The “good fatty” is a dancing fatty: Fat archetypes in reality television

ABSTRACT

While fatphobia runs rampant in traditional reality television programs, the advancement of the body-positive movement has made media representations of fat people far more complex. Utilizing TLC’s My Big Fat Fabulous Life as a case study, the author addresses how the introduction of body positivity into the reality television industry has offered freedom from fat shame only to those who fit into a “good fatty” archetype.

KEYWORDS:

• Reality television
• body positivity
• fat activism
• media representations
• body diversity
• social media activism
• fat positive
• fat archetypes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Super fat is a term utilized in fat activist spaces to categorize fat bodies along a spectrum. While difficult to define (and usually accessed through self-identification), this term is generally utilized to identify fat people who experience accessibility issues (e.g., opportunities to buy clothing or use public transit) more often than small fat people, who may experience fat stigma while still maintaining access to public spaces and services.

2. The Biggest Loser is an U.S. competitive reality show that ran for 17 seasons on NBC from 2004 to 2016. On this show, contestants undertake a rigorous training schedule and diet regimen in the hope of losing the most weight out of the entire cast in the shortest amount of time. The show has been criticized for what some may call abusive and violent weight loss tactics, and was not renewed for production after allegations were made by former contestants that the show encouraged the use of illegal substances to facilitate weight loss. My 600-lb Life is a reality show on TLC. Each episode follows a person who weighs approximately 600 or more pounds as the individual pursues weight loss surgery. This voyeuristic show involves exploring the personal traumas experienced by the main characters to try to understand the source of the protagonist’s fatness while documenting the person’s attempts to lose significant amounts of weight both before and after surgery.

3. The fifth season was left out of the data-collection process because it had not been fully released by the network in time for publication.

4. The term obesity is referenced in scare quotes throughout the article as an effort to recognize the harm the medicalization of fat has inflicted on the lives and bodies of fat people (Wann 2009).

5. Goffman (1963) defined a spoiled identity as an identifiable characteristic due to which an individual experiences stigma.

6. Interestingly, similar to the career trajectory of the personal trainers on The Biggest Loser, the success of MBFFL has also allowed Whitney to produce dance and exercise instruction videos. While it is debatable whether the body of a fat instructor might influence the exercise video industry in a positive way, this further supports the identification of Whitney as a “good” fat person.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Layla Cameron

Layla Cameron is a PhD student in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University. Her doctoral research focuses on media literacy, fat activism, and reality television. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and human rights (High Honours) from Carleton University, and a master of arts in feminist and gender studies from the University of Ottawa. She also works as a fat activist and documentary filmmaker. You can read more about her work at www.laylacameron.com.