a family channel, though, and you’re probably in for a heaping helping of “love your body” instead of fatsploitation. What you’ll get on the Monday premiere of ABC Family’s Huge is something in between.

I take issue with her word choice here, from freakfest to morbidly obese to grotesque. So, I will begin by saying that there is nothing grotesque about being a fat person, and I find television shows that appeal to our national obsession with achieving thinness to be unnecessary and in poor taste. I know that as a culture we are fascinated by the idea of a disgusting and repulsive FAT person [god forbid] changing their lives and overcoming their weight obstacles and shedding tears/pounds before our very eyes.

But I refuse to subscribe to it.

However, I do agree that HUGE exists somewhere in the realm between “fatsploitation” and “love your body,” though, as a fat person, I could kind of care less. The show, in my opinion, doesn’t do a fantastic job of navigating this conundrum in any revolutionary or new way – EXCEPT that is does depict a nearly full figured cast for the first time in history. I feel the same way about this that I do gay characters on TV, it is progress but it frequently adheres strictly to cultural stereotypes, and thus is just the beginning but certainly not enough for me.

I like seeing positive fat role models on television, but by the mere fact that the show takes place at a fat camp there is the pretty overwhelming mantra of thin is right, fat is wrong, and fat people should be dieting/exercising/working to overcome their weight. I would instead really like to see a show were fat people are just merrily living their lives and loving their bodies NO MATTER what their size or fitness abilities. But, alas, it would be a show without the hype of promised change and obligatory “fat shaming” that we just love so very much as a culture.

Bennett discusses the social hierarchy of the camp – an obvious issue, where the “thinnest” of the fat people are the most popular/most likely to date/least denigrated for their size, which is kind of the part of the article that is the best, but overall, I take issue with her tone. She finishes by stating:

Don’t write Huge off yet, but its message so far is underwhelming: don’t apologize for your body—as long as you’re not fat.

Which, well, I have to agree with. The message is underwhelming. It doesn’t encourage people to throw out their scales and start eating intuitively or living authentically. And I kind of wish that it did. Overall, I don’t think that this is a television show worth a blog post, but this issue at heart is important – why are we so nationally obsessed with watching fat people on TV make their lives “better” by enlisting coaches and nutritionists and starving themselves into a size six? What do we gain from supporting shows like this? How does it effect our personal body image?

Additional reading:

Jezebel, Fat-Camp Striptease & Snack Lust
The Curvy Life, The angst of the suit
Live Your Ideal Life, A HUGE Beginning
Big Fat Blog, HUGE Misrepresentation
Fatshionista, Goonies Never Say Die
Beautiful You, HUGE Happenings
Voice in Recovery, “Huge” on ABC Family

What do you think of this new show? How about this Newsweek depiction of fat-people-on-TV?

[This article was forwarded to me by the LOVELY Meredith Blumoff who I seriously recommend that you follow on twitter for snarky, awesome, and intelligent daily commentary. She also has absolutely perfect hair.]

Tagged as: abc family, body image, huge, obesity, pop culture, television

http://s.rvxn.org sui

I haven’t watched HUGE yet, though I kind of want to only to see what it’s like and analyze the crap out of it and then maybe get mad.

Some people in the US seem to be extremely voyeuristic. After all, they see all sorts of drama on reality shows, and feel better about the drama in their own lives they may have created themselves. Same for shows like The Biggest Loser. Vicariously, viewers might feel inspired & happy… and feel like their lives are improving through these people becoming healthier.

However, why just pick out quote unquote fat people? Why not pick out unhealthy people from ALL spectrums, to show that even “skinny” people can be “skinny-fat”? That even thin people might be eating unhealthily, never exercising..? Or even athletic people. I once read an article about what Michael Phelps eats, since he burns so much energy every day.. but doesn’t seem like he’s refueling with the adequate energy needed to swim optimally (I believe the list was full of high-calorie, yes, but in a bad way, junk food!).
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KCLAnderson (Karen)

In a way, it’s just taking what we’re already obsessed with (think of all the “before and after” articles and spots on morning TV) to another, predictable level. I haven’t seen The Biggest Loser or Huge and, for the most part, I refuse to discuss or even mention them unless asked, and even then I just say that I don’t watch. I believe the more attention we pay to shows like this, whether we watch them or not, the more of them we’ll get. They create “buzz.”

It’s funny…I started understanding just how lucrative the whole diet, “before and after” thing is a few years ago when, as a member of eDiets, I lost 50 pounds and was asked to be a “success story.” I was SO freaking proud of myself and wanted to shout it from the rooftops! Look at me!! Weeeeeee! And from there, I was featured in Quick & Simple magazine. And then I was in an eDiets commercial! Why? Was this because they really wanted to celebrate me and hear and tell my story? No. It’s to make money. Now, I am all for making money, but what’s happening in our society is that the “marketplace” has gotten waaaay too powerful and it *spends* unimaginable amounts of money to keep us anticipating the next big thing…not to mention keeping us unsure of our *selves*…not able to trust our *selves*. And so we become eager consumers of whatever they want to “feed” us, so they can make super-unimaginable amounts of money.

We need to think about what we pay attention to, what we discuss, how we direct our energy…
http://voiceinrecovery.wordpress.com/ Kendra (Voice in Recovery)

Hmmmmmm I am about to admit I have yet to see it. I am part of the movement to get it press, because I support diversity in all areas of life. I had read the newsweek article in pissiness and the only reason I havent responded is because I want to see it first. This is the first “review” I Have read. I wanted to watch it without being biased by others perspectives. I dont have TV, and went home last week, so it has been on the back burner. This weekend it is back on the top of my to do list. Because I absolutely agree with you re there is NOTHING wrong or disgusting with being fat. I also am concerned the mesage of loving your body is underwhelming and doesnt talk about intuitive eating and such. I will stop my comments there, because I do want to have some fresh eyes, however difficult that may be as an eating disorder and body image advocate Thanks for the post. GREAT overall message.
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http://700stories.wordpress.com Jill

I blogged about the first episode of HUGE. Mainly how I related to it. After watching the 2nd episode…. I really don’t have much else to say. Thus far it’s a pretty boring show which I hate to say since I like Winnie Holzman (writer: My So Called Life & Wicked: The Musical) but there are many more interesting and multi-dimensional shows out there, even on ABC Family. I think HUGE tries too hard to be multi-dimensional.

Have you seen the show Drop Dead Diva? I need to write about that one.
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http://www.medicinalmarzipan.com admin

I know. I like Winne Holzman too. Thats what saddens me the most! I haven’t seen Drop Dead Diva, but I’ve heard really great things – must check it out ASAP. Thank you : )

http://feralcompass.wordpress.com/ Kimberley

A pleasure to discover your blog.

I’ve watched one episode of HUGE and a couple of the Biggest Loser – don’t want to watch more of either.

Besides not agreeing with the assumption that fat people are disgusting, I also don’t agree with the “all fat people are unhealthy” assumption.

I’m “fat” and have low bad cholestrol, nice levels of good choletrol, low blood pressure, no gall bladder problems, low resting heart rate, good flexibility.
I do have a health problem related to my liver and have had to change my diet – but the problem is completely unrelated to my weight.
Thanks for sharing this.
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http://www.medicinalmarzipan.com admin

Hey Kimberley! Thanks for stopping by. I completely agree about the problems with the “all fat people are unhealthy” assumption. I am very healthy. And I am overweight. But it doesn’t stop me from doing every single thing I set my little heart on. I can run/jump/skip/have fun/eat healthfully/move about my life with ease – and all from this fat body. Shocking! xo.

http://lilyfluffbottom.blogspot.com Lily Fluffbottom

I’ve seen the first couple of episodes, and I just don’t know what to make of this show. I guess I’m wondering, if these kids are at a fat camp, are the actors required to make some kind of actual weight loss?

What if that doesn’t happen? Too scary to think about it.

http://www.medicinalmarzipan.com admin

yeah, i guess I never thought about that aspect. eek! I don’t think they will be actually losing weight. that would sort of ruin the whole intent [compromise already or not] of the show.. oy veh.

http://www.nopointsforstyle.com Adrienne

You’re so right. We need a show that has some fat characters. Not a show about fat people, just a show with fat people in it.

Grey’s Anatomy did it for race. It has a beautifully varied cast, but it just IS. The characters are AA and Asian, Causasian and Hispanic, but they don’t build shows around it.

Someday. I hope.

http://www.medicinalmarzipan.com admin

I was thinking about Grey’s Anatomy a little when I was writing this! Example: a show with a multitude of faces shown, just living their regular lives AND it’s interesting. I would love that. Someday. ::fingerscrossed::

http://www.julie-parker.com.au Julie

Being all the way down under in Australia I am yet to be able to get access to see the show which I’m finding somewhat frustrating. The ABC site are not allowing it to be viewed internationally but why I don’t know – other shows you can.

I’m enjoying reading all the various viewpoints but really want to see it myself before making a call. Certainly in my pre-show post about it I expressed some considerable concerns about how it would pan out. It remains to be seen for me if I was right or proven wrong.

http://www.medicinalmarzipan.com admin

yes, yes. definitely watch it for your self. there are certainly aspects of the show that I loved, but unfortunately it wasn’t even that I found it insulting/wrong/anything like that, I just thought the acting wasn’t great and it was boring! ha. but don’t take my word for it – it is worth seeing, for body image topic value alone.

Shannon

A few weeks ago I was at the mall and saw the inescapably large advertisement for HUGE. This particular poster was a close up picture of the leading role, Nikki Blonsky, in her one-piece bathing suit with the bold show name just above her head. In 30 seconds of looking at the poster I had a range of emotions across the board. At first, unfortunately and I really hate to admit it but the society-trained part of my brain was disgusted by the sight of her. This has more to do with the fact that I look like her and am not comfortable with my legs in a bathing suit than the photo of course. I quickly became a self-conscious middle schooler looking around just waiting for people to walk past and cringe, laugh or yell mean things. – To my shock, in my quick survey or the people, no one seemed to be phased by it. I quickly became angry though, as I feel that this show is a very wrong approach to something so necessary in our culture. I wasn’t going to watch it either since I didn’t agree with the poster but my curiousity got the best of me. Although Nikki’s character is awesome and rebellious against the message of thin being the only way, she’s still the outcast at the camp. And the fact that the thinnest of the fat girls is the only love interest in the show is incredibly infuriating to me. One of the few pluses I found was that one of the mother’s expressed that she felt that her daughter was beautiful the way she was, which I think is nice to see since so many of us have been given bad body images from our mother’s at a young age. I’m probably going to continue watching this horrible show because I’m so very curious to see how this all plays out. I’m also curious about Lily’s point – What happens if these actors don’t lose weight?
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http://twitter.com/meredithblumoff meredith

SO glad to hear your response to this. i had a hard time with the review, too, because i hated so much of HOW she wrote what she wrote, but agreed, also, with a lot of the content. excellent post!
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Patricia Duncan

I disagree with your review. It is my opinion that fat IS wrong, if you are over weight or “Morbidly obese”, it means one of two things, 1.) that you have some sort of medical issue which cannot be solved with medication resulting in being over weight, and this should in fact be excused, HOWEVER, the second option is that you are simply lazy, choose to eat poorly and not take care of your body, if you dont take care of you body you shouldnt be “loving” it. The only way you should be loving your body is if you take pride in it and by letting yourself go, you have no pride. So whats to love? I think that if this show, Huge, is what it takes to scare people out of being obese then it is definitly worth it. To all you people out there: Its never too late to turn your life around, eat healthy and get excersize. It makes you feel better, will make you healthier and make you live longer. Its a proven fact that people that weigh less have lower medical bills and less living expenses. It all around will make you a happier person. Trust me on this one. Thanks for listening to both sides.
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