Reel Fat People Sara

For the final episode of our first series we discuss a truly great film, 2018's Can You Ever Forgive Me? starring Melissa McCarthy and Richard E Grant. Lee Israel is a middle-aged, middle-fat, queer writer who turns to forgery when she's broke. It's a very real performance of a person and Ren & Sara have a lot to say about seeing a fat character portrayed this way. 

Hosts
Sara
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bluestockinsara
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCostumeCodex
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/costumecodex

Ren
Twitter: https://twitter.com/renthebarbarian
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RenTheBarbarian
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/renthebarbarian

In this episode, we look at the character of Donna (Momma) Grape in the 1993 film What's Eating Gilbert Grape? This film attempts to give a nuanced look at family, poverty, and disability during the time of the Farm Crisis, but how does it treat Momma's character? Does she feel like a real fat person, and what messages does this film contain about fatness?

Hosts
Sara
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bluestockinsara
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCostumeCodex
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/costumecodex

Ren
Twitter: https://twitter.com/renthebarbarian
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RenTheBarbarian
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/renthebarbarian

We knew when we started this we would have to talk about this movie and so here it is. This is Ren & Sara discussing the character of Rosemary from 2001's Shallow Hal.  A content warning that the film we are discussing is extremely fatphobic and also very sexist. The creators thought they were making a romantic comedy that would be a "valentine for fat people" and we, as real fat people would like to mark this valentine "return to sender".


Hosts
Sara
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bluestockinsara
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCostumeCodex
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/costumecodex

Ren
Twitter: https://twitter.com/renthebarbarian
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RenTheBarbarian
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/renthebarbarian

In our very first episode, Ren and Sara take a look at the characters of Willadean Dixon and Millicent Mitchellchuck from the 2018 Netflix film Dumplin'. Willa is a working-class mid-fat girl in smalltown Texas. She is dealing with a tense relationship with her beauty queen mother and grieving her beloved aunt, one day she decides to sign up for her mother's beauty pageant to make a statement.  Her friends join her, including fellow fat girl Millie. So do Willa and Millie feel like real fat people?


Follow us:
https://twitter.com/ReelFatPeople

Sara

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bluestockinsara
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCostumeCodex
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/costumecodex

Ren
Twitter: https://twitter.com/renthebarbarian
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RenTheBarbarian
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/renthebarbarian
 

Introducing Reel Fat People; a podcast where we, real fat people Ren and Sara, will discuss and evaluate representations of characters in film and tv. In this intro episode, we talk about our backgrounds in studying film and explain the five-question framework we will be using to discuss the films in this first season of Reel Fat People.

Season 1 of Reel Fat People will cover four films featuring fat characters who are White and female-presenting:
-Dumplin' (Netflix 2018)
-Shallow Hal (2001 20th Century Fox)
-What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993 Paramount Pictures)
-Can You Ever Forgive Me (2018 Searchlight Pictures)

Hosts

Sara

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bluestockinsara
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCostumeCodex
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/costumecodex

Ren
Twitter: https://twitter.com/renthebarbarian
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RenTheBarbarian
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/renthebarbarian