Some body positivity/fat acceptance activists have criticized The Whale, arguing that it negatively portrays a morbidly obese man and his eating habits. For instance, New York Times columnist Roxanne Gay who has weighed over 500 pounds and written about her struggles with obesity, described the film as bearing “little resemblance to the lived experiences of fat people” and “exploitative and cruel.”
The folks over at the maintenance phase Reddit have sworn they won’t watch the film because they’ve heard it is fatphobic.
I disagree with the critics. However, I am not and have never been obese, so my frame of reference is limited. However, I watched The Whale last night and found Brendan Fraser’s portrayal of the main character Charlie to be humanizing, not demeaning like activists have argued. I admittedly find obese people fairly disgusting and would prefer to avert my eyes than really look at them, let alone engage with them on a social or intimate level. But I felt a connection to Charlie as a human being when I watched The Whale that enabled me to see beyond his repulsive (to me) physicality. I thought the film portrayed his character with deep humanity and empathy. I came to care about Charlie and I bawled my eyes out at the end of the movie.
Has anyone else watched this film or do you plan to? The subject matter is disturbing so I can totally understand not wanting to watch it because it might be triggering, but I think it is a beautiful film that serves to humanize people who are severely overweight.
I do plan to watch it and while I’ve never been that overweight i did put on enough weight for it to effect my life so I’m sure that will effect my opinion. I also grew up with a morbidly obese mother who definitely struggled with many normal activities so i will be seeing it from a few points of view.
I watched it the other night. I don’t have any experience of being morbidly obese, so I feel like I can’t speak to that. But, Brenden Fraser’s performance was incredible. It was a good movie and movies are made to tell a story. Some of those stories are difficult. The movie isn’t SUPPOSED to reflect the lived experience of fat people. It’s supposed to tell the story of one person.
What makes obese people “fairly disgusting”? I’m not a FA, but I am obese. What’s with the shitty attitude? You say you felt the character was humanized through the film, where’s your humanity?
People do become obese for many faceted mental health related reasons who struggle daily with it. What about that struggle makes an obese person disgusting?
Anyway, yes, I plan on watching the movie.