Marilyn Bromberg: Why are so many on-screen villains and buffoons obese?

Like many of you, I tuned in to watch the latest Netflix sensation Baby Reindeer (warning: Baby Reindeer spoilers ahead).

One of the first things that struck me was that one of the two main characters Martha Scott, who obsessively stalks the main character, Donny Dunn (played by Richard Gadd), and suffers from mental illness, is obese.

Baby Reindeer is based on Gadd’s true story and he wrote the script for the TV series. It’s reported that Gadd and the people who helped him create the show were careful to select an actor to play Martha who appeared different from real-life Martha.

Why did they choose to make her character in the series obese? Why didn’t they make his wonderful trans love interest, Teri, obese instead?

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I was reminded of “Fat Monica” from the hit TV show, Friends (Courteney Cox in a fat suit) who was the constant butt of jokes.

While Fat Monica stood no chance with her crush Chandler, once she lost weight, she had the potential to (and eventually did) become his life partner. This portrayal of someone with a larger body was stereotypical.

How often do you see someone with a bigger body (who does not, at some point during the movie or TV series, lose weight to have the ideal body) play the main character in a television series or movie?

Or if they do, how often do they play the main romantic lead? Note: I have not yet seen Bridgerton’s season three, though I am counting down the days. Bridgerton character Penelope Featherington has a larger body which is still a rarity.

Or, how often are characters with a larger body portrayed as being happy?

If we truly want to change the negative stereotypes that people have of large-bodied people (and we should, for the reasons outlined below), we must change some of the characters in our movies and TV series to reflect people’s actual body size and the rich, wonderful lives so many lead.

People with larger bodies often experience stigma due to their weight, which can cause physiological and/or psychological challenges, like depression and disordered eating. The mass media, including its portrayal of people with larger bodies, contribute to this.

Research by The Representation Project, a gender watchdog organisation, published in its 2022 All Bodies Report found that women with larger bodies made up only 6.7 per cent of the characters in most popular films.

Overweight women in films are more likely to play an unintelligent character and less likely to have sexual partners.

Some people might argue increasing positive representation of overweight or obese people on TV and in movies will promote obesity.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Rather, it’s a way to help address the stigma currently associated with being overweight or obese, that can cause harm.

The World Health Organization argues that we need new policies around how the media depicts people who are obese so that they are no longer negatively portrayed.

Such policies do exist. For example, the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, the Obesity Society and the Obesity Action Coalition published one which states that the media should “avoid portrayals of individuals affected by excess weight or obesity merely for the purpose of humo[u]r or ridicule” and “[a]void weight-based stereotypes (e.g., such as individuals affected by obesity being “lazy” or “lacking in willpower”).”

We need more directors, producers and writers to implement these guidelines. But how do we make that happen?

Marilyn Bromberg is an Associate Professor at the UWA Law School, chair of the legislative reform sub-group at the Butterfly Foundation and a practising lawyer.