Ever wondered why there aren’t many (if
any) films featuring a woman who is 'average' sized? Where the film isn’t about
her weight or size in some way? Where her weight/size appearance isn’t
commented on? You may be thinking of a few but for me, I’m struggling to name
at least 5.
Weight, size, appearance, style; all
things that a woman is judged on, especially in films. There are great
characters out there, but if you want to see someone like yourself on screen,
you’ll find it on the small screen. TV is where all women can be found. Films
cover subjects, tell stories but even in realism; its difficult to come by a
story featuring a character that is of average build and the way she looks is
not part of the story or even an extension of the character. Comedy is maybe
one of the few genres where there are characters that are an exception to the
rule. BUT other issues with these characters surface whether in the film or
because of the film and fan reaction.
I think 30 Rock summed this situation up
when star of the fictional sketch show comedy Jenna Marony ends up putting on
weight after she has to eat pizza every night when she starred in Mystic Pizza
the Musical. Jack Donaghy says:
This may just be for television but
this also seems the case for film too.
Films either have characters that slim,
athletic and toned or large, sad and plain, or stick thin pretty girls or
pretty large and ‘quirky’. This is thoroughly irritating. There needs to be
more variety in casting and not just for social realism stories, I mean across
the board.
With films like Netflix’s #Insatiable - this sets back any sort of progress or character innovation. The fact that just the trailer sparked such outrage was both
insane and in some ways, empowering. The audience is becoming more aware of what is being shown to them. The
audience doesn’t just want a pretty actress in a fat suit and suddenly
(through an act of violence) she is able to loose weight miraculously. But she
wants revenge. This character creates a monster and says that bullied
kids/teens are the real monster as ‘Patty’ takes violent revenge on those who
hurt her. Why did she need to ‘become hot’ in order to seek revenge? This just
feeds into the only two categories for female characters, you’re either skinny
pretty and twisted or you’re fat, depressed and bitter.
I’ve
mulled over the thought about women and sizes and to add to this, not just
because of my size and my appearance, I still haven’t seen a character I could
full relate to. But the size, is a bigger component that I realized. I’m waiting
for more than one film to prove me wrong so that it isn’t just a trend or phase
of characters that ‘average’ sized and not thin/slim or large/fat.