I think the editor comes off even worse than the original blogger in that link. First, she tries to use anorexia as an excuse. Having been anti-fat-people to the point where, at some time in the past, she engaged in self-destructive behavior because she thought she was fat somehow means that she can't possibly be anti-fat-people now? And then she admits she's never seen the show but proceeds to speculate about what kind of humor it uses anyway. Even if she is right that it's making fun of fat people, our culture has a very clear (double) standard here: Jokes about minorities or marginalized groups are just fine as long as the person making them is a member of that group, even if it would have been perceived as racist/ sexist/ homophobic/ etc. when told by someone outside of that group. Wanda Sykes makes jokes about black people, gays, and women that no straight, white man could ever get away with.
I've also seen a lot of talk about Tuesday night's "Glee" for being a little bit ridiculous in its handling of size and body image. For those of you who haven't seen it: Finn (Corey Monteith) is playing Brad in the glee club remake of the "Rocky Horror Picture Show", but nervous about the scene where he appears in his underwear because he doesn't have a great body. He even talks about wearing swim shirts at the pool. Then after a lot of talk about being comfortable in yourself no matter how you look and so on, he does appear in his underwear and he has well-defined abs underneath a little bit of fat. Alongside this storyline, a shirtless Sam (Chord Overstreet) pinches a tiny bit of skin next to his six-pack abs while looking at himself in the mirror and says something about how he "shouldn't have had those Cool Ranch Doritos." I think they meant well with the "even guys have body issues" and "be happy with the shape you're in" story lines (the latter, especially, going towards the message of self-acceptance that seems to run pretty heavily through both "Glee" and "RHPS") but it kind of fell flat for me. Monteith is probably the male cast member with the highest body fat percentage (the rest are either ripped or skinny) so he's probably the only one who could get away with being the central character in that storyline, but some of the things that were said were pretty ridiculous. The line for the Doritos product placement was supposed to be throwaway, but just seemed ike a really bad spot to put that kind of message, even in the context of the rest of the scene and rest of the show. -- David J. Lynch [email protected] -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
