So I guess I can't pawn it.

[wednes]

Oooh, I've wasted my life:

My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

In all seriousness, the next time I see someone on TV in a fat suit I'm going to hunt them down and punch them in the face.
I honestly don't know why fat suits are:

a) acceptable to wear anywhere, anytime
b) considered an effective way to begin dialogue about weight
c) considered funny

Is dressing up to look like a different ethnicity or religion funny? Last I heard, the only people who thought blackface was funny were pointy-hat-wearing, cousin-fucking rascists. How is a fat suit different from this? Do we tool around in wheelchairs with Stephen Hawking style voiceboxes to begin a dialogue about disability? Of course not, because people would be incensed. Making fun of people's appearance is the act of a 10-year-old playground bully. Excusing it by saying you're trying to raise awareness is ridiculous...as if they're trying to broaden the horizons of people who have never laid eyes on anyone above 150 pounds. Sheesh!

Bruno Kirby died. Hrmph. He was young, too.
In better news, I'm probably seeing DaVinci Code for real tonight, after planning to see it a zillion times before.

Comments

[sudrin.livejournal.com]

The answer is simple.. "Fatness" is generally accepted as a "Choice". Lazy=Fat. Not Lazy=Thin. Since this logic is so prevalent its funny to tease fat people because they could easily choose to be thin people, unlike people of other ethnic backgrounds who are stuck that way. Until the Lazy=Fat barrier is broken it will always be "funny".

[wednes.livejournal.com]

People don't choose to be fat.

You're thinking of gays.
;-]

[lickingtoad.livejournal.com]

Constantly. Le rrowr.

[abbagirl.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I've been planning to see Da Vinci Code at the $1 theatre too, with my friend Jess...now if she would just commit to a day already. :P

[wednes.livejournal.com]

I kinda hate going there, but I'm cheap.

It's so sad to see that beautiful theatre look like such crap.

[abbagirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know...but I love the price!! :D

[nokturnalia.livejournal.com]

I have always wanted to wear a fat suit and hijab for a day, not at once though. Just because I'm curious to experience first hand how people would treat me. Now that you mentioned it, I would like to try a wheelchair too. There's nothing funny whatsoever in any of those things, I just think it would be interesting to experience what I've been hearing about. I have done a "what if I had boobs" day and a "what if I was taller" day before, too. I'm one curious creature. :-P

[wednes.livejournal.com]

I think doing it for altrustic reasons is totally different. You wouldn't be trying to amuse people.

Gwenyth (or however you spell that) Paltrow gave an interview about going out in public in the Shallow Hal fat suit. Reportedly, she was amazed at how people treated her--wouldn't make eye contact, snickering, rude comments from cars etc.

Odd how it never occurred to her that life might be a little easier for people who look like Gwenyth Paltrow.

[darkeryet.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I had forgotten about that horrible movie. It was painfully bad, I couldn't sit through the entire thing. And Gwyneth... I can't stand that woman anymore. First I was just irked with her stuck up statements about alcohol and macrobiotic diet, then she really pissed me off with that classist "I would rather die than let my kids eat *something completely normal and cheap*" (can't remember) comment. It was awfully offensive to moms who don't happen to be wealthy and have time to prepare meals from scratch or whatever. When I saw that recent "I am African" picture I was like OK, I can't stand her at all.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she doesn't seem to have a clue how to NOT be physically attractive and privileged.

[sudrin.livejournal.com]

I want to go on record here and say I thought Shallow Hal was actually a pretty good movie. Except for the lame ending where someone has a Tail I thought it was a much more touching movie than I expected. Granted, some of the jokes were a bit heavy handed (Geyser like splashes in the pool, over exaggerated clothing sizes, etc) I thought its heart was in the right place. Now as far as what Gwyneth Paltrow may have said I have no opinion but I think at least the message of Shallow Hal was much more well intentioned than it easily could have been.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

In the end, I don't think it's okay to have a movie full of fat jokes just because he chooses the fat girl at the end. Admittedly, it wasn't as mean spirited as I anticipated, and the movie made some good points. But if they play a fat girl breaking a bench or emptying out a pool for laughs--they are indeed being mean spirited.

The ironic thing about this is that this is exactly what judecorp was trying to tell me about saying things are "gay" in the negative. Stupid poetic justice!

[sudrin.livejournal.com]

Well, you talked about starting a dialog and I think at least to some extent this movie attempts to do that. Yeah, most of the fat jokes are too over the top as I indicated (*see Geyesers). It could have simply had her magically lose weight at the end or plenty of other nonsense but instead it at least tried to say that its all about what people /want/ to see. No, its not the movie *I* would have made. I certainly don't appreciate that Ivy Snitzer went uncredited as the body double and there are a host of jokes in the movie that didn't work for me, but in essence saying that one man can see the beauty in a woman despite what society/other people/Playboy Magazine sees in them is a postive message. But who knows, maybe I like Hal are just seeing what I want to see and society is seeing something else.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

I hadn't even thought about that body double. grrrr.

Truly, it's not the worst movie ever made or anything; but they touted it as being "pro fat" and "pro acceptance." But at best, it was a perfunctory statement not in tune with the actual tone of the film. But yeah, there's worse things out there certainly.

[maxverbosity.livejournal.com]

My blog was worth almost $600. For something that is online and available to all, that's not all that much really. I should push harder for some measure of fame...

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Damn right.
You're a published author, after all.

You should be positively marinating in fame.

[pyrafire.livejournal.com]

Just out of curiousity, what's your take on Amy Sedaris? She often goes out in public in a fat suit. I heard an interview with her where she talked about it... it's completely different than, say, Courtney Cox donning one in Friends, but I can't find a transcript of the interview, and I'm having trouble remembering what all she said. She also often goes out with make-up on to make her look completely different than she normally does.

Oh, and I do remember a story where she wore only the bottom portion of her fat suit to dinner with her father. He apparently made a big deal about his kids being good looking and thin and she was trying to get revenge by making him think she was fat... The story was a lot better when told by David Sedaris on NPR. My point is that while I agree with you for the most part, for me, she's an exception. I wish I could find a good article about it, because it's really interesting.

Oh, wait, I thought of something else. What if someone is just playing a role and the person is heavier than they are? I mean, a lot of actors just gain the weight, but that can be hazardous to their health, especially if it has to be done quickly. It doesn't have to be for comedic purposes, just for the character.....

Sorry, I'm not trying to disagree with you. I think that for the most part fat suits are used incredibly poorly for cheap laughs(or lame Tyra bullshit) and it's not only rude and offensive, it's also just lame. I just thought of a couple of instances where I personally think it might be acceptable.

That's really sad about Bruno Kirby. He was so funny. I want to go rent Good Morning, Vietnam, now. I loved him in that.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

I daresay my "anytime, anywhere" statement was a bit heavy handed. I was referring to the (at least pervasive, but probably dominant) trend of wearing fat suits to mock fat people. Amy Sedaris is the exception to every rule, as would be that photoshopped "fat" pic of Stephen Colbert. I have seen nothing to suggest that either Sedaris has any sort of problem with girthy types. Usually the fat suit is coupled with either mocking of fat people or gross, steroetypical misrepresentations about why people are fat.

With regard to actors though, I would suggest that they hire someone larger rather than figuring out how to make a thin person look large. There are plenty of actors of all sizes out there, but the same 20 or so chicks with nearly identical body types (with some variance in height and bust size) are in every damn movie.

Yeah, poor Bruno. I put in Godfather II this afternoon.

[nate101000.livejournal.com]

According to the writings of David Sedaris, Amy does it because her father hounded her about looking pretty her whole life. Once, when she was to be photographed for some NY magazine or newspaper, she told the makeup person to make her look like she had been beat up.

[sudrin.livejournal.com]

This blog value thing is totally broken. It has two answers.. Zero or $564.54

[wednes.livejournal.com]

I've seen people with different amounts. It's probably jealous of my blogging prowess.

[madush69.livejournal.com]

You're supposed to let me knoiw when you go to the dollar show so I can clean the place for you. I only clean now on Saturday and Sunday morning, but I'd go in and make sure the john was clean if you called. I ran into Toper at Bob Evans. We talked about the good old Madstone days too. Best theatre ever.

[wednes.livejournal.com]

I made sure to use the restroom at home so it wouldn't be an issue.

[kissdbyagnome.livejournal.com]

Gwen P is one of those people who got a little money and suddenly took on a british accent. I think John Stewart summed it up when he called her a pompous ass (or something to that affect) once. lol

I still love Jack Black...

[wednes.livejournal.com]

Jack Black is great fun to watch. Though people I know who've met him had some unpleasant things to say. I guess his attitudes about women kinda suck.

[kissdbyagnome.livejournal.com]

oh. sigh. well shit.