Dumplin' review
After a long and intense week I decided to relax and watch a Netflix movie, and the newest one out is Dumplin'. It is the story of a teenage girl with a (rather severe) weight problem who decides to participate in the town beauty pageant. She is joined by three other girls, one of whom is her best friend from childhood and actually a good contender for winning such a thing. The other two is a rather masculine activist (not unattractive) and a church-goer who also is quite overweight and a fabulous singer who really, really wants to be in the pageant. The quartet's goal is to protest the pageant ethos.
That's the surface; the conflict comes from the fact that Willowdean's mother runs the pageant and is thin and pretty (Jennifer Anniston, who does quite well here). Her mother thinks the girls are just mocking the pageant experience (which is easily mockable). Add to this the memory of her sweet and indulgent overweight aunt who recently died, a love interest at work, a lot of Dolly Parton, and of course some transvestites (drag queens), all making for a happy ending.
It reminded me of Hairspray. It was fun and sweet. And (not but) I wonder about the message.
I don't like the idea of fat-shaming, but I also don't like the idea of fat-celebrating. Obesity is not a good thing, and it is controllable. One doesn't have to be anorexic to be a normal weight or near it. As Jennifer Anniston's character points out, "your aunt would still be here if she had taken care of herself." The two young girls in the film are probably 50 pounds overweight, and hopefully they will not etch out a career playing fat girls in movies and will instead adopt a healthy lifestyle. They are talented. So many of the college-aged girls at my institution are really heavy and they will face a life of diabetes, heart trouble, and knee surgeries.
I say this as an overweight person who works on it, fairly unsuccessfully, but at least aware. I don't celebrate it. I've had my share of people telling me to lose weight in my life, which usually doesn't make one feel motivated. But when I was younger, girls were expected to be much thinner than today. By today's standards I was not overweight then. That is not an excuse; I know I overate and now I pay the price!
There also must be a connection between heaviness and drag queens; self-acceptance, perhaps. Finally, I didn't buy the love interest angle in the movie, but that is a trope.
That's the surface; the conflict comes from the fact that Willowdean's mother runs the pageant and is thin and pretty (Jennifer Anniston, who does quite well here). Her mother thinks the girls are just mocking the pageant experience (which is easily mockable). Add to this the memory of her sweet and indulgent overweight aunt who recently died, a love interest at work, a lot of Dolly Parton, and of course some transvestites (drag queens), all making for a happy ending.
It reminded me of Hairspray. It was fun and sweet. And (not but) I wonder about the message.
I don't like the idea of fat-shaming, but I also don't like the idea of fat-celebrating. Obesity is not a good thing, and it is controllable. One doesn't have to be anorexic to be a normal weight or near it. As Jennifer Anniston's character points out, "your aunt would still be here if she had taken care of herself." The two young girls in the film are probably 50 pounds overweight, and hopefully they will not etch out a career playing fat girls in movies and will instead adopt a healthy lifestyle. They are talented. So many of the college-aged girls at my institution are really heavy and they will face a life of diabetes, heart trouble, and knee surgeries.
I say this as an overweight person who works on it, fairly unsuccessfully, but at least aware. I don't celebrate it. I've had my share of people telling me to lose weight in my life, which usually doesn't make one feel motivated. But when I was younger, girls were expected to be much thinner than today. By today's standards I was not overweight then. That is not an excuse; I know I overate and now I pay the price!
There also must be a connection between heaviness and drag queens; self-acceptance, perhaps. Finally, I didn't buy the love interest angle in the movie, but that is a trope.
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