Search - Queen Sized on DVD

Reinforces every unjust stereotype about the overweight

Elizabeth G. Melillo | 02/09/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"It is ironic that, though the mockery, pain, and condescension which the 'fat girl' here has to endure are utterly true, there are stereotypes reinforced which could lead to more of the same. One might think that those unaware of the abuse to which an overweight teenager can be exposed could develop some understanding from the presentation, but indeed viewers (who have not struggled with the problem) could think their criticism and misjudgement was justified and even helpful. Nikki is the stuff of prejudice - the girl with the stash of junk food under her bed, who orders and eats a whole pizza while tossing the 'healthy' meal into the rubbish bin, and so forth. As well, though there is a suggestion that her (thin) mother is nagging, judgemental and controlling, most of the words which Nikki 'hears' are in imagination - one could receive the impression that her 'caring' mother is only concerned that the girl not meet an early death from diabetes (as did her father), since the mockery of her appearance is a daydream.

Decades ago, I was an overweight teenager (though nowhere near the size of our heroine). I'd love to see a film which shows what many of us really experienced - constant struggles to lose weight, mockery of our weight loss efforts, assumptions that we were stashing junk food or eating sweets when we were not, being unable to be in the company of many people without instant criticism and condescending 'advice.' Such a film would need to include what it is actually like to have a nagging mother - I can remember my own poking me with 'is that all you?!', dressing me in dowdy dark clothes so I looked like a frumpy woman of 60, crying about her misfortune in having the fat daughter no matter how many awards I won for arts or academics. Even a simple Google search will tell anyone that (at least according to medical reports - not my own experience, since I reached a normal weight in my 50s by eliminating carboyhdrates) long-term or substantial weight loss is impossible - that no one could hope to lose more than 10 pounds, and it's impossible not to gain everything back. This film makes it implicit that the 'fat girls' stuff themselves endlessly and do no exercise, as if the slightest efforts in another direction would make them slender. A girl the size of this one could starve off 70 pounds and still be considered 'obese,' and the 25-pound weight loss about which her mother nags would not even show.

Though the film is accurate in showing utter cruelty and mockery on the part of the other prospective homecoming queen, its depiction of the main character is so unlike the situation of many other heavy women that it could inspire others to think that they are 'cruel to be kind' if they make similar assumptions."