The Robot, the Panda, the Fat People
It’s hard not to do the plus size fashion and culture blog without drinking the Kool-Aid, and I’ve had a few moments where I’ve had to ask myself, “Is this me, or is this just allowing fat-advocacy to color my view where fat-advocacy may not be appropriate for the situation?” While fat-hate is quite rampant and almost universally encouraged in the west, it is fed by other forms of hatred, particularly misogyny and classism. These certainly need to be pointed out and confronted, but I think that when it comes to a certain Pixar film released earlier this summer, too many fat-positive bloggers are going in with their hackles up and their minds locked down.
And that’s a shame, because amidst the fat stereotypes, there were actually two wonderful fat stereotype breaking films this summer, both warranting extra attention. The first release, Kung-Fu Panda, packs a Jack Black punch of unmitigated plus-size awesomeness. It’s all about how your size does not define what you can really do – it also reminded me that my size is its own tactical advantage.
Kung-Fu Panda is the story of a panda who adores martial arts, and through enthusiasm leading to accident, becomes a ninja. It’s a little corny and a lot beautiful, and is great to see for larger people who still have a passion for participating in sports. It’s honest about how people may react to the fat,
but it’s also quite clear in how persistence and the voice within matters more than the judgments of others. Other plus bloggers have received this show with enthusiasm.
On the other hand is Wall-E, which has not only been poorly received, but the poor reception comes from bloggers who admit to not even watching the show. Pro or anti-fat, to deliver judgment without viewing the source work in its entirety free of how its marketers angle it is simply irresponsible and of the same level of narrow-mindedness that fat people confront daily when experiencing fat hate.
I watched Wall-E. I loved Wall-E. It was a beautiful, humorous but not bleak presentation of a dystopian future. For those that haven’t seen it, the premise is this: humanity in the not-too-distant future exhausts the Earth’s resources. Believing it would be only 5 years, all humanity boarded a pleasure craft to orbit the earth while Wall-E and his robot brethren cleaned up the mess. The Earth wound up being too toxic to return so the pleasure craft orbited for more than 100 years. The original humans that abandoned Earth for a pleasure cruise were long since dead – and the representation of the “first generation” humans were drawn according to what we consider average scale. It was the humans three generations later who were acculturated into an absolute sedentary lifestyle that were fat.
While the story was mostly about the robots, you did have to look between the lines at the human story. Yes, they were fat and very used to robots doing everything for them as was the intention of the five year program. But none of the humans were mean, dumb, or lazy, and when put in trying
circumstances, size was not a factor in figuring out a solution. The captain of the ship figured out how to fly the thing with every resource he had. The friendly pudgy human passengers put themselves at risk to save children – not the stuff of moral failing, and certainly not a judgment on size.
While there were some hilarious cultural/generational misunderstandings (growing pizza) it wasn’t making fun of fat people – it was making fun of how separated we have become from knowing where our food sources come from.
I don’t think any facts about fat people were warped in this movie. We do have a lot of cultural holes in learning what makes us fat on the false assumption that fat=lazy, and a lot of assumptions that fat people don’t exercise today which, if true, would put Curves1 gym out of business. I think what this represented was the simple truth that an absolute sedentary lifetime will increase body mass over the course of generations – you could see it in the scene with the captain
and the pictures of his ancestors. What applies to domesticated animals will apply to humans, no matter how uncomfortable we are in considering that comparison.
Wall-E isn’t about how people are getting fat. It’s about the consequences of overconsumption – and the hope that we can recover. The message rings true, and it is no way an indictment of the various body types populating humanity today.
I recommend them both, because both provoke thought in a big-picture kind of way. But even if you are offended by the message of other film, please at least see it before drawing conclusions about it. These films aren’t by the jerks behind Norbit, after all.
- I would go, but they’re owned
by evangelicals. I’m not giving people money just to get at my uterus and my right to vote. [↩]