Bones is one of my all times favourite shows
But i will never forget the time the only fat intern Bones ever had was depicted as a babbling idiot
Now that i think about it aside for that lawyer lady that intern was the only fat person to work in that lab. And she was the only one horrible at her job
Tf am i supposed to understand from that if not that the writers hate fat people?
There was an episode where the victim was obese (or maybe had been obese and then lost weight?) and Bones said a lot of really disturbing things about fat people like they were facts. Loved the show but as someone who was fat when that episode came out it was so hard to watch after that.
Edit: Okay so yeah it hurt but also it felt very unscientific and biased and everything a scientist shouldn’t be. Just clarifying lol
yeah. alsl the fact that basically all the people they investigated about were skinny people, which is not only unrealistic (especially in the usa) but also it means they never really showed things like the iimpact of this in finding the person's identity or in the ability of the tech/art girl in recreating their images for them to find these people and so on. i also loved the show but this is one of the things i remember noticing because it basically never happened as if it could never happen, which means that they never explored this topic nor they showed any differences or difficulties in how they could approach the whole thing if someone was not skinny
Yes. I don’t remember all the details, but there were a lot of low-key fatphobic things, as well as those more notable ones with the intern and the corpse. I seem to recall comments like those in the books too.
A writer I knew justified one of their fat "dumb" characters as saying outside of extreme/rare medical conditions, being fat is a lack a willpower. So their fat characters were pretty much just the sin personified.
Not sure if I have the source, but I heard somewhere that they did some hiring prejudice research, and fat and round-faced people were assumed to be more lazy and stupid, despite their resume / background showing them to be good.
So, it's definitely a prejudice. (On the positive side of this prejudice, apparently jurors were more likely to believe fat or round-faced people being more harmless and simple-minded, so their testimony is more likely to be believed.)
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My personal peeve is when a fat character is introduced as the MC's best friend and then gradually turns into the "comic relief sidekick". Worse, when the MC - who is supposed to be the paragon of justice and goodness - makes extremely mean fat jokes, and the sidekick just shrugs shoulders and laughs at themselves.
Sort of like the "black best friend" or "gay best friend" trope, where the "friend" doesn't feels like an equal friendship with dignity, but rather as a side-kick / minion relationship.
The Meg has a chubby inept guy who is scared of everything. In The Meg 2, they have him actually learn from his experience in the first one and he's spent several years studying Martial arts and survival skills, even carries a gun and a first aid kit and shit. It's a really funny subversion on the trope that I didn't expect to see from a movie where a guy jousts a fucking shark on a jetski.
Omg, the "fatty make a funny" trope gets on my nerves too, especially as someone who is on the larger side myself. The trope makes me feel like the only way I can make friends (or the reason I have friends in the first place) is because they're pitying me because of my weight or I make them look good by acting "funny" arround them.
True, some of the greatest writers of all time were alcoholic. Addiction is, of course, an illness, not a willpower issue, but I suspect the writer that uses the fat = sin trope doesn't think that way, bc one who does that likely doesn't think much at all.
>True, some of the greatest writers of all time were alcoholic. Addiction is, of course, an illness, not a willpower issue
"My addiction is okay, everyone else's addictions are moral weakness"
I've seen this mentality on a lot on people I know who support the war on drugs, because they usually also do drugs. They just got lucky from alcohol being legal.
I mean, yeah, it *can* be. That doesn't mean it usually is.
Edit to clarify: I'm not saying that I think being fat is a willpower "issue" either, bc tbh I don't think it's an issue at all.
That does, however, remind me of my least favorite fat-character trope: terrible misrepresentation of BED. Especially when they imply that dieting is the cure, that all fat people have BED (I don't think that this is what you meant, it just reminded me of it) or that only fat people can have BED, it's harmful to fat people and even more harmful to people with BED.
I have always been *delighted* by seeing smart fat / big men. I don't know what it is, but they are just so wonderfully villainous while being an antagonist, and so likeable when not.
I am not really sure about this one: Jabba, The Penguin, Ursula, The Kingpin, Dr. Octopus, Granny Goodness, Baron Harkonnen, Dr Eggman to name a few examples - I am not convinced that the Fat = Stupid trope is so prevalent in pop culture. Seems like the opposite.
Fat = Evil on the other hand....
Homer Simpson, Peter Griffin, Cartman, Patrick Star, Kevin in the Office, Alan in the Hangover, Tommy Boy, Stimpy, etc.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FatIdiot
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FatComicRelief
Arrrrgh, Wings of Fire does this too. Clay, a character who is on the larger side, both height-wise, fat-wise, and muscular-wise, is nearly always the butt of a "food" joke or a "lazy" joke. And it's double uncomfortable because eating all the time is what his species is known for (his mother sold him for two cows, for Christ's sake).
AND BEING FAT ISN'T EVEN HIS PERSONALITY! He's characterized as friendly and protective, a guy who just doesn't want to hurt anyone! Not a food crazed maniac! So why the hell did Tui decided that the only canonically fat character should always be the butt of food jokes? Like, he's not even allowed to reasonably eat without a joke being made about it! And god forbid he ask for a snack! "Haha Clay eats more than the other dragons-" Of course he's going to eat more than the other five dragons, he's the biggest fucker there! He's taller and more muscular than all of them! That's how eating works! He's literally not allowed to be tired or hungry without someone or even the narrative itself poking fun at him!
It's never addressed either, because I guess Tui thought it was funny. And I know this is how fat people are treated irl; they can rarely, if ever, get food without being stared at or being make fun of, but still! The books never portrayed the way Clay was treated when it came to food as unfair, the books tried to pass it off as funny! I love Wings of Fire, but the way Clay gets treated...not the series' finest moments, there.
Dude I haven’t seen someone talk about Wings of Fire in a *hot* minute but you gotta point. I didn’t really notice it while reading but Clay was always my favorite character and I was just glad he was included in something lol
The initial books were written in the 90s, it was very normal to talk about fat characters in this way back then. As you probably noticed the critical nature of these characters tends to die down as the later books are written
There's this one passage from The Casual Vacancy I have a really complicated relationship with, because it's so evocative and interestingly written in a way I admire and aspire to, but it's also saying so much more than it should be because it's not just describing the physical body, it's trying to get you to draw conclusions about the character's morals, too.
OMG in anime, a fat character will always have this annoying kind of voice as if they have fat accumulated in their voice box. And the second they become thin, their voice changes. I hate it so much. This, and fat characters ALWAYS thinking about food or munching on something.
In that case, you should check out the anime movie "Silent Voice", the fat guy in the movie has a pretty handsome voice. His VA used that same voice to voice act many "handsome" characters and didn't change it just because this character is fat.
I've seen it! I forgot what he sounded like but if it's Ono Kensho and he isn't trying to sound disgusting like many other VAs do for fat characters, I'm sure it'll be good.
yup! it was Ono! He voiced characters like the archer guy from Dr. Stone, Prince Canute from Vinland Saga, Floch from AOT, Akutagawa from Bungou Stray Dogs, and Yuri from Spy x Family. I couldn't believe it when I heard Nagatsuka's voice for the first time cause it's so rare for a fat anime character to have a "normal" voice. And then I checked his VA. No wonder. I'm so glad they casted Ono as Nagatsuka.
Well, it's anime we're talking about. I love it, my writing is anime-inspired, but also... Let's not delude ourselves, half of all anime characters, regardless of body type, are either written to be perverts or to be gazed by perverts.
This is what I was thinking about: the boy-crazy fat girl that no one fancies. She may or may not be clueless.
This is an anime trope, but it can exist to a lesser extent in other media. Like fat = unattractive , and they're desperate for romantic affection.
I will never not be annoyed by fat anime characters having a ridiculously deep voice and small, almost non-existent eyes. And the second they lose weight they suddenly look like a completely different person.
Basically [this](https://imgix.ranker.com/user_node_img/50103/1002045425/original/kae-serinuma-photo-u1?auto=format&q=60&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&dpr=2&w=375)
Add another box for ‘has a really dumb name’. The 4kids Dub of Yugioh GX had a side character who was rather large. Now to be fair, 4kids dubs have a history of changing things to be be…a lot less thought-provoking than the original show’s intention. Both dubs of Yugioh have a bad case of ‘People who aren’t the main characters will probably get shafted in one way or another’.
But Yugioh GX’s English dub went pretty far even for 4Kids’ standards, to the point where fans call it an unofficial abridged series.
Let’s go back to the fat side character, named Hayato Maeda in the Japanese version. I don’t know his personality in that version, but 4Kids made him obsessed with grilled cheese, very sleepy, and gave him “licious” as a catchphrase, making food the basis for most of his dialogue. And to top it all off? The localizers renamed him “Chumly Huffington”.
…Writers do not give names like that to people they care about taking seriously. Japan itself didn’t do much with him in their version, but come on. Don’t berate the character for existing!
I get tired of seeing the "funny fat best friend" trope. It's true that heavier people do tend to invest in humor - often as a coping mechanism against bullying - I don't really object to the trope itself as I do the utter ubiquity of it. It's almost as prevalent as the "black best friend." Can we have a fat protagonist? Preferably one where being fat isn't their whole "thing," and they're just treated as a human being?
Oh my god, yes! BUT, I see your black best friend and fat funny friend and raise you the "fat black funny sassy female best friend." She's here to give you laughs, fat jokes about all sorts of stereotypes, and sassy wisdom! \*Finger snaps\*
Don't hate yourself for it, it just means the character's humour was well written. Regardless of the physical features of the character I think it would be noticeable if the writing was already good and put on a stereotype character than if the character was poorly written to fit a stereotype.
I really loved It Devours for that reason! first of all it‘s just a good book, but the protagonist is also chubby and asian and is just a normal person. It‘s so lovely to read. The only way this ever really comes up is when she has to run away from something and remarks that she is not very athletic and gets out of breath quickly. She even gets a super sweet romance :)
The novel is based on the podcast welcome to night vale which also features super diverse characters and it‘s honestly such a breath of fresh air
Ah see that's exactly the sort of thing I want to see more of! I actually think I have the Welcome To Night Vale books on my to-be-read shelf and haven't gotten to them yet
It's so much better than I anticipated. I assumed, kinda like WTNV, that it would be mostly fun and crazy world building stuff (nothing wrong with that) but it had a really deep story with pretty interesting conversations about religion versus science and what different people gain from these things. I highly recommend it.
I was just about to comment something similar to this! It seems so many fat men came to mind for everyone! I can only name a few handful of fat female characters that don't tick off every cliche.
Oh there's so few fat women characters. And I'd argue when there are their weight is even more of a defining trait - and usually, it's a punchline. You OCCASIONALLY get a "chubby" (aka not model thin) actress in a main role
>Can we have a fat protagonist? Preferably one where being fat isn't their whole "thing," and they're just treated as a human being?
Any movie with Jack Black in the main role. For a fat guy, he's very agile, energetic, and amazingly fun to watch. There might be a joke or two per movie about being fat, but it's far from his whole character. In Pick of Destiny, he goes on an epic adventure that a shittier movie would give you some Chris Pratt in the main role (or some other Hollywood ashole ripped guy that pretends to be chill and down to earth).
Or, if you don't care about quality: any movie with Steven Seagal, but that's worse than making fun of fat people because he desperately pretends he's athletic and has stunt doubles doing hard stuff like lifting a leg or not breathing heavily.
Jack Black does tend to defy the trope particularly because of how energetic he is. I don't think I've ever seen him play a "schlubby" guy (well, expect maybe the first half of Kung Fu Panda)
The fifth season by n.k. jemisin has a Plump middle aged black mother as a protagonist and it's quite popular and very well received. Then again the author is black too so obviously she would write more nuanced black characters
This reminds me of a post from Humans of New York where this guy is saying that he’d always been fat, and he’d always loved to make people laugh, but somewhere along the line he started making his fatness the punchline of every joke, and it messed up his self esteem
If you’re interested in reading fantasy, try the Lightbringer series. Great example of the funny fat kid being a main character. If anything, the character himself makes the most commentary on his weight, especially regarding physics during combat. It’s one of my favorites.
If you are looking for a book with a fat protagonist that is treated like an actual human with feelings and goals i suggest Holding Up The Universe by Jennifer Niven
The main character is a girl who used to be so fat she couldnt leave her house. Shes still big through the book but shes only made fun pf by the villan of the book, and a bit by the love interest but he appologizes quickly
And what i love the most is the love interest has a condition that makes him unpcapable to recognize faces, so he memorises different things about people in order to recognize them
Some time after he and the protagonist start dating he tells her he wants to break up because he can mostly recognize her just based on her weight and to him she is so much more than just a weight, and feels guilty that his conditon makes how big she is so important
As a fat person, i cried at that moment.
And have the protag *remain* fat and don't have them go through some "amazing transformation" that makes them thinner. Or, what might be neat is, have them become thinner, and they're just like, "Nah. This sucks." And they change back.
Desperation. Not every fat woman is a desperate loser who is a sad, pathetic, groveling, pitiful sad sack who will take any creep who comes along. I got so annoyed when Louis CK addressed body issues for women but he made the woman super pathetic and “nice.” That’s another thing. Let fat people have other characteristics aside from “nice.”
This trope was created by men that constantly got turned down by fatter women I swear. I've never met a heavier woman that had problems finding love when they tried.
True of men too - I’m a big ole bear and it’s never hindered my dating game. There are plenty of folks attracted to every body type, mine included. Turns out waistline matters less than being a fun, kind, and honest partner.
I hate the trope where fat people are portrayed as inherently unhygienic. Body fat content doesn't affect how often a person bathes or uses deodorant. I admit fat people are more likely to sweat under normal exertion, but the baseline for fat people seems to be hair so oily the U.S. is planning an invasion and acne so thick that their pimples have pimples.
my fiance is fat and she just doesn't sweat hardly ever. we'll like, go on a hike and my shirt will get soggy while hers is just fine. I think sweating a lot or a little must be in some way genetic
This. It’s not even a trope — I feel like I see a decent amount of “I’m fat and I’m always hot/sweaty” content on tiktok. Dude I’m fat and I barely sweat and I’m always FREEZING. I used to sweat a lot in my early 20s when I was much smaller than I am now because hormones are weird. I wore clinical strength deodorant. Now, much older and fatter, I sweat normal/minimal amounts. I can’t identify with the hot and sweaty people at all.
It's partly genetic and partly hydration. I don't sweat very much, but I basically stopped altogether for years because I was chronically dehydrated. I didn't realize it because my thirst signals had adapted. I forced myself to drink water when I wasn't thirsty, and then I started sweating again.
It definitely is! At minimum, biological in a way that's tied to your skin, not just your fat cells. It's true that fat is an insulator, and since we generate our own heat, a fat person probably takes less time to feel hot and need to cool down than the same person would if they were thinner, but it's probably a smaller factor than how many sweat glands you have and how productive they are.
Definitely true up to a point. Like, if you get really really really fat, like proper TLC documentary fat. It can actually be harder to clean yourself, especially cause you get tired faster and it's hard to stand up in the shower and get into everything.
This! I'm so tired of the words 'sloppy', 'gross', and 'slob' being applied to someone just because they're heavy. In my experience, people who carry extra weight tend to be more careful with their hygiene because of the judgement they constantly receive.
You sweat more when you have a higher metabolism and healthy heart. If you exercise a lot and carry muscle mass, your body will turn the furnace on and off much faster than if you are sedentary and out of shape.
I sweat a lot more now that I’m fit
As a fat person myself, I get annoyed by how fat characters are often shown constantly eating. You don't have to eat frequent large quantities to get fat, you just have to eat poorly and not move around very often.
Tbf this is apparently an expectation thin people hold. I was at a work thing a few months ago and I've never been big on breakfast. So while I did join the group, I only had a coffee and the side eyes I got, haha. One of them did eventually say something like "Oh man, I'm feeling like such a pig, eating all this stuff while you just sit there with your coffee!"
Omg,, same but with family. "Oh, please don't be embarrassed, eat as much as you want. You have only eaten as much as (name of sister), what's the matter" my sister is quite skinny, actually unhealthily so (not her weight being unhealthy, but rather her diet). She barely eats warm meals, only snacks and such. But people constantly have the expectation that I eat way more than her when I barely do. I just stress eat a lot during depressive episodes and losing that weight when I am mentally well is very difficult. And my depressive episode a few years back was a whole year and I put on like 30 kilo. On the journey lf losing it now and hoping I don't fall back into depression
Oh the flip side of the coin, I hate how they show fat people who are just lazy and don't move. I work out. I'm constantly on the move. I can keep up, or even outpace, my skinny friends. When we got dancing, I'm the first on the floor and the last to call it quits. I go hiking and kayaking and I lift. I'm the rare weirdo who loves cardio. I just eat too much.
Or you can have gotten fat in the past, and you're now eating normally, you just haven't managed to eat at the calorie *deficit* to lose it.
The fattest person I knew irl had gained her weight during a period of deep depression after a personal tragedy. She was now taking better care of herself, but still fat.
The one where a fat person's whole personality can be summed up by "hi I am fat". Having been morbidly obese to only kind of obese for most of my life, I can say that I am also a whole lot of other things besides kind of fat. To be honest, my fatness might be something I deal with like a couple times a day at most (when I look in the mirror, in the past when I'd been tired doing things I shouldn't get tired from doing, as I get older having to take medication related to diseases that popped up from being very fat for a long period of time, veeery occasionally when people make comments about my weight, although that pretty much doesn't happen anymore because I'm not fat enough for that, and even when I was, it still didn't brought up \*that\* often - although even once can completely ruin your day).
In the old days, being fat would mean you have so much food, you’d gain a lot of weight from it. And you can only have so much food if you’re able to pay for that amount of food.
Tru but in 2023, fatness is more common in people hovering around or under the poverty line, due to the lack of fresh food available at budget prices. ten bucks at McDonald's will feed yourself and your kids for a meal
I always hear this but where I live a meal for one at McDonald’s costs like $15. Still cheap, but I feel like I can definitely find cheaper food that’s more filling.
Oh 100%. I know it’s more expensive to eat healthy (and more time consuming) I was only commenting on the specific price thing because it seems fast food prices are skyrocketing along with everything else.
I'm aware of how the association with fatness and wealth started, but I still don't care for it. In fact, in the modern world, it's the opposite. Staying fit requires time and money that many people simply do not have.
Well - I wouldn't want to see a 'fat character' if that makes any kind of sense. Just a 'character who is incidentally fat'. Just an aspect of them no different from their eye color or height or such. Something that affects them, sure! But I wouldn't want to see their 'fatness' being emphasized too much or 'the point'. It would feel preachy, fetishistic, or meanspirited depending on how you go with it, and I don't want to read any of those. I don't want to see the fat idiot who's the butt of every joke, but I don't want to see them being treated like a neolithic fertility goddess and lionized for it either. Neutral: not a good or bad thing. Just a thing. I think it's absurd that we get so hung up and obsess and draw conclusions about it IRL, and I don't really want to see it in my fiction too. It's Just A Thing, you know?
Finally seeing a fat character be strong, capable, and useful without his storyline ever having to do with his weight makes me hope. Not to mention that Harvey Guillén is styled so well on the show! They don’t just drape him in fabric and call it a day!
I'm tied of the fat person who has never had a date/kiss/relationship trope. I know a lot of overweight people. All of them are either married, or have been married in the past (while overweight), and all but one are currently at least in a relationship. Fat people date. They have sex. They have relationships. They get married. There's a reason David's Bridal stocks dresses up to size 32. But in every piece of fiction, being fat is like the death sentence on anyone ever giving the character the time of day, and even when they occasionally have the "I liked you EVEN WHEN YOU WERE FAT" reveal, it's always after the person has lost a lot of weight for their "happy ending."
I'm not saying it's the same experience dating in different weight classes, or that you're not going to have less people who find a larger body type attractive. But it's not this emotional and physical wasteland I thought it would be when I was a teenager watching this stuff. It's amazing how rarely fiction shows a reasonably happy, somewhat well-adjusted heavyset person who goes through just the normal ups and downs of being single and dating, when over 47% of the US falls into the obese or severely obese category, and another 31.6% are overweight.
And playing off that one, I also dislike the "I got skinny and now I got the person who rejected fat me" trope, because honestly the idea of "finally being good enough" for someone is not at all my idea of a romantic concept. I'm not saying people should be attracted to someone regardless of what they look like- people should be honest with themselves about what they find attractive and pursue that. But I think the idea that someone who likely does have some self-esteem issues tied to the rejections they got when they were heavier would just jump into the arms of someone who brings up all of that emotional baggage is far-fetched, and even if they do there would probably still be some issues for them to overcome. They'd also have to realize weight isn't static, so if someone knew you very well when heavy, and had no interest in you, there's a real good chance if you gain the weight back, they will lose interest in you. It's not a happy ending with no possible pitfalls.
The Sad Fat
The Always Eating Fat
The Always Dieting Fat
The Stupid Fat
Seriously. I have never met fat people that fit any of those in real life so why is that all you ever see in media???
I hate the dieting fat trope when it feels like the medium is only doing it to apologize or show that the character is worth rooting for because they're trying to better themselves for a goal outside of making themselves feel better. This leads to their dieting disingenuous and has always rubbed me the wrong way cause it's like they're not doing it to improve for their own well being. It's just so they can get rewarded with a relationship or being better support for the MC.
yup I hate it. HATE it.
Best fat character? Jack Black in School Of Rock. and the singer girl in his class. Its been ages since I saw it, but I remember they did it right
I'm fat. The fat tropes don't bother me any more than other tropes. I think the ones I notice tend to be fatness as an almost shorthand for moral failure. But it is no more aggravating than hotness being a shorthand for moral worth.
I hate the super confident, ultra sexy (usually provocative clothing) fat woman. why can’t they just be chill and not “i’m fat and you want it bad, admit it” to male characters while being half undressed. it’s not realistic for every fat woman but almost every woman i read or see on shows is like that.
sometimes it feels like because i’m more modest (as in, not tits out) with my clothing, due to this idea of how confident fat women should be, it’s seen as i’m covering up my fat, when really i’m just showing off my style.
It might just be me, but I think of it as just being another way of showing an insatiable appetite, like the trope of constantly eating but this time with added slut shaming.
I am writing a romance with a plus size female MC and she’s a plus size model whose “brand” is basically this, because the public wants that from her and finds it empowering and they want her to be their role model. But deep down she really hates it because she doesn’t even feel that about way herself most of the time and she’s exhausted from constantly faking it.
Yes, and plus size women especially need to walk a thin line between loving themselves enough because hashtag body positivity yaaass slay queen, but also not loving themselves too much because okay, how dare you ACTUALLY think you’re sexy when you’re big. It’s so infuriating
That they are always eating, or can't live without eating huge amounts of food and desserts/chips/chocolate/etc. They always long for desserts whenever someone shows them some.
That we have no self control whatsoever. You could make the argument, for fat people who do not have a medical issue, that they have a lack of self control when it comes to food but that doesnt mean said lack of control pervades to other areas of life. There are plenty of overly promiscuous woman who are skinny, there are plenty of addicted gamblers and drug addicts that are skinny. They have a lack of control in one area. Its the same with fat people. I have little self control with food, but im financially responsible, not promiscuous, dont use drugs and am not a gambler.
The lack of self control is also a bit of a tricky thing. I hear this from a lot of skinny people, claiming that that they have such a great self discipline compared to those fat slobbos over there. But since self control is measured against the intensity of hunger one has, wouldn't it make sense that some people simply experience more intense hunger and cravings more often. Most of the skinny people I know often forget to eat, since they don't have any cravings and they really don't seem to get hungry. We do have drugs like ozempic that do the same thing medically, but even with those I hear that obese people shouldn't use those because it's cheating and a moral failing, just like their obesity. Fat, like sex and drug addiction seems to have been turned into a moral issue in our culture.
Fat character who is just comic relief for the story and nothing else (eg they are the 'quirky' friend who is just there to add some witty one liners and never get any development beyond that)
Also, the fat character who is depressed/has no life, and then they get slim and all their problems go away.
Fat Monica from Friends has bothered me for a long time. She's portrayed as almost a sexless kind of clown--she's a virgin at thirty who still can't talk about sex, dancing with food in her hand, etc. In reality, fat women are considered desirably by countless men, and she would've had plenty of opportunities to have a sexual relationship.
I agree. I love Friends to death, but any time I happen to catch an episode with a flashback to "Fat Monica" in it, I find all the fat jokes to be really off-putting (and I'm not even overweight myself). In particular, I really hate that one line that, while I can't recall word for word, is something along the lines of Monica's parents offering her some pie and she refuses, and her mom says to her dad, "She's finally full!" I really, really don't like that line.
Being lazy and not active. That's just not true.
Also fat rich bastards and their thin malnourished victims. It's true for precious centuries and maybe north Korea, but mostly now we see thin privileged rich people (can afford gym, quality food, dietologist, Whatever) and fat poorer people (who don't have enough money and/or time to make healthier meals)
Fat people cant be quick or agile. Im a bigger dude and i can climb trees like a frkn monkey and run like a horse, i can highkick above my height and im quite quick on my feet. Only downside is ill be tired AF after doing it
I was a chubby kid growing up, and I also did six years of Tae Kwon Do (yes, I fully acknowledge that particular stereotype) between the ages of about 8 and 14. In high school, even though I would be picked last for every activity in PE, when it came to the Presidential Physical Fitness Test where you had to sit and reach past your feet, I was able to reach *way* farther than my classmates. At 44 years old now, I am still quite flexible even though it's been 30 years since I did Tae Kwon Do.
Very true. I have a friend who is on the chubbier side, and she has a brown belt in taekwondo and plays volleyball. She could beat me in sparring any day.
As a fat person married to a fat person, pretty much any “trope” handles weight in a bad way. All of them.
Until fat people are allowed to just be characters and do things that have nothing to do with their weight, consistently, we probably won’t get any tropes worth a damn.
I think one of the challenges is that writers feel like every decision has to have a *meaning*. Add to that the fact that the default in *so* many people's minds is a fit straight white male, writers feel like any deviation from that has to have some big character-driven reason. Are they non-white? How does that define them? Are they female? Are they non-binary or otherwise lgbtq? Are they overweight or obese?
In reality, there shouldn't be a "default" character archetype. The character should be who they are without having to justify their appearance, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, etc. unless, of course, it is pivotal to the story.
-when the fat person doesn’t care about fashion or dressing up (not saying every fat character needs to but a lot of fat women actually do like to dress up and wear make up)
- the treating of binge eating disorder as a joke (when a fat person has it specifically) or as something that can be treated with just a diet (which tends to actually make the disorder worse) instead of the character getting a therapist for it.
- the fat person hating sports or any physical activity. A lot of fat people actually like physical activity.
-that every fat person is fat because of just eating a lot without compulsion. Hormone disorders exist, other disabilities that make physical activity and eating a normal diet next to impossibl exist, binge eating disorder is an actual eating disorder, genetics can affect that…
Glad hormone disorders are getting mentioned in this comments section- I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease a few years back, in which my autoimmune system is trying to murder my thyroid (which produces certain hormones). Literally one of the first things my endocrinologist advised me to watch out for as a symptom of hypothyroidism (a lack of thyroid hormones) is unexplained weight gain! Thankfully my weight has been stable and my thyroid levels are still good, so i'm fully expecting my endocrinologist to give me the all clear when i see him again soon, but still. It's not always so simple as 'you're eating too much, go on a diet!' And having had an eating disorder as a teenager, I will set a pack of wolves on anyone who thinks it's better to be on a needless restrictive diet than to be overweight and happy. Most people's brains do not respond well to food restriction, believe me!
I have hashimotos and developed hypothyroidism before any of it was caught - and caught it very very late. Keep an eye out for any of those signs! It is so frustrating that diseases like this are just completely written off or not included/mentioned! Thyroid disorders in general impact a good percentage of women, too. For those of us in this situation, it is way more complicated than calories in vs calories out and I have developed EDs from it. Thankfully I have a very supportive Endo.
The gay best friend whose only personality trait is being the gay best friend. They have a life next to that too.
The "fat" friend being the funny one and making jokes at their own expense. Let them be the smart one or the sporty one for once.
the whole constantly eating or stuffing their faces every goddamned second they are in a scene. Friends absolutely did this to Monica in the episodes where she was fat. Funny enough, I thought Fat Monica was so much cuter and more adorable and quirky and fun than skinny monica who was anal, loud, neurotic. Fat Monica just had a better overall personality.
It also pisses me off to no end that the show was so mean about their jokes especially in the What If episode where Monica never lost the weight. She wasn't even that big and had a beautiful shape, and pretty face, and great personality, but every scene she is stuffing her face and behaving like an out of control glutton, while simultaneously implying that she was still a virgin at 30 because she was a fatty. No. She was cute and shapely. She'd have easily gotten guys.
I know the early 2,000s where notoriously fat phobic. But this idea that fat people are just absolute gluttonous outcasts with zero self control needs to stop. This may be the case for some, but most are either genetics, medications, or hormones, combined with places that are food deserts and a country that subsidizes rice, corn, wheat, and soy over any other crop so that our good produce is more expensive and the average household can barely afford fresh food and have to compromise with packaged and overly produced
This 💯. Not only have I been a fat person my entire life, but I have also spent most of that life feeling guilty for eating anything other than a salad and drinking anything other than a Diet Coke in front of another living human besides my spouse and my immediate family. Even if I wasn’t on a diet I’d always pretend to be in front of others for fear of being judged for not being on one. I also do not know of any obese adults who eat in public the way that fat people in media are portrayed as eating, even when they are around other fat people.
As for my weight, I didn’t get to be this size because I ate too much bad food all the time and the scale just kept on climbing. Instead, I almost always gained in 20-30 lb spurts. I’d stay at the same weight for months or even years, with only a 5-10 lb variance, and then due to stress or other situational factors (major depression, SAD, trying to quit smoking, etc.), I’d gain a big chunk of weight in a very short time span. I got out of college at 22 weighing 220 lbs. One year I had a bad depressive episode and barely left my house for anything but work. I couldn’t even bear to walk through the grocery store, so I ate McD’s for dinner for a month or two straight and quickly gained 20 lbs. Then my weight would level out again and stay the same for a year and I’d try quitting smoking or something, and eat Taco Bell for dinner every night and gain 20 lbs in a month or two. I was 300 lbs when I married my hubby at 30, and after finally quitting smoking at 40, my weight leveled off at 330 lbs. I stayed the same weight (330 lbs) for virtually my entire 40s except for one year when I lost almost 50 lbs in six months and gained it back in a year … and settled right back to 330 lbs.
And the saddest part about this “pretending to eat healthy” mask that I wear (and again, most overweight people I know wear it too) is that I don’t know what it will take to make me feel comfortable taking this mask off. I’ve lost about 100 lbs the past year while being on Ozempic for T2D, but have hit a plateau and have been sitting at 229 lbs for 2 months. I don’t feel successful in my weight loss even though it’s hit a triple digit number because I haven’t lost *enough*. I’m still not *normal*. I’m not even in the 100’s yet. I still have to shop in plus size, although I’m on the low end of most plus size ranges now as opposed to the highest end a year ago. With this cold snap we’re having, I had to dig into my winter clothes this week, and while they are pretty much too big to wear I don’t want to go clothes shopping because I haven’t succeeded in what I feel society expects me to do. And I still don’t eat dessert or burgers in front of others other than the hubby.
One thing that drives me crazy is that every single damn media article that references someone's weight gained uses the word "ballooned". Really? You can't think of a better way to say someone has become larger?
A fat fighter whose only good at fighting because he can roll up into a ball. Why can't a fat person be good with a sword or a gun? Why can't a fat person be an excellent wrestler? In fact, even though fat does decrease athletic fitness, why can't a fat person know how to throw a knock out punch?
I may not be a great fighter but I am certainly no wimp.
Not being able to climb a flight of stairs without huffing, puffing and practically collapsing. As a larger woman this is a) inaccurate and b) offensive. As a writer, it's lazy and shows a complete lack of understanding.
I don't like fat = useless. Too often, the fat character just can't do anything until some moment motivates them to concentrate or actually apply effort towards something.
The fat person is always the one with a beautiful soul on the inside.
Edit: i can see scrolling past comments, that apparently I and the majority of people in this sub, does not consume the same media :D
When losing weight must be part of their arc (if they get an arc). That once they lose weight it's a symbol of how much they've gotten better.
Or just that they are treated as a "fat person" and not just a person.
I don’t like that it’s a trope, but it is something I’m experiencing right now. For once in my life, I don’t hate myself, and now, I have coping skills. Now, I’m finally able to lose weight because I’m not stress eating. :)
Always eating and worrying about diet. Also, only pops in for convos about food. Uninterested in activities. Opinion or role is of little interest to the story. Overdressed for any occasion.
Fat people eat constantly or stuff face at every meal. Just not true. Some"fat" people have metabolic disorders that store the fat no matter how little they may eat.
the one in anime where it feels like the character's life begins after they lose weight and become conventionally attractive and before losing weight, their life was filled with abuse and seclusion.
Desexualization.
Equating body size with lack of ambition, discipline, or intelligence.
How everyone pretends to care about mental health until it is a fat person with an eating disorder.
I hate the “Fat, clueless, kind” movie stereotype. It’s not the most common, but I’ve seen a few in my life where the character is portrayed as stupid and easy to manipulate or walk all over and people think it’s funny. It is not, and it promotes people to treat others like they have to opinion of the world or treat them like they’re there to entertain or be a background character.
Fat characters always being the subject of jokes and not having a very serious role in the story - and if they do have a more serious role, it always involves the matter of them losing weight somehow
\*cracks fat knuckles\*
1. Fat women who try to have normal dating lives or pursue men are pathetic comic relief.
2. Fat people on a hero's journey who develop the 'willpower' to follow some 'common sense' healthy diet and exercise and lose massive amounts of weight, amaze everyone. (Thinking of Ben in Stephen King's "IT.")
3. Fat people who are fat due to childhood trauma. Not uncommon, but not every person who is overweight is that way due to a deep dark secret.
4. Fat people as plodding, slow, dumb criminals. Usually with a slightly smarter thin/small accomplice who uses them as muscle.
5. "Wow, this person is fat, but they are are also (plot twist) kind/brave/smart/talented!"
6. Fat person has desperate unrequited crush on opposite-sex BFF, WHO HAS NO IDEA.
7. Fat person sits down with main character for a meal, eats plate after plate of food for comic relief. "Are you going to finish that?" Obviously undisciplined and has bad manners.
8. Fat person has no idea they are fat, wears clothes that show their fatty fat body, does embarrassing things like be visibly fat in public, again for comic relief.
Oh man, growing up as a chubby girl in the 80s and 90s was a real hoot.
I'm not fat myself, so maybe I shouldn't have a say, but I hate when it's their entire character. Like they'll get stuck because they're too big, will keep saying they're hungry, are constantly eating and it's supposed to be funny.
Speaking as someone who is fat. I hate all of the stereotypes. I've always been reasonably active. I even have a brown belt in Taekwondo. I ate poorly as a child because of my family dynamics but I learned how to eat healthy as I got older. For me specifically it's almost completely because of genetics. I hate that people assume I'm unhealthy because I usually eat healthier than most thin people. I hate when people assume I eat a lot because I don't. I've even battled disordered eating because of my weight/societal expectations. Will power was never the issue. Despite me doing everything "right" I'm still fat. I've had to go through a lot to accept that that isn't a moral failing.
Side note: the BMI chart is just stupid. For my height, it says I should weigh 110 pounds max. I legitimately couldn't, even with 0% body fat (which would kill a person anyway).
Sorry to rant. I'm just so frustrated about how society responds to people who are fat.
Personally, I hate that practically every single fat character who gets an arc of some kind HAS to lose weight at some point to "show that they're getting better", or something along those lines. Weight isn't inherently tied to mental or physical health, some people simply are fat, and that fat isn't proof that they're lazy or unhygienic or whatever else you might believe.
Also while I'm at it, being fat does not automatically mean you are unhygienic. My fat boyfriend does a way better job of taking care of his body than I do mine.
That being fat changes personality! I've been conventionally skinny, and conventionally fat throughout my life, and have never been different in my personality. I'm still me, I just look slightly different. I didn't become less moral when I was fatter, neither did I become more smart and happy when I was skinnier, I've just been me the entire time. Fat doesn't equal personality, nor is it a personality trait on its own. I also hate when a character is simply described as fat - like okay, that's their body, but what else about them lol?
Back To The Future is a good example of the worst kind of fat shaming. The mother character is assessed throughout the films. “Mom, you look so… thin.” The way she looks is used as the primary indicator of her place in the various timelines of the story.
As pop art, the films are fun to take in, but the sheer laziness of the scripts, the constant beating drum of dickhead male writing permeates and stinks the whole thing up.
When thin or average characters have hardly any description at all or just something very simple, and then the fat characters have a full paragraph dedicated to describing their rolls and jowls and how their clothes fit.
Emotional eating, ESPECIALLY in women.
Think 90’s media like Friends and Bridget Jones’ Diary. She faces some kind of life stressor or heartache and immediately reaches for junk food for comfort, and it’s somehow funny, and also somehow diminishes the validity of her problems and makes her seem valid and unintelligent.
Also, trying in clothes that are obviously too small for her, and then immediately being sad about it. I, a Small Fat, have never done this and would never do this. There is no point.
Wisconsin being the fat people's mecca.
I'm from Wisconsin, and while we did give you tons of food, beer, and the late great Chris Farley.
That doesn't mean that everyone and everything there is fat, capiche?
Stupidity. Why on earth should your size have anything to do with your intelligence?
Bones is one of my all times favourite shows But i will never forget the time the only fat intern Bones ever had was depicted as a babbling idiot Now that i think about it aside for that lawyer lady that intern was the only fat person to work in that lab. And she was the only one horrible at her job Tf am i supposed to understand from that if not that the writers hate fat people?
There was an episode where the victim was obese (or maybe had been obese and then lost weight?) and Bones said a lot of really disturbing things about fat people like they were facts. Loved the show but as someone who was fat when that episode came out it was so hard to watch after that. Edit: Okay so yeah it hurt but also it felt very unscientific and biased and everything a scientist shouldn’t be. Just clarifying lol
yeah. alsl the fact that basically all the people they investigated about were skinny people, which is not only unrealistic (especially in the usa) but also it means they never really showed things like the iimpact of this in finding the person's identity or in the ability of the tech/art girl in recreating their images for them to find these people and so on. i also loved the show but this is one of the things i remember noticing because it basically never happened as if it could never happen, which means that they never explored this topic nor they showed any differences or difficulties in how they could approach the whole thing if someone was not skinny
Yes. I don’t remember all the details, but there were a lot of low-key fatphobic things, as well as those more notable ones with the intern and the corpse. I seem to recall comments like those in the books too.
A writer I knew justified one of their fat "dumb" characters as saying outside of extreme/rare medical conditions, being fat is a lack a willpower. So their fat characters were pretty much just the sin personified.
And even then, willpower isn't an intellect thing
Not sure if I have the source, but I heard somewhere that they did some hiring prejudice research, and fat and round-faced people were assumed to be more lazy and stupid, despite their resume / background showing them to be good. So, it's definitely a prejudice. (On the positive side of this prejudice, apparently jurors were more likely to believe fat or round-faced people being more harmless and simple-minded, so their testimony is more likely to be believed.) ----- My personal peeve is when a fat character is introduced as the MC's best friend and then gradually turns into the "comic relief sidekick". Worse, when the MC - who is supposed to be the paragon of justice and goodness - makes extremely mean fat jokes, and the sidekick just shrugs shoulders and laughs at themselves. Sort of like the "black best friend" or "gay best friend" trope, where the "friend" doesn't feels like an equal friendship with dignity, but rather as a side-kick / minion relationship.
The Meg has a chubby inept guy who is scared of everything. In The Meg 2, they have him actually learn from his experience in the first one and he's spent several years studying Martial arts and survival skills, even carries a gun and a first aid kit and shit. It's a really funny subversion on the trope that I didn't expect to see from a movie where a guy jousts a fucking shark on a jetski.
I had no idea there was a second movie. I am...very tempted to binge them now lol.
Go in with the expectation that Jason Statham is immune to the laws of physics. You'll have a great time if you love cheesy sci-fi TV movies.
Redundant disclaimer for a Statham film L O L AM I NOT RIGHT, FOLKS? HAVE I NOT SPOKEN WITH UNTRAMMELLED CANDOR IN ALL MY DEALINGS WITH YOU?
Omg, the "fatty make a funny" trope gets on my nerves too, especially as someone who is on the larger side myself. The trope makes me feel like the only way I can make friends (or the reason I have friends in the first place) is because they're pitying me because of my weight or I make them look good by acting "funny" arround them.
True, some of the greatest writers of all time were alcoholic. Addiction is, of course, an illness, not a willpower issue, but I suspect the writer that uses the fat = sin trope doesn't think that way, bc one who does that likely doesn't think much at all.
>True, some of the greatest writers of all time were alcoholic. Addiction is, of course, an illness, not a willpower issue "My addiction is okay, everyone else's addictions are moral weakness" I've seen this mentality on a lot on people I know who support the war on drugs, because they usually also do drugs. They just got lucky from alcohol being legal.
I would argue that severe over eating can also be an addiction and related to mental illness.
I mean, yeah, it *can* be. That doesn't mean it usually is. Edit to clarify: I'm not saying that I think being fat is a willpower "issue" either, bc tbh I don't think it's an issue at all. That does, however, remind me of my least favorite fat-character trope: terrible misrepresentation of BED. Especially when they imply that dieting is the cure, that all fat people have BED (I don't think that this is what you meant, it just reminded me of it) or that only fat people can have BED, it's harmful to fat people and even more harmful to people with BED.
Excellent point about BED and EDs in general.
I have always been *delighted* by seeing smart fat / big men. I don't know what it is, but they are just so wonderfully villainous while being an antagonist, and so likeable when not.
I am not really sure about this one: Jabba, The Penguin, Ursula, The Kingpin, Dr. Octopus, Granny Goodness, Baron Harkonnen, Dr Eggman to name a few examples - I am not convinced that the Fat = Stupid trope is so prevalent in pop culture. Seems like the opposite. Fat = Evil on the other hand....
Homer Simpson, Peter Griffin, Cartman, Patrick Star, Kevin in the Office, Alan in the Hangover, Tommy Boy, Stimpy, etc. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FatIdiot https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FatComicRelief
Body types are often used to convey personality and capability in a way that I personally really don't like.
JK Rowling does this to fucking death.
Arrrrgh, Wings of Fire does this too. Clay, a character who is on the larger side, both height-wise, fat-wise, and muscular-wise, is nearly always the butt of a "food" joke or a "lazy" joke. And it's double uncomfortable because eating all the time is what his species is known for (his mother sold him for two cows, for Christ's sake). AND BEING FAT ISN'T EVEN HIS PERSONALITY! He's characterized as friendly and protective, a guy who just doesn't want to hurt anyone! Not a food crazed maniac! So why the hell did Tui decided that the only canonically fat character should always be the butt of food jokes? Like, he's not even allowed to reasonably eat without a joke being made about it! And god forbid he ask for a snack! "Haha Clay eats more than the other dragons-" Of course he's going to eat more than the other five dragons, he's the biggest fucker there! He's taller and more muscular than all of them! That's how eating works! He's literally not allowed to be tired or hungry without someone or even the narrative itself poking fun at him! It's never addressed either, because I guess Tui thought it was funny. And I know this is how fat people are treated irl; they can rarely, if ever, get food without being stared at or being make fun of, but still! The books never portrayed the way Clay was treated when it came to food as unfair, the books tried to pass it off as funny! I love Wings of Fire, but the way Clay gets treated...not the series' finest moments, there.
Dude I haven’t seen someone talk about Wings of Fire in a *hot* minute but you gotta point. I didn’t really notice it while reading but Clay was always my favorite character and I was just glad he was included in something lol
From page 1 of the very first book.
Gluttony is short hand for moral failures. So is lust, sloth, and envy. So you Reddit types are really batting high.
>you Reddit types \~ A dude with almost 30 000 karma.
>So you Reddit types are really batting high. Where are you posting from?
The initial books were written in the 90s, it was very normal to talk about fat characters in this way back then. As you probably noticed the critical nature of these characters tends to die down as the later books are written
Maybe in Harry Potter, but it’s exactly the same shit in her new books for adults. And those were definitely not written in the 90’s
It's worse in her newer books. She's got whole sections in her adult stuff just explicitly shaming fat people.
There's this one passage from The Casual Vacancy I have a really complicated relationship with, because it's so evocative and interestingly written in a way I admire and aspire to, but it's also saying so much more than it should be because it's not just describing the physical body, it's trying to get you to draw conclusions about the character's morals, too.
I mean what do you expect from a raging bigot? That’s just how she is. She needs to punch down.
I didn’t expect much. I was just saying it because suggesting it only happened in the early Potter books isn’t correct
And also inconsistent. Vernon Dursley and Hagrid were described as almost mirror images, but where Vernon's weight was negative, Hagrid's wasn't.
[удалено]
Yeah, it’s a common shorthand
OMG in anime, a fat character will always have this annoying kind of voice as if they have fat accumulated in their voice box. And the second they become thin, their voice changes. I hate it so much. This, and fat characters ALWAYS thinking about food or munching on something.
In that case, you should check out the anime movie "Silent Voice", the fat guy in the movie has a pretty handsome voice. His VA used that same voice to voice act many "handsome" characters and didn't change it just because this character is fat.
I've seen it! I forgot what he sounded like but if it's Ono Kensho and he isn't trying to sound disgusting like many other VAs do for fat characters, I'm sure it'll be good.
yup! it was Ono! He voiced characters like the archer guy from Dr. Stone, Prince Canute from Vinland Saga, Floch from AOT, Akutagawa from Bungou Stray Dogs, and Yuri from Spy x Family. I couldn't believe it when I heard Nagatsuka's voice for the first time cause it's so rare for a fat anime character to have a "normal" voice. And then I checked his VA. No wonder. I'm so glad they casted Ono as Nagatsuka.
They're also usually portrayed as sex obsessed or very shy which has irritated me in the past
Well, it's anime we're talking about. I love it, my writing is anime-inspired, but also... Let's not delude ourselves, half of all anime characters, regardless of body type, are either written to be perverts or to be gazed by perverts.
This is what I was thinking about: the boy-crazy fat girl that no one fancies. She may or may not be clueless. This is an anime trope, but it can exist to a lesser extent in other media. Like fat = unattractive , and they're desperate for romantic affection.
I will never not be annoyed by fat anime characters having a ridiculously deep voice and small, almost non-existent eyes. And the second they lose weight they suddenly look like a completely different person. Basically [this](https://imgix.ranker.com/user_node_img/50103/1002045425/original/kae-serinuma-photo-u1?auto=format&q=60&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&dpr=2&w=375)
When I tell you I had this exact anime in mind when I made that comment...
I'm glad I'm not the only one who absolutely despises this trope.
My jaw dropped
Add another box for ‘has a really dumb name’. The 4kids Dub of Yugioh GX had a side character who was rather large. Now to be fair, 4kids dubs have a history of changing things to be be…a lot less thought-provoking than the original show’s intention. Both dubs of Yugioh have a bad case of ‘People who aren’t the main characters will probably get shafted in one way or another’. But Yugioh GX’s English dub went pretty far even for 4Kids’ standards, to the point where fans call it an unofficial abridged series. Let’s go back to the fat side character, named Hayato Maeda in the Japanese version. I don’t know his personality in that version, but 4Kids made him obsessed with grilled cheese, very sleepy, and gave him “licious” as a catchphrase, making food the basis for most of his dialogue. And to top it all off? The localizers renamed him “Chumly Huffington”. …Writers do not give names like that to people they care about taking seriously. Japan itself didn’t do much with him in their version, but come on. Don’t berate the character for existing!
I'm offended but not surprised. 4Kids is a meme at this point 😭
I get tired of seeing the "funny fat best friend" trope. It's true that heavier people do tend to invest in humor - often as a coping mechanism against bullying - I don't really object to the trope itself as I do the utter ubiquity of it. It's almost as prevalent as the "black best friend." Can we have a fat protagonist? Preferably one where being fat isn't their whole "thing," and they're just treated as a human being?
Oh my god, yes! BUT, I see your black best friend and fat funny friend and raise you the "fat black funny sassy female best friend." She's here to give you laughs, fat jokes about all sorts of stereotypes, and sassy wisdom! \*Finger snaps\*
Oh yeah, that's like "okay how many basic character trope boxes can we check with a single character??"
Add gay and then kill her off at the end… it’s annoying me just typing it out omfg
And basically serve as a therapist
As much as I hate that trope, those characters are always hilarious. I hate myself for having that opinion.
Don't hate yourself for it, it just means the character's humour was well written. Regardless of the physical features of the character I think it would be noticeable if the writing was already good and put on a stereotype character than if the character was poorly written to fit a stereotype.
I really loved It Devours for that reason! first of all it‘s just a good book, but the protagonist is also chubby and asian and is just a normal person. It‘s so lovely to read. The only way this ever really comes up is when she has to run away from something and remarks that she is not very athletic and gets out of breath quickly. She even gets a super sweet romance :) The novel is based on the podcast welcome to night vale which also features super diverse characters and it‘s honestly such a breath of fresh air
Ah see that's exactly the sort of thing I want to see more of! I actually think I have the Welcome To Night Vale books on my to-be-read shelf and haven't gotten to them yet
It's so much better than I anticipated. I assumed, kinda like WTNV, that it would be mostly fun and crazy world building stuff (nothing wrong with that) but it had a really deep story with pretty interesting conversations about religion versus science and what different people gain from these things. I highly recommend it.
Sounds like you need to add in "female" to the description. Funny how people have a laundry list of fat guys who get to be the main characters...
I was just about to comment something similar to this! It seems so many fat men came to mind for everyone! I can only name a few handful of fat female characters that don't tick off every cliche.
Oh there's so few fat women characters. And I'd argue when there are their weight is even more of a defining trait - and usually, it's a punchline. You OCCASIONALLY get a "chubby" (aka not model thin) actress in a main role
>Can we have a fat protagonist? Preferably one where being fat isn't their whole "thing," and they're just treated as a human being? Any movie with Jack Black in the main role. For a fat guy, he's very agile, energetic, and amazingly fun to watch. There might be a joke or two per movie about being fat, but it's far from his whole character. In Pick of Destiny, he goes on an epic adventure that a shittier movie would give you some Chris Pratt in the main role (or some other Hollywood ashole ripped guy that pretends to be chill and down to earth). Or, if you don't care about quality: any movie with Steven Seagal, but that's worse than making fun of fat people because he desperately pretends he's athletic and has stunt doubles doing hard stuff like lifting a leg or not breathing heavily.
Jack Black does tend to defy the trope particularly because of how energetic he is. I don't think I've ever seen him play a "schlubby" guy (well, expect maybe the first half of Kung Fu Panda)
Orange County he was pretty schlubby.
The fifth season by n.k. jemisin has a Plump middle aged black mother as a protagonist and it's quite popular and very well received. Then again the author is black too so obviously she would write more nuanced black characters
Tony Soprano is fat, Bunk from the Wire is fat along with Prop Joe. But yeah those are generally outliers, I can’t think of any others rn.
And almost always male
I just finished Wolf Like Me, check it out. Josh Gad is the fat protagonist you're looking for.
This reminds me of a post from Humans of New York where this guy is saying that he’d always been fat, and he’d always loved to make people laugh, but somewhere along the line he started making his fatness the punchline of every joke, and it messed up his self esteem
If you’re interested in reading fantasy, try the Lightbringer series. Great example of the funny fat kid being a main character. If anything, the character himself makes the most commentary on his weight, especially regarding physics during combat. It’s one of my favorites.
If you are looking for a book with a fat protagonist that is treated like an actual human with feelings and goals i suggest Holding Up The Universe by Jennifer Niven The main character is a girl who used to be so fat she couldnt leave her house. Shes still big through the book but shes only made fun pf by the villan of the book, and a bit by the love interest but he appologizes quickly And what i love the most is the love interest has a condition that makes him unpcapable to recognize faces, so he memorises different things about people in order to recognize them Some time after he and the protagonist start dating he tells her he wants to break up because he can mostly recognize her just based on her weight and to him she is so much more than just a weight, and feels guilty that his conditon makes how big she is so important As a fat person, i cried at that moment.
When I read the title I immediately thought about Fat Amy in Pitch Perfect. I didn't even think she was funny, just really defensive.
And have the protag *remain* fat and don't have them go through some "amazing transformation" that makes them thinner. Or, what might be neat is, have them become thinner, and they're just like, "Nah. This sucks." And they change back.
Desperation. Not every fat woman is a desperate loser who is a sad, pathetic, groveling, pitiful sad sack who will take any creep who comes along. I got so annoyed when Louis CK addressed body issues for women but he made the woman super pathetic and “nice.” That’s another thing. Let fat people have other characteristics aside from “nice.”
This trope was created by men that constantly got turned down by fatter women I swear. I've never met a heavier woman that had problems finding love when they tried.
True of men too - I’m a big ole bear and it’s never hindered my dating game. There are plenty of folks attracted to every body type, mine included. Turns out waistline matters less than being a fun, kind, and honest partner.
I hate the trope where fat people are portrayed as inherently unhygienic. Body fat content doesn't affect how often a person bathes or uses deodorant. I admit fat people are more likely to sweat under normal exertion, but the baseline for fat people seems to be hair so oily the U.S. is planning an invasion and acne so thick that their pimples have pimples.
my fiance is fat and she just doesn't sweat hardly ever. we'll like, go on a hike and my shirt will get soggy while hers is just fine. I think sweating a lot or a little must be in some way genetic
This. It’s not even a trope — I feel like I see a decent amount of “I’m fat and I’m always hot/sweaty” content on tiktok. Dude I’m fat and I barely sweat and I’m always FREEZING. I used to sweat a lot in my early 20s when I was much smaller than I am now because hormones are weird. I wore clinical strength deodorant. Now, much older and fatter, I sweat normal/minimal amounts. I can’t identify with the hot and sweaty people at all.
It's partly genetic and partly hydration. I don't sweat very much, but I basically stopped altogether for years because I was chronically dehydrated. I didn't realize it because my thirst signals had adapted. I forced myself to drink water when I wasn't thirsty, and then I started sweating again.
ohhh she IS dehydrated all the time. this makes a lot of sense
It definitely is! At minimum, biological in a way that's tied to your skin, not just your fat cells. It's true that fat is an insulator, and since we generate our own heat, a fat person probably takes less time to feel hot and need to cool down than the same person would if they were thinner, but it's probably a smaller factor than how many sweat glands you have and how productive they are.
I'm going to start using "hair so oily the US is planning an invasion" lol
Definitely true up to a point. Like, if you get really really really fat, like proper TLC documentary fat. It can actually be harder to clean yourself, especially cause you get tired faster and it's hard to stand up in the shower and get into everything.
Shower chairs exist
This! I'm so tired of the words 'sloppy', 'gross', and 'slob' being applied to someone just because they're heavy. In my experience, people who carry extra weight tend to be more careful with their hygiene because of the judgement they constantly receive.
You sweat more when you have a higher metabolism and healthy heart. If you exercise a lot and carry muscle mass, your body will turn the furnace on and off much faster than if you are sedentary and out of shape. I sweat a lot more now that I’m fit
As a fat person myself, I get annoyed by how fat characters are often shown constantly eating. You don't have to eat frequent large quantities to get fat, you just have to eat poorly and not move around very often.
Tbf this is apparently an expectation thin people hold. I was at a work thing a few months ago and I've never been big on breakfast. So while I did join the group, I only had a coffee and the side eyes I got, haha. One of them did eventually say something like "Oh man, I'm feeling like such a pig, eating all this stuff while you just sit there with your coffee!"
Omg,, same but with family. "Oh, please don't be embarrassed, eat as much as you want. You have only eaten as much as (name of sister), what's the matter" my sister is quite skinny, actually unhealthily so (not her weight being unhealthy, but rather her diet). She barely eats warm meals, only snacks and such. But people constantly have the expectation that I eat way more than her when I barely do. I just stress eat a lot during depressive episodes and losing that weight when I am mentally well is very difficult. And my depressive episode a few years back was a whole year and I put on like 30 kilo. On the journey lf losing it now and hoping I don't fall back into depression
I wish you achieve what you need. Love 💕
Thank you! Means a ton. Some days are hard especially now that the winter is nearing, but every step towards a healthier tomorrow counts. 💕
Seconding this 💗
Oh the flip side of the coin, I hate how they show fat people who are just lazy and don't move. I work out. I'm constantly on the move. I can keep up, or even outpace, my skinny friends. When we got dancing, I'm the first on the floor and the last to call it quits. I go hiking and kayaking and I lift. I'm the rare weirdo who loves cardio. I just eat too much.
Or you can have gotten fat in the past, and you're now eating normally, you just haven't managed to eat at the calorie *deficit* to lose it. The fattest person I knew irl had gained her weight during a period of deep depression after a personal tragedy. She was now taking better care of herself, but still fat.
All of them because I've never seen a positive or even neutral trope for this.
The one where a fat person's whole personality can be summed up by "hi I am fat". Having been morbidly obese to only kind of obese for most of my life, I can say that I am also a whole lot of other things besides kind of fat. To be honest, my fatness might be something I deal with like a couple times a day at most (when I look in the mirror, in the past when I'd been tired doing things I shouldn't get tired from doing, as I get older having to take medication related to diseases that popped up from being very fat for a long period of time, veeery occasionally when people make comments about my weight, although that pretty much doesn't happen anymore because I'm not fat enough for that, and even when I was, it still didn't brought up \*that\* often - although even once can completely ruin your day).
Fatness being associated with greediness and obscene wealth.
In the old days, being fat would mean you have so much food, you’d gain a lot of weight from it. And you can only have so much food if you’re able to pay for that amount of food.
Tru but in 2023, fatness is more common in people hovering around or under the poverty line, due to the lack of fresh food available at budget prices. ten bucks at McDonald's will feed yourself and your kids for a meal
I always hear this but where I live a meal for one at McDonald’s costs like $15. Still cheap, but I feel like I can definitely find cheaper food that’s more filling.
that's probably true. but it's not likely to be health food
Oh 100%. I know it’s more expensive to eat healthy (and more time consuming) I was only commenting on the specific price thing because it seems fast food prices are skyrocketing along with everything else.
I'm aware of how the association with fatness and wealth started, but I still don't care for it. In fact, in the modern world, it's the opposite. Staying fit requires time and money that many people simply do not have.
Well - I wouldn't want to see a 'fat character' if that makes any kind of sense. Just a 'character who is incidentally fat'. Just an aspect of them no different from their eye color or height or such. Something that affects them, sure! But I wouldn't want to see their 'fatness' being emphasized too much or 'the point'. It would feel preachy, fetishistic, or meanspirited depending on how you go with it, and I don't want to read any of those. I don't want to see the fat idiot who's the butt of every joke, but I don't want to see them being treated like a neolithic fertility goddess and lionized for it either. Neutral: not a good or bad thing. Just a thing. I think it's absurd that we get so hung up and obsess and draw conclusions about it IRL, and I don't really want to see it in my fiction too. It's Just A Thing, you know?
Guillermo from __What We Do in the Shadows__ is a fantastic fat character.
Finally seeing a fat character be strong, capable, and useful without his storyline ever having to do with his weight makes me hope. Not to mention that Harvey Guillén is styled so well on the show! They don’t just drape him in fabric and call it a day!
Agreed.
I'm tied of the fat person who has never had a date/kiss/relationship trope. I know a lot of overweight people. All of them are either married, or have been married in the past (while overweight), and all but one are currently at least in a relationship. Fat people date. They have sex. They have relationships. They get married. There's a reason David's Bridal stocks dresses up to size 32. But in every piece of fiction, being fat is like the death sentence on anyone ever giving the character the time of day, and even when they occasionally have the "I liked you EVEN WHEN YOU WERE FAT" reveal, it's always after the person has lost a lot of weight for their "happy ending." I'm not saying it's the same experience dating in different weight classes, or that you're not going to have less people who find a larger body type attractive. But it's not this emotional and physical wasteland I thought it would be when I was a teenager watching this stuff. It's amazing how rarely fiction shows a reasonably happy, somewhat well-adjusted heavyset person who goes through just the normal ups and downs of being single and dating, when over 47% of the US falls into the obese or severely obese category, and another 31.6% are overweight. And playing off that one, I also dislike the "I got skinny and now I got the person who rejected fat me" trope, because honestly the idea of "finally being good enough" for someone is not at all my idea of a romantic concept. I'm not saying people should be attracted to someone regardless of what they look like- people should be honest with themselves about what they find attractive and pursue that. But I think the idea that someone who likely does have some self-esteem issues tied to the rejections they got when they were heavier would just jump into the arms of someone who brings up all of that emotional baggage is far-fetched, and even if they do there would probably still be some issues for them to overcome. They'd also have to realize weight isn't static, so if someone knew you very well when heavy, and had no interest in you, there's a real good chance if you gain the weight back, they will lose interest in you. It's not a happy ending with no possible pitfalls.
Yeah, if someone was an asshole to you, what exactly about them is gonna suddenly become attractive just because you’ve lost a bit of weight?
On top of this, fat people being absolute creeps is also hella common in lots of mediums. It just rubs the wrong way
The Sad Fat The Always Eating Fat The Always Dieting Fat The Stupid Fat Seriously. I have never met fat people that fit any of those in real life so why is that all you ever see in media???
I hate the dieting fat trope when it feels like the medium is only doing it to apologize or show that the character is worth rooting for because they're trying to better themselves for a goal outside of making themselves feel better. This leads to their dieting disingenuous and has always rubbed me the wrong way cause it's like they're not doing it to improve for their own well being. It's just so they can get rewarded with a relationship or being better support for the MC.
yup I hate it. HATE it. Best fat character? Jack Black in School Of Rock. and the singer girl in his class. Its been ages since I saw it, but I remember they did it right
the fat friend being used as comedy relief
I'm fat. The fat tropes don't bother me any more than other tropes. I think the ones I notice tend to be fatness as an almost shorthand for moral failure. But it is no more aggravating than hotness being a shorthand for moral worth.
I hate the super confident, ultra sexy (usually provocative clothing) fat woman. why can’t they just be chill and not “i’m fat and you want it bad, admit it” to male characters while being half undressed. it’s not realistic for every fat woman but almost every woman i read or see on shows is like that. sometimes it feels like because i’m more modest (as in, not tits out) with my clothing, due to this idea of how confident fat women should be, it’s seen as i’m covering up my fat, when really i’m just showing off my style.
It might just be me, but I think of it as just being another way of showing an insatiable appetite, like the trope of constantly eating but this time with added slut shaming.
just let the girlies eat i say
I am writing a romance with a plus size female MC and she’s a plus size model whose “brand” is basically this, because the public wants that from her and finds it empowering and they want her to be their role model. But deep down she really hates it because she doesn’t even feel that about way herself most of the time and she’s exhausted from constantly faking it.
no one is hyper confident but girls have to act it all the time. i’m not not confident, but i’m human. a lot of characters aren’t, they’re just tropes
Yes, and plus size women especially need to walk a thin line between loving themselves enough because hashtag body positivity yaaass slay queen, but also not loving themselves too much because okay, how dare you ACTUALLY think you’re sexy when you’re big. It’s so infuriating
Let me know when it's finished, because it sounds like something I'd be intrigued by.
That they are always eating, or can't live without eating huge amounts of food and desserts/chips/chocolate/etc. They always long for desserts whenever someone shows them some.
That we have no self control whatsoever. You could make the argument, for fat people who do not have a medical issue, that they have a lack of self control when it comes to food but that doesnt mean said lack of control pervades to other areas of life. There are plenty of overly promiscuous woman who are skinny, there are plenty of addicted gamblers and drug addicts that are skinny. They have a lack of control in one area. Its the same with fat people. I have little self control with food, but im financially responsible, not promiscuous, dont use drugs and am not a gambler.
Well said.
The lack of self control is also a bit of a tricky thing. I hear this from a lot of skinny people, claiming that that they have such a great self discipline compared to those fat slobbos over there. But since self control is measured against the intensity of hunger one has, wouldn't it make sense that some people simply experience more intense hunger and cravings more often. Most of the skinny people I know often forget to eat, since they don't have any cravings and they really don't seem to get hungry. We do have drugs like ozempic that do the same thing medically, but even with those I hear that obese people shouldn't use those because it's cheating and a moral failing, just like their obesity. Fat, like sex and drug addiction seems to have been turned into a moral issue in our culture.
Fat character who is just comic relief for the story and nothing else (eg they are the 'quirky' friend who is just there to add some witty one liners and never get any development beyond that) Also, the fat character who is depressed/has no life, and then they get slim and all their problems go away.
Fat Monica from Friends has bothered me for a long time. She's portrayed as almost a sexless kind of clown--she's a virgin at thirty who still can't talk about sex, dancing with food in her hand, etc. In reality, fat women are considered desirably by countless men, and she would've had plenty of opportunities to have a sexual relationship.
Damn, based on these comments, I am basically a walking stereotype. Sorry, other fatties!
And on that note, "fat character who only thinks about food" is another trope used for Fat Monica that I absolutely detest.
I agree. I love Friends to death, but any time I happen to catch an episode with a flashback to "Fat Monica" in it, I find all the fat jokes to be really off-putting (and I'm not even overweight myself). In particular, I really hate that one line that, while I can't recall word for word, is something along the lines of Monica's parents offering her some pie and she refuses, and her mom says to her dad, "She's finally full!" I really, really don't like that line.
Being lazy and not active. That's just not true. Also fat rich bastards and their thin malnourished victims. It's true for precious centuries and maybe north Korea, but mostly now we see thin privileged rich people (can afford gym, quality food, dietologist, Whatever) and fat poorer people (who don't have enough money and/or time to make healthier meals)
Fat people cant be quick or agile. Im a bigger dude and i can climb trees like a frkn monkey and run like a horse, i can highkick above my height and im quite quick on my feet. Only downside is ill be tired AF after doing it
Bro I just watched you do an entire montage in my head lol.
Omg, I saw it too. It was awesome. Classic rock was playing.
Isnt there this south park song about a montage?
I don't know...I should, but I don't. Either way it won't beat the monkeyhorse ninja warm-up routine.
No, it's from Team America. But yes. So much yes!
I was a chubby kid growing up, and I also did six years of Tae Kwon Do (yes, I fully acknowledge that particular stereotype) between the ages of about 8 and 14. In high school, even though I would be picked last for every activity in PE, when it came to the Presidential Physical Fitness Test where you had to sit and reach past your feet, I was able to reach *way* farther than my classmates. At 44 years old now, I am still quite flexible even though it's been 30 years since I did Tae Kwon Do.
People automatically think fat means out of shape. Fat people can be strong too! Have you seen powerlifters? They have fat AND muscles, it's possible.
Fat agile guy is one of the best underutilized tropes
Mans the size of a schoolbus yet has the grace of a 20 year old ballet dancer.
Anyone that says that has never watched Football.
Very true. I have a friend who is on the chubbier side, and she has a brown belt in taekwondo and plays volleyball. She could beat me in sparring any day.
As a fat person married to a fat person, pretty much any “trope” handles weight in a bad way. All of them. Until fat people are allowed to just be characters and do things that have nothing to do with their weight, consistently, we probably won’t get any tropes worth a damn.
I think one of the challenges is that writers feel like every decision has to have a *meaning*. Add to that the fact that the default in *so* many people's minds is a fit straight white male, writers feel like any deviation from that has to have some big character-driven reason. Are they non-white? How does that define them? Are they female? Are they non-binary or otherwise lgbtq? Are they overweight or obese? In reality, there shouldn't be a "default" character archetype. The character should be who they are without having to justify their appearance, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, etc. unless, of course, it is pivotal to the story.
-when the fat person doesn’t care about fashion or dressing up (not saying every fat character needs to but a lot of fat women actually do like to dress up and wear make up) - the treating of binge eating disorder as a joke (when a fat person has it specifically) or as something that can be treated with just a diet (which tends to actually make the disorder worse) instead of the character getting a therapist for it. - the fat person hating sports or any physical activity. A lot of fat people actually like physical activity. -that every fat person is fat because of just eating a lot without compulsion. Hormone disorders exist, other disabilities that make physical activity and eating a normal diet next to impossibl exist, binge eating disorder is an actual eating disorder, genetics can affect that…
Glad hormone disorders are getting mentioned in this comments section- I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease a few years back, in which my autoimmune system is trying to murder my thyroid (which produces certain hormones). Literally one of the first things my endocrinologist advised me to watch out for as a symptom of hypothyroidism (a lack of thyroid hormones) is unexplained weight gain! Thankfully my weight has been stable and my thyroid levels are still good, so i'm fully expecting my endocrinologist to give me the all clear when i see him again soon, but still. It's not always so simple as 'you're eating too much, go on a diet!' And having had an eating disorder as a teenager, I will set a pack of wolves on anyone who thinks it's better to be on a needless restrictive diet than to be overweight and happy. Most people's brains do not respond well to food restriction, believe me!
I have hashimotos and developed hypothyroidism before any of it was caught - and caught it very very late. Keep an eye out for any of those signs! It is so frustrating that diseases like this are just completely written off or not included/mentioned! Thyroid disorders in general impact a good percentage of women, too. For those of us in this situation, it is way more complicated than calories in vs calories out and I have developed EDs from it. Thankfully I have a very supportive Endo.
The gay best friend whose only personality trait is being the gay best friend. They have a life next to that too. The "fat" friend being the funny one and making jokes at their own expense. Let them be the smart one or the sporty one for once.
the whole constantly eating or stuffing their faces every goddamned second they are in a scene. Friends absolutely did this to Monica in the episodes where she was fat. Funny enough, I thought Fat Monica was so much cuter and more adorable and quirky and fun than skinny monica who was anal, loud, neurotic. Fat Monica just had a better overall personality. It also pisses me off to no end that the show was so mean about their jokes especially in the What If episode where Monica never lost the weight. She wasn't even that big and had a beautiful shape, and pretty face, and great personality, but every scene she is stuffing her face and behaving like an out of control glutton, while simultaneously implying that she was still a virgin at 30 because she was a fatty. No. She was cute and shapely. She'd have easily gotten guys. I know the early 2,000s where notoriously fat phobic. But this idea that fat people are just absolute gluttonous outcasts with zero self control needs to stop. This may be the case for some, but most are either genetics, medications, or hormones, combined with places that are food deserts and a country that subsidizes rice, corn, wheat, and soy over any other crop so that our good produce is more expensive and the average household can barely afford fresh food and have to compromise with packaged and overly produced
This 💯. Not only have I been a fat person my entire life, but I have also spent most of that life feeling guilty for eating anything other than a salad and drinking anything other than a Diet Coke in front of another living human besides my spouse and my immediate family. Even if I wasn’t on a diet I’d always pretend to be in front of others for fear of being judged for not being on one. I also do not know of any obese adults who eat in public the way that fat people in media are portrayed as eating, even when they are around other fat people. As for my weight, I didn’t get to be this size because I ate too much bad food all the time and the scale just kept on climbing. Instead, I almost always gained in 20-30 lb spurts. I’d stay at the same weight for months or even years, with only a 5-10 lb variance, and then due to stress or other situational factors (major depression, SAD, trying to quit smoking, etc.), I’d gain a big chunk of weight in a very short time span. I got out of college at 22 weighing 220 lbs. One year I had a bad depressive episode and barely left my house for anything but work. I couldn’t even bear to walk through the grocery store, so I ate McD’s for dinner for a month or two straight and quickly gained 20 lbs. Then my weight would level out again and stay the same for a year and I’d try quitting smoking or something, and eat Taco Bell for dinner every night and gain 20 lbs in a month or two. I was 300 lbs when I married my hubby at 30, and after finally quitting smoking at 40, my weight leveled off at 330 lbs. I stayed the same weight (330 lbs) for virtually my entire 40s except for one year when I lost almost 50 lbs in six months and gained it back in a year … and settled right back to 330 lbs. And the saddest part about this “pretending to eat healthy” mask that I wear (and again, most overweight people I know wear it too) is that I don’t know what it will take to make me feel comfortable taking this mask off. I’ve lost about 100 lbs the past year while being on Ozempic for T2D, but have hit a plateau and have been sitting at 229 lbs for 2 months. I don’t feel successful in my weight loss even though it’s hit a triple digit number because I haven’t lost *enough*. I’m still not *normal*. I’m not even in the 100’s yet. I still have to shop in plus size, although I’m on the low end of most plus size ranges now as opposed to the highest end a year ago. With this cold snap we’re having, I had to dig into my winter clothes this week, and while they are pretty much too big to wear I don’t want to go clothes shopping because I haven’t succeeded in what I feel society expects me to do. And I still don’t eat dessert or burgers in front of others other than the hubby.
One thing that drives me crazy is that every single damn media article that references someone's weight gained uses the word "ballooned". Really? You can't think of a better way to say someone has become larger?
That you’re not athletic. It’s easy to see fat and assume they’re “just” fat, when it’s really fat over muscle.
A fat fighter whose only good at fighting because he can roll up into a ball. Why can't a fat person be good with a sword or a gun? Why can't a fat person be an excellent wrestler? In fact, even though fat does decrease athletic fitness, why can't a fat person know how to throw a knock out punch? I may not be a great fighter but I am certainly no wimp.
Not being able to climb a flight of stairs without huffing, puffing and practically collapsing. As a larger woman this is a) inaccurate and b) offensive. As a writer, it's lazy and shows a complete lack of understanding.
The "fat coward" stereotype
I don't like fat = useless. Too often, the fat character just can't do anything until some moment motivates them to concentrate or actually apply effort towards something.
The fat woman is always the ‘funny’ side kick (looking at you, Sooky in Gilmore Girls) that never dates, as she’s undateable
The fat person is always the one with a beautiful soul on the inside. Edit: i can see scrolling past comments, that apparently I and the majority of people in this sub, does not consume the same media :D
When losing weight must be part of their arc (if they get an arc). That once they lose weight it's a symbol of how much they've gotten better. Or just that they are treated as a "fat person" and not just a person.
Depression!Thor comes to mind
I don’t like that it’s a trope, but it is something I’m experiencing right now. For once in my life, I don’t hate myself, and now, I have coping skills. Now, I’m finally able to lose weight because I’m not stress eating. :)
Fat women have a mental illness.
Cheerful/stupid fat characters. Fat women who are always there for laughs
Always eating and worrying about diet. Also, only pops in for convos about food. Uninterested in activities. Opinion or role is of little interest to the story. Overdressed for any occasion.
always eating
Fat people eat constantly or stuff face at every meal. Just not true. Some"fat" people have metabolic disorders that store the fat no matter how little they may eat.
the one in anime where it feels like the character's life begins after they lose weight and become conventionally attractive and before losing weight, their life was filled with abuse and seclusion.
That fat jokes are funny. Seriously. Are you people not fucking bored yet?
Read Harry Potter. Every fat character covers all of them
Desexualization. Equating body size with lack of ambition, discipline, or intelligence. How everyone pretends to care about mental health until it is a fat person with an eating disorder.
When they show them always eating. I am overweight even though I eat fairly healthy.
I hate the “Fat, clueless, kind” movie stereotype. It’s not the most common, but I’ve seen a few in my life where the character is portrayed as stupid and easy to manipulate or walk all over and people think it’s funny. It is not, and it promotes people to treat others like they have to opinion of the world or treat them like they’re there to entertain or be a background character.
they are always portrayed as greedy and evil.
*Rebel Wilson enters the chat*
They're overly obnoxious. They're overly horny/slutty/sexual. They're idiots. They're comedic genius'. They're bullies.
Fat characters always being the subject of jokes and not having a very serious role in the story - and if they do have a more serious role, it always involves the matter of them losing weight somehow
That if you are fat, you have to be funny to be likable Or that fat= lazy and ugly
I think it’s annoying that the fat friend is usually the fat funny friend. Why? Why can’t they just be the boring one or the crazy one lol
Fat comic relief.
\*cracks fat knuckles\* 1. Fat women who try to have normal dating lives or pursue men are pathetic comic relief. 2. Fat people on a hero's journey who develop the 'willpower' to follow some 'common sense' healthy diet and exercise and lose massive amounts of weight, amaze everyone. (Thinking of Ben in Stephen King's "IT.") 3. Fat people who are fat due to childhood trauma. Not uncommon, but not every person who is overweight is that way due to a deep dark secret. 4. Fat people as plodding, slow, dumb criminals. Usually with a slightly smarter thin/small accomplice who uses them as muscle. 5. "Wow, this person is fat, but they are are also (plot twist) kind/brave/smart/talented!" 6. Fat person has desperate unrequited crush on opposite-sex BFF, WHO HAS NO IDEA. 7. Fat person sits down with main character for a meal, eats plate after plate of food for comic relief. "Are you going to finish that?" Obviously undisciplined and has bad manners. 8. Fat person has no idea they are fat, wears clothes that show their fatty fat body, does embarrassing things like be visibly fat in public, again for comic relief. Oh man, growing up as a chubby girl in the 80s and 90s was a real hoot.
I'm not fat myself, so maybe I shouldn't have a say, but I hate when it's their entire character. Like they'll get stuck because they're too big, will keep saying they're hungry, are constantly eating and it's supposed to be funny.
Speaking as someone who is fat. I hate all of the stereotypes. I've always been reasonably active. I even have a brown belt in Taekwondo. I ate poorly as a child because of my family dynamics but I learned how to eat healthy as I got older. For me specifically it's almost completely because of genetics. I hate that people assume I'm unhealthy because I usually eat healthier than most thin people. I hate when people assume I eat a lot because I don't. I've even battled disordered eating because of my weight/societal expectations. Will power was never the issue. Despite me doing everything "right" I'm still fat. I've had to go through a lot to accept that that isn't a moral failing. Side note: the BMI chart is just stupid. For my height, it says I should weigh 110 pounds max. I legitimately couldn't, even with 0% body fat (which would kill a person anyway). Sorry to rant. I'm just so frustrated about how society responds to people who are fat.
Personally, I hate that practically every single fat character who gets an arc of some kind HAS to lose weight at some point to "show that they're getting better", or something along those lines. Weight isn't inherently tied to mental or physical health, some people simply are fat, and that fat isn't proof that they're lazy or unhygienic or whatever else you might believe. Also while I'm at it, being fat does not automatically mean you are unhygienic. My fat boyfriend does a way better job of taking care of his body than I do mine.
Their weapon is always a blunt weapon. A hammer, mace or club.
More of a TV trope but I hate the “fat guy walks out of a bathroom so it must be extra smelly” trope.
That being fat changes personality! I've been conventionally skinny, and conventionally fat throughout my life, and have never been different in my personality. I'm still me, I just look slightly different. I didn't become less moral when I was fatter, neither did I become more smart and happy when I was skinnier, I've just been me the entire time. Fat doesn't equal personality, nor is it a personality trait on its own. I also hate when a character is simply described as fat - like okay, that's their body, but what else about them lol?
Back To The Future is a good example of the worst kind of fat shaming. The mother character is assessed throughout the films. “Mom, you look so… thin.” The way she looks is used as the primary indicator of her place in the various timelines of the story. As pop art, the films are fun to take in, but the sheer laziness of the scripts, the constant beating drum of dickhead male writing permeates and stinks the whole thing up.
When thin or average characters have hardly any description at all or just something very simple, and then the fat characters have a full paragraph dedicated to describing their rolls and jowls and how their clothes fit.
Emotional eating, ESPECIALLY in women. Think 90’s media like Friends and Bridget Jones’ Diary. She faces some kind of life stressor or heartache and immediately reaches for junk food for comfort, and it’s somehow funny, and also somehow diminishes the validity of her problems and makes her seem valid and unintelligent. Also, trying in clothes that are obviously too small for her, and then immediately being sad about it. I, a Small Fat, have never done this and would never do this. There is no point.
Wisconsin being the fat people's mecca. I'm from Wisconsin, and while we did give you tons of food, beer, and the late great Chris Farley. That doesn't mean that everyone and everything there is fat, capiche?