(Re)presenting The Big Grrrls

ABSTRACT

Watch Out For The Big Grrrls, Lizzo’s successful extension into reality television content, showcases the rhetorical power of fat-flaunting. This close textual analysis of the series finds that Lizzo enacts emancipatory rhetoric to impart her method of strategic fat-flaunting to aspiring fat women dancers. Self-love and vulnerability emerge as critical elements required for delivering the hopeful Big Grrrls from the burdens of fat-hate and maintaining Lizzo’s buoyancy above her critics.

KEYWORDS:

• Fat positivity
• reality television
• fat-flaunting
• emancipatory rhetorics
• Lizzo

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. During the writing of this manuscript, Associated Press (2023) reported that three former backup dancers – Ariana Davis, Crystal Williams (also cast members of WOftBG), and Noelle Rodriguez – filed a lawsuit against Lizzo for allegedly fat shaming, creating a hostile work environment, and sexually harassing them. Lizzo condemned the allegations via a written message on her Instagram page and is currently experiencing heightened public scrutiny and fallout.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Niya Pickett Miller

Niya Pickett Miller is an assistant professor of Communication Studies at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. She teaches communication studies courses related to race, gender, and culture in the Department of Communication and Media. Her scholarly work centers on visual and rhetorical criticism of marginal identities and otherness in popular culture and media.