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11 posts tagged fiction
So one of my biggest problems with Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby (and I had so many big problems with the movie) was Myrtle Wilson. I think Isla Fisher did a great job, don’t get me wrong, but she was not the right person to play Myrtle.
Descriptions of Myrtle from the book:
“the thickish figure of a women blocked out the light…she was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout. Her face…contained no facet or gleam of beauty but there was an immediately perceptible vitality…”“She had changed her dress to a brown muslin which stretched tight over her rather wide hips.”
Myrtle is not supposed to be thin or pretty (we can even go into talks about how she foils the “slender” and gorgeous Daisy but that’s not explicitly in the text) but here is Isla, definitely skinny and conventionally attractive.
This is a problem not because I need the move to exactly follow the book (although it would’ve been nice if the themes of the movie matched the themes of the book…or if the movie didn’t make the whole story into just some goddamn love story OR IF EVERY REVIEW DIDN’T CALL THEM “STARCROSSED LOVERS), but because *almost* every important female role is given to a (white) thin beautiful woman EVEN WHEN THE ROLE SPECIFICALLY CALLS FOR SOMEONE ELSE. There is not room in the “important” American stories for any other women besides skinny and gorgeous women (who are white and cis.)
Or, if we go the other route, this is supposed to be a chunky/fat/voluptuous woman (I mean she is bigger than Daisy, kinda, right?) aka the acceptable version of a thick, stout, wide hipped woman…which is another way of telling loads of women that they are too big.
When I heard they were making a move, I was excited about the casting of Myrtle, and was super disappointed when, yet again, the roles are homogenized.
There’s also a (more important) conversation that needs to be have about how Black people were used as props in the movie, the portrayal of Meyer Wolfsheim, and the use of the k-word but a) that deserves more than the footnotes of a small rant on bodies and b) it’s not exactly my place.
I’m trying to hold back from writing several long posts explaining everything that was wrong with the movie from both the lens of the book and the sociocultural perspective. It just…was so bad. SO BAD.
LIKE REALLY THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO THINK MAKING NICK AN ALCOHOLIC WHO IS WRITING THE BOOK WHILE IN A “SANITORIUM” WAS A GOOD IDEA…ARE YOU KIDDING? Nick /=/ Fitzgerald and Nick was not a fucking writer aka why are we still having the conversation where people think that the narrator of a book and author are the same thing. IT IS NOT AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY the narrator is a tool and IS NOT A FUCKING REAL PERSON.
tl;dr The Great Gatsby movie sucked and no one should like it.
Thin privilege is never having your weight described as a reason why people genuinely dislike you. I came across the following line in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five: “He had been unpopular because he was stupid and fat and mean, and smelled like bacon no matter how much he washed.” I still have a lot to read, but this describes the only villain in the novel so far. He’s a rude, violent, insecure man who fantasizes about homicide and bestiality, but the main problem is his weight.
to quote Nepeta there seems to be a bit of a kerfuffle regarding fatness among trolls so i drew a simple comparison that anyone should be able to understand
on the left we have Karquius in her natural state all nice and thin on the right, we have a theoretically fat version of her and as you can tell she is just not pleasing to look at like that i bet she smells bad in that fat universe too.
from an artistic standpoint there is no reason to make a fat character unless it is for some sort of social critique and since Aranea is not really supposed to be social critique it is safe to say that she is not fat. thank you.
Thin privilege is getting to be a character and not a ‘social critique.’
Thin privilege is having “nice and…” prepended to your body size simply because it is thin.
Thin privilege is no one ever saying that from an artistic standpoint, there’s no reason to draw characters with your body.
Thin privilege is not assuming that a fictional character with your body type would “smell” simply because they are thin.
writing stories
Thin privilege is being able to envision an original character that you like without having to feel the extreme cognitive dissonance of knowing that you created this character to be thin because you can’t imagine them otherwise. Or it takes an extreme effort to even write them as even slightly obese.
I am fat and I love writing stories, but my main characters are almost always thin. I never even thought about it at first, but even stories that were basically autobiographical fiction the main character, even when supposedly representing myself, was always thin. I’m coming up with new stories all of the time, and I have gradually come to be more comfortable with writing fat main characters, but I still have to actively work at it. Of course, the fact that I’ve internalized a lot of fatphobic bullshit doesn’t help either.
It makes me so uncomfortable to write about thin characters now because I’m always wondering if I wrote them that way due to internalized fatphobia, and a lot of times it is. I write them thin because I want them to be “pretty,” or “athletic,” even though I am very athletic myself and I know many beautiful fat women. The fact that it’s so difficult to imagine a character being perceived as beautiful or athletic while still being fat is depressing for me, because I know that it’s wrong, but I still get caught up in it sometimes and it kills me every time.
Books…
I really hate that fat characters in books are all lovable losers that are affectionately ridiculed, or lovable losers that are great for comedy relief (as they do the ridiculing themselves; haha at self-deprecation.)
Even worse, if the main character is “fat” and constantly bemoaning her “messed-up” life and her “fatness” at a size 14/16. Boo-fucking hoo.
It’s such a slap in the face, and you can’t escape it because they’re a supporting (and only sometimes a main character). Thus, it’s a repeated slap in the face. This is why I normally ready science-fiction and fantasy. I would rather just main ignorant of everyone’s body size/type.
Ugh.
Thin privilege is reading (or writing) a book and having your body type be the default image in your head for the protagonist.
It is really hard knowing that my body type is only used for villains or unimportant characters to be killed off.
My protags are usually half fatter, half thinner. :) I’m still on the ‘researching agents’ leg of my publishing journey, but hopefully in the next few years I’ll get one of my projects published and start chipping away at the paradigm.
Thin privilege is reading (or writing) a book and having your body type be the default image in your head for the protagonist.
Thin privilege is never being denied entry to public transport due to your body type.
Thin privilege is being able to read a book, watch a film, and see a TV series that has people of your weight as main characters.
Thin privilege is being able to assume everyone has your body type unless specified otherwise.
Thin privilege is not cringing when you hear the words “uniform” or “free shirts” because you know they won’t have one in your size.
Thin privilege is being able to go swimming without people overtly ridiculing you due to your body type.
Thin privilege is never having your body be automatically associated with sexual deviancy.
Thin privilege is seeing characters in fiction whose body type is not their defining characteristic.
Thin privilege is not having others see you being hurt as humorous due to your body size.
Thin privilege is not having others assume you’re sickly.
Thin privilege is not seeing advertisements telling people to avoid anything possible to stop their body looking anything like yours.
Thin privilege is seeing your body type depicted as sexy without it being niche fetish material, or being accused of “promoting unhealthy lifestyles”.
Thin privilege is not having people act like your partner is being charitable or making a sacrifice by dating you.
Thin privilege is being able to go to a restaurant, café or other eatery without being overtly ridiculed due to your body type.
Thin privilege is not having clothes stores charge you extra due to your body type.
Thin privilege is being able to call yourself fat without anybody thinking anything of it.
Thin privilege is not having you liking your body being seen as something bad.
Thin privilege is not having strangers believe your medical history is public domain.
Thin privilege is being able to talk about fat-shaming and having your opinion valued more than those who actually experience it.
Thin privilege is having people be likely to believe you are disabled, as opposed to “just being lazy” or assuming the disability has to be caused by your body type.
Thin privilege is not having people disbelieve you’ve been sexually harassed because they think no one would ever sexualise your body type.
Thin privilege is being able to have impromptu clothes shopping, purely for leisure.
Thin privilege is not having all your successes ignored because “fat” is synonymous with “unsuccessful”.
Thin privilege is not being accused of abusing your child due to your, or their, body type.
Thin privilege is, if you are another minority, having that minority’s equal rights groups include members of your body type.
Thin privilege is not being fired from your job due to your body type. And if you are, thin privilege is having it be recognised as illegal.
Thin privilege is not having people grab your body parts and telling you to “lose all that”.
Thin privilege is having long-lost friends be interested in your life, as opposed to whether you have or haven’t lost weight since they last saw you.
(submitted by modsquare)
(blog author’s note: there are a couple points in here I find problematic. I just wanted to point out that you can have your children taken away from you if they are too thin, that very thin people are often seen as sickly, and that body/body type should be ‘body size’ in all cases. However, I still thought the submission made a lot of fantastic points and wanted to publish it)
Thin Privilege in Fiction
Thin privilege is knowing your body size won’t be used as a short cut to show the villainy of a character in a story.
Thin privilege is reading positive stories about bodies like yours.
Thin privilege is reading about a character like you who can find love without having to change to do it.
(submitted by loniemc)
I would add that thin privilege is not having to completely stop reading a book because it contains such dehumanizing portrayals of fat people. That happened to me recently. I just could not keep reading the book even though it was written by one of my favorite writers.
Thin Privilege in Fiction
Thin privilege is knowing your body size won’t be used as a short cut to show the villainy of a character in a story.
Thin privilege is reading positive stories about bodies like yours.
Thin privilege is reading about a character like you who can find love without having to change to do it.
(submitted by loniemc)
Thin privilege is never having to worry that the thing you’re about to sit/stand/otherwise put your weight on will collapse beneath you.
Thin privilege is walking past the gym without wondering how many of the people on treadmills are looking out the window thinking “That’s why I’m exercising, so I don’t look like that”
Thin privilege is pumping your bike tires just to the recommended pressure and being able to ride on them easily.
Thin privilege is being able to simply go from point A to point B through an obstacle-filled room without plotting a course through which you might fit. This is also ability privilege.
Thin privilege is being able to take a break from walking to sit down for a moment with no social repercussions.
Thin privilege is having people be willing to slow down to accommodate your walking speed, if it’s slower than theirs, knowing that they did it out of courtesy instead of pity, and having them be less likely to express irritation at doing so.
Thin privilege is a lax dress code.
Thin privilege is never having your sweatiness attributed to anything other than heat or physical activity.
Thin privilege is being able to wear summer clothes that expose your stomach/back without fear of public ridicule.
Thin privilege is being able to find clothes in your size that expose your stomach/back intentionally.
Thin (also white, ability, and cisgender) privilege is never having to wonder if the reason someone is attracted to you is because of a fetish.
Thin privilege is never having a description of your body used as a stereotype-based characterization shorthand by lazy novel writers.
(submitted by librarychair)
