Satellite TV Brings the Fat to Television

Satellite TV Brings the Fat to Television

In the United States, many people aware of what the media calls the growing obesity epidemic. These days, fully two thirds of American adults qualify as overweight or obese, which means a BMI of 25 or 30 respectively (for a man who is 6 feet tall, this would translate to 185 pounds to qualify as overweight, or 222 pounds to qualify as obese). Though public health officials are concerned about the slew of health problems such a radical shift in body size will bring along with it, including certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, joint pain, and heart problems, others are focusing on making sure that those who find themselves with a few extra pounds do not lose too much self-esteem. Mental health can be just as important as physical health, after all. With the more-to-love, body positivism that is sweeping the country, it comes as no surprise then that Americans will presently be seeing increasing numbers of larger people represented on their satellite TVs. Look at a host of shows from a few decades ago, and the only fat people represented on satellite TV were men like John Candy or Chris Farley, who typically had comedic roles. Not only that, but their very fatness was often the butt of many of the jokes. With notable exceptions like Roseanne Barr, there were hardly any overweight female actors, unless they had side roles as social outcasts, witches, or losers.

Turn to today, and while a revolution may not have occurred, those who are looking to change media perceptions of beauty certainly have something to celebrate. Shows like Huge, which takes place at a summer fat camp, and Mike & Molly, about two obese people who start dating after meeting at an Overeaters Anonymous session, are playing in prime time satellite TV. On other shows, larger characters are being featured more subtly. Christina Hendricks, a larger actress who is curvy in the true sense of the word (not in the way that it is used merely as a euphemism for the dreaded word fat), plays the much-sought-after Joan Holloway on the AMC hit Mad Men, and has become a sex symbol in her own right.

There are also a host of reality shows that explicitly involve fat people that you can see on satellite TV. There is the Biggest Loser, in which the obese battle to see who can drop the most pounds from week to week via restrictive diets and punishing workouts. There is More to Love, a Bachelor/Bachelorette-style dating show featuring contestants of size. There is Dance Your Ass Off, which combines So You Think You Can Dance with the Biggest Loser, in a way. You can watch all of these, and more, on your satellite TV. Many would argue that these shows hardly produce positive, or even neutral, portrayals of fat people. Some might call them undignified, humiliating, and cruel. But the very fact that they deign to show larger bodies on television for all to see is a start.

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