So I watched the new season of The Business, IFC’s oh-so cutting-edge parody of the movie business. Hey, look! Lance, the vain, shallow character very into his sexiness, comes back from the between-season break fat! And he initially tries to bluff past the problem! Hoooo-hah! Funny!
(But don’t worry, after some episodes of funny, funny fat suit jokes, he’s back to his thin self.)
Then I watched the new season of 30 Rock, Tina Fey’s critically-acclaimed mainstream sitcom that prides itself on quirky humor as it makes gentle fun of the TV business. Hey, look! Jenna, the vain, shallow character very into her sexiness, comes back from the between-season break fat! And she initially tries to bluff past the problem! Hoooo-hah! Funny!
(But don’t worry, after a few episodes of funny, funny fat suit jokes, she’s back to her thin self.)
Then yesterday I finally got around to watching the season premiere of Ugly Betty, the critically acclaimed dramedy that prides itself on not going along with the shallow appearance-obsessed bigotries of the rest of TV while it parodies the fashion business. Hey, look! Amanda, the vain, shallow character very into her sexiness, comes back from the between-season break fat! And she initially tries to bluff past the problem! Hoooo-hah! Funny!
(I haven’t watched any of the subsequent episodes yet. My guess is that after 1-3 episodes of funny, funny fat suit jokes, Amanda will be back to her thin self.)
So, remember:
1) Priding yourself on being original is no reason not to use a hackneyed fat suit gag.
2) Becoming fat is the oh-so-funny just desserts vain, sexy characters receive. It’s ironic, get it? Get it?
To be fair, 30 Rock made some feeble gestures at parodying the stupid tastelessness of anti-fat jokes on TV shows like… uh… 30 Rock. To me, this came across more as a attempt to have their cake and eat it too than as sincerely giving a damn about their support of bigotry against fat people. ((Especially when they merchandise the bigotry they were supposedly making fun of.))
But at least 30 Rock, loathsome as the fat suit plotline was, doesn’t pretend to be a progressive show that’s questioning norms of attractiveness. But for Ugly Betty, which is so sanctimonious about appearance issues, ((I have nothing against sanctimony on appearance issues, as long as you really mean it and apply the critique to your own work. Ugly Betty doesn’t.)) to pander to anti-fat bigotry this way is extra-special, isn’t it? ((Not that this was even the most loathsome thing about that episode of Ugly Betty; the most loathsome thing was the critique of the shallow fashionistas trying to demonstrate how oh-so-very sensitive they are by using disaster victims as props, even as the episode’s script tried to demonstrate how oh-so-very sensitive Betty is by using disaster victims as props.))
By the way, Ben Silverman, one of Ugly Betty‘s executive producers, also co-created and produces The Biggest Loser.
Yeah, I was really disappointed with that episode of Ugly Betty. For all its faults, I think the show does make some interesting inroads in deconstructing notions of beauty and commonsense racism. I think the series has gradually been losing some of the interesting progressive ground it had at the beginning, and that really sucks.
I haven’t watched too much Ugly Betty, but I did see the episode in which she and some actress were aghast at the computerized slimming the magazine wanted to do for a cover (if I recall correctly, the “wrong” photos got out, to Betty and the actress’s glee and the magazine and agents’ horror).
Ironic, then, that America Ferrera was herself slimmed down to – I’d say – a grotesque degree (considering) on a recent cover of Glamour.
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considering that every media portrayal of America Ferrera i’ve ever seen has come with the headline “look! she’s actually really hot,” i’m not very surprised about the photo slimming.
Insightful as usual, Amp.
WRT 30 Rock, I’ve noticed that Tina Fey has had a modest-to-strong anti-fat streak in her since her SNL days. I recall that on Weekend Update she was almost always given (and wrote, perhaps?) the fat jokes. The quick, easy, stereotypical ones. Almost always.
When I’d read that Fey dropped a lot of weight after she moved from the writers’ desk to in front of the camera – and really bashed her previously-fat body – the puzzle pieces came together.
Frustrating. She’s seen as very smart and witty in the media, as is 30 Rock, and then there’s this drivel on it.
Tina Fey is from Philadelphia. That explains why she’s a loser!
Ugly Betty is a very hypocritical show and I’m VERY proud of the
fact that after I saw that fat suit, I stopped watching the show and
convinced my family to stop watching it too.
Hundreds of years from now, Ugly Betty will be a case study on
anti-fat the way Birth of a Nation was on pro-racism.
I disagree about “30 Rock.” That show has several fat characters, male AND female, who are treated no differently from the thin characters. Okay, having the Jenna character be thin again after two episodes was pretty lame, and some of the jokes were somewhat offensive, but I thought they did a pretty good job of lampooning all the typical reactions when a TV personality gains weight.
I don’t like the fat suit thing either, but I kept watching and will continue to watch especially now that they have a healthy gay relationship between Marc and his new boyfriend, Cliff, where Marc is being made to confront some of his appearance biases and sterotypes. You see them doing things all normal couples do, watching tv, kissing, and Marc’s attempts to change Cliff’s appearance lead him to a deeper understanding that he really values the love over the look. This happens five episodes into the season and while its not as rounded out as I know everyone might like it to be, I think it’s a good step in the right direction. Consider giving it a chance for a few more episodes.
Bev —
I’ve been catching up with UB, and the first episode has been the only one this season that made me want to scream and throw my TV out the window. (Fortunately, my TV is an old-fashioned non-flat variety, and so is too heavy for me to throw easily.)
Anyhow, I’m thankful that the fat suit was forgotten as if it had never been as of episode two, and by and large I’ve really been enjoying this season, except where they’ve strayed too far into Hallmark Family Movie territory. Marc’s budding romance with Cliff is indeed lovely.
I actually stopped watching 30 rock after the pilot episode where they did the sketch about “Pam, The Overly-Confident Morbidly Obese Woman”. No thanks!
I am loving Marc and Cliff though. Super cute!