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Fat and Female on Film

Grace Barber-Plentie鈥檚 body-positive celebration of how being fat and female on film has evolved from a lazy punchline to a reflection of the reality of so many beautiful women.

From images where fatness is the butt of a joke, to thin people wearing fat suits, to people using the word "fat" as an insult: Grace Barber-Plentie asks what is cinema telling audiences about fat women - and is that ok?
In the last few years, the body positivity movement has gone mainstream, with celebrities like Lizzo openly discussing the issues surrounding fatphobia, and people starting to celebrate a range of different body shapes reflecting the variety of sizes embodied by real women. The word 鈥渇at鈥 itself has been reclaimed by fat activists as a badge of pride.
But laughing at fat people has always been one of the easiest and laziest jokes in cinema, with bigger women in particular portrayed as lazy or unhealthy, or undesirable because of their size. It鈥檚 not all bad - some of the most compelling supporting roles in films have been fat female characters, from fabulous female villains like Ursula in The Little Mermaid, to lusty Italian sex worker La Saraghina in Fellini鈥檚 8陆.
But fat female actors are too often relegated to comedic support, despite working tirelessly over the years to craft inimitable performances. And when they are the centre of the story, that story is often tied to weight. Maybe things are slowly getting better - more body positive films like Dumplin鈥 and Isn't It Romantic are being released, introducing incredible new characters for the world to fall in love with. Maybe one day, when we think of fat women in film, we won鈥檛 think about comedians in fat suits - we鈥檒l think about Willowdean, and every beautiful girl like her, taking her rightful place in the spotlight

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