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Many women and girls in real life have body image issues that lead them to obsess about food and think of themselves as fat even when they're well within healthy and average weight limits, or even if they're trim or underweight.
That's not what this trope is about.
If you took the Hollywood Pudgy character out of her movie and plunked her down among a representative sample of real women, she'd be positively svelte. She'd have no trouble fitting through bus turnstiles or into a cute bathing suit, and wouldn't have her doctor telling her she must lose twenty pounds for the sake of her heart and pancreas.
But because this is Hollywood, she really is bigger than everyone else even though she looks to be about a size 10. Hollywood Pudgy characters are almost Always Female, and are cast in the same stifling roles as more legitimately Rubenesque women: the plain and unthreatening best friend, the heroine in her awkward teenage years, the girl that the guys think of as a buddy or a sister, the bitter middle-aged harridan. This is almost always also a white person, as black and Latina women who weigh a bit more are considered attractive, but have their own shallow stereotypes associated with them. Overweight Asian women may as well not exist as far as Hollywood's concerned, as Margaret Cho can attest to.
Since the audience would not identify this character as a Fat Girl on their own, they have to be told that in this movie, this woman is fat. This comes across to many viewers as a very Informed Flaw; many men find women more attractive, not less attractive, at this weight. Not so the tabloids and fashion magazines, in which one can readily find complaints that these women have put on too much weight.
Somewhat averted in stories where a skinny woman thinks of herself fat, but is shown to have an eating disorder or body image problem — like a lot of women in real life. Satirical examples hang a lantern on the absurdity of calling normal healthy women "fat". However, some of the examples quoted below illustrate the fact that satire and aversion often go right over the audience's heads.
What is often done is that the media is trying to establish a single standard of what constitutes attractiveness, ignoring the fact of wildly different body types and builds. Women are targeted because of a slightly less variety of body types than men, as well as a healthy woman would have a higher body fat percentage than men. Some observers note that Marilyn Monroe, one of the sexiest women of all time, would have been considered overweight by today's standards. (What most of these observers don't know is that a few people in Marilyn Monroe's time complained about her looking too fat — probably the same sort of people who complain about the actresses of today.)
Compare Hollywood Homely and BBW; contrast Informed Attractiveness.
Examples:
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Anime
- In the fourth episode of the Sailor Moon anime Serena/Usagi is worried that she has gained a little weight. Visually, she hasn't changed at all. Fortunately, in the show, nobody except Usagi notices. The dub even exaggerated this a step further by having "Serena" freak out about gaining a grand total of...one pound. The rest of the episode shows a villain preying on women with body issues by using machines that make them skinny while sucking out their life energy until they become emaciated (and it is implied that they will die after enough sessions). Strangely, the dub attempts to pretend the machines don't work despite the fact that all the victims are visibly skinnier and skeletal. Either way, its still not enforcing a certain body type, but mocking the obsession with being skinny that leads perfectly attractive women to starve themselves.
- It's still worth noting that while Usagi/Serena's family doesn't give it much importance, their comments imply that she is indeed "a bit chubby" in their eyes and that she should probably eat less and excercise more (Luna also thinks this way). While they may just mean to encourage her into a more healthy lifestyle (or playfully mock her worries) rather than to have her get thinner, they never clarify this (cue Usagi/Serena crying at hearing them).
- Usagi is supposed to be shorter and pudgier than the others (at least according to an art book), just as Makoto is supposed to be muscular. Too bad it doesn't show.
- Yomi in Azumanga Daioh has weight issues, even though she's no less thin than the other girls on the show. The liner notes in one of the DV Ds notes that her obsession with her weight was given to her to give her a slightly more "normal" quirk than the other girls, so its clear that this was more in Yomi's head than an actual problem. Tomo also teases her for being fat, but Tomo is also a Jerk Ass that spends her life tormenting Yomi in any way she can think of.
- It is true that Yomi's proportions are considerably more voluptuous than those of, say, Osaka, which, in the interest of factuality, usually means bigger deposits of fat. Given the general reaction to Sakaki's similar proportions, maybe Tomo has her own body issues.
- Well, in one strip of the manga, Tomo says that she's "gotta lose some weight", but thinks it hilarious that (she assumes) the same amount of food goes straight to her gut while making Sakaki "tall and busty". So... maybe.
- Likewise, Kagami from Lucky Star often complains about her weight despite not being fat, especially after indulging her Sweet Tooth. But as Konata pointed out, "You don't look any different if you gain a kilo or two."
- In the rather obscure anime series Onegai! Samia Don
 (aka Psammead the Magic Genie based on a novel by Edith Nesbit); Anne Hopkins, the eldest girl, is working out to be thin, and despite not being overweight at all, ponders asking Psammead help (but being Genre Savvy enough to know that her wish might backfire, she doesn't).
- Male example: Alfred F. Jones/America in Axis Powers Hetalia doesn't look fat, but when he steps onto the weight scale, it actually sweats carrying his weight and he looks completely mortified seeing the numbers. Though it could also be joking about this trope as well.
- Hiro of Hidamari Sketch is also very sensitive to her weight; different signs may imply she is kind of on the fat side (like Miyako's teasing or her open preference in Renoir becaue he drew Rubenesque women), but it's not something we can see in the manga or anime, particularly because of the art-style...
- Rumiko Takahashi actually did a one-shot manga about such a girl going to a weight-loss camp because of a new dress that was only slightly too tight on her. She ends up getting a better body image by the end, however.
- The girl in question wanted to go to the dance with her crush, and thought dropping a lot of weight would help. As it turned out, the guy liked them plus-sized, and went with a girl who was visibly pudgy. On the other hand, she got the young camp coach instead, who (unlike the first guy) got some screen time and established character. This is Takahashi, after all.
- Hige from Wolf's Rain. While we don't claim to know anything about wolf anatomy, the only indication that the human image he projects might be heavier than the others is that he doesn't wear skinny-jeans or tight leather pants like they do. Even so, Tsume feels the need to nickname him "Porky".
- Truth be told, he isn't as lean as the other wolves. It's most obvious in the fact that his overly large collar fits snugly when he's in canine form — his neck in said form is as big/bigger than his human head.
- Though he rarely (if ever) does it without provocation, Ranma 1/2's title character often calls Akane "fat," "thick-waisted," or "wide-hipped," just to deny being attracted to her. Akane's response is swift and certain.
- Subverted in Ichigo Mashimaro: when Chika and Miu start obsessing about their weight gain, Nobue points out to them that they are still growing.
- Completely averted in Real Drive: most of the female characters are rather...we'll say big...but don't seem to care about it at all. Yukino should really lay off the ice cream...
Film
- Jan, one of the Pink Ladies in Grease, is constantly talking about how she should be dieting, but she's hungry. This could be put down to adolescent body image, except other characters ask her if she really wants to eat that, and Putzie asks her out, "romantically" saying that there's more to her "than just fat." The actress is not even slightly pudgy. No double chin, nothing but looser clothes than the other Pink Ladies and continuous mentions of her fat in the script.
- The original script actually calls for a chubby actress. Cognitive dissonance much?
- Bridget Jones. Who weighed 136 pounds. Yup, real whale there. Although the point might be that she obsesses about her weight so much, not that she's actually fat.
- In the novel, when she successfully achieves the weight that she considered ideal, everybody comments that she's too thin.
- Renée Zellweger at her Bridget Jones weight was considered too fat for the cover of Harper's Magazine. Zellweger as Bridget Jones was supposed to be a UK size 14 (which is a US size 10). She only gained enough weight to reach a size 6, but even then she endured dozens of newspaper and magazine articles on her weight gain and even her "temporary obesity". Though during interviews at the time, she claimed to enjoy being heavier, she lost the weight as soon as filming was done and when it came time to film a sequel, she refused to gain weight until the studio literally paid her for every extra pound she put on.
- Julia Roberts in America's Sweetheart wore a fat suit to be a size 12.
- In Romy And Michelles High School Reunion, Romy was somehow considered chubby in the high school flashbacks, despite being extremely svelte by any normal human logic.
- In the Sex And The City movie, Samantha eats to distract herself from thoughts of cheating, and when she flies out to New York it's considered a big deal when she sports a wee bit of a gut.
- Tall, lanky Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada was considered fat at a size six. It was intended to show the shallowness of the fashion industry. Later in the movie she's down to a size four, showing how far she's fallen in her principles.
- In the Harry Potter films, Dudley looks to be somewhere between normal and slightly pudgy. He, of course, is supposed to be a fat slob. This is Adaptational Attractiveness, since he is genuinely fat in the books.
- The movies make little case of Dudley's weight to begin with, as no one remarks on it. In the books - where he becomes morbidly obese before he decides to pick up boxing, the weight issue is more present, and his size is regularly mentioned by the author and some of the characters.
- His father, on the other hand, is almost spherical in the movies.
- Dudley is pretty big in Order Of The Phoenix, though.
- Which, oddly enough, in the books is about when he starts turning his considerable weight into muscle.
- He looks like he can punch hard, and he keeps pace with Harry when running from the Dementor, so his size and fitness comes across as pretty appropriate for the young boxer.
- Neville is also described as "round-faced" and said to be plump, and there's little indication this changed until the last book. In the first film he fit that fairly well. Here's a more recent image◊.
- Minnie Driver's character in Circle of Friends actually refers to herself as a "heifer" at one point.
- PM Hugh Grant in Love, Actually was into his cute coffee girl at 10 Downing Street, even though this girl was constantly referred to as "fat" by everyone else (she was Bridget Jones "fat" at best). The PM character was bewildered that all of the other characters seemed to have reached a consensus about her supposed fatness, since he couldn't see it at all.
- One of the cheerleaders in the original Bring It On is told that her ass is enormous by a cheertator, and is told to skip meals. Of course, she's thin and gorgeous. One of the cheerleaders in the sequel Bring It On: All or Nothing is supposedly fat, and is pressured to lose weight and made fun of. By any normal standards she looks just as thin and sexy as the other cheerleaders. This is a deliberate criticism of the phenomenon, as the character who makes these comments is The Libby and it's played for a Kick The Dog moment.
- In Hook Peter Banning (really Peter Pan, of course) is mocked by the lost boys for being "old and fat", and Captain Hook himself calls him a "pitiful, spineless, pasty, bloated codfish". Um, is this what counts as "fat" in Neverland?◊ That's practically Parent Service!
- Most everything that Seth Rogen does, from Freaks And Geeks, Undeclared, Knocked Up and now Funny People. In this case it has made his career, being more of The Everyman and appealing that way. As far as how overweight he is, he's got a stocky build and would have to be dramatically underweight in order to look thin.
- The brunette "ugly stepsister" Jacqueline de Ghent in Ever After is chided by the Wicked Stepmother for eating too much and being overweight. The Baroness isn't at all a nice person, so cutting comments like that are to be expected, but no comment to the contrary is given, and the man she ends up with is the husky, buffoonish royal carriage driver, suggesting she's not fit for a prince. Seeing as Jacqueline is played by the lovely Melanie Lynskey, that could also be interpreted as the set-up for Ugly Guy Hot Wife.
- In Strip Search, an interrogator tells Maggie Gyllenhaal she could stand to lose a few pounds. Of course, he's Chinese, so what does he know?
- It's not clear what the character actually believes. He is, after all, an interrogator trying to break her will.
- Writer Gregg Easterbrook called out the Shrek films for their supposed hypocrisy. Rail-thin Cameron Diaz plays Princess Fiona, who ultimately chooses to become fat and ugly in order to be happy with Shrek. Easterbrook rightly points out that there are hardly any men or women in Hollywood at all who would make that trade.
- Shrek is animated. Ink Suit Actor or not, what the voice actor looks like is kind of a non-issue.
Comic Books
- The eponymous lead of Empowered seems to suffer from this big time, as she constantly refers to herself as chubby and pudgy, though technically she should be on par with a 20-something white chick with some decent curvature. Absolutely nobody else thinks of her as "chubby", and they constantly point this out to her. Most of the comic points out that Empowered has horrible self-esteem as it is.
- In her solo series, Ms Marvel has been called fat a few times, despite having the usual trim-and-shapely comic book physique. It's worth noting, however, that it is villains (mostly female ones) who make these comments, and most of them have been made by the same villain, indicating it's just an attempt to get under her skin. And another one was Dr. Doom screaming insults at her, which included "fat whore."
- It's also worth noting that most of these happened under the same writer, making it more a Running Gag than anything else.
- Can apply somewhat to Gert in Runaways, as it depends on the artist. Under main artist Adrian Alphona's pen, Gert actually is fairly chubby, but other artists tend to draw her as just having slightly more hips and waist than Nico or Karolina, and even Alphona drew her that way to start with. Here, it may not be so much a case of warped values as it is comic artists just not being used to drawing women with that sort of body. Also, Marvel's official stats list her at 5'1'' and 125 pounds...(the Alphona version, if she was 5'1", would probably be at least 140)
Literature
- Fat Charlie, in Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys, isn't actually fat. But his father started calling him that when he was a child and very slightly pudgy, and it stuck.
- In Ether Ore, a tall young woman who's said to be about 120 lbs is described as though her build is very solid and curvy - not fat, but far from skinny. A woman who's over 5'6" and weighs less than 120 lbs is in fact underweight. Somewhat justified in that the viewpoint character is a younger woman who's 90 lbs and boyish, so maybe it's just relative.
Live Action TV
- Male example: There's more than one episode of Will And Grace in which Jack taunts Will for being a "fattie" or some similar disparagement. This is Eric. Fucking. McCormack. we're talking about here.
- Justified in that Jack is always presented as a neurotic Gym Bunny and general dimwit. Note that he's pretty much the only one who ever says this about Will.
- Additionally, Jack admits in a Season 7 episode that he only teases Will because he's insecure about his own weight—so much so that he wears a man-girdle under his clothes.
- Aversion in Greys Anatomy with the character of Dr. Callie Torres. Although the actress playing Torres is a size 12, they never show her character as struggling with her weight or "feeling fat." In fact, she engages in a friend with benefits relationship with McSteamy... arguably the hottest doctor in the hospital.
- And there's the moment when a female character refers to her as, "Hot. Dirty hot," to someone else (and when there's no intent for Callie to overhear her either). That's a pretty strong indication that she's considered attractive.
- This troper has given her the nickname "Mc Chubby" simply due to the relation to the rest of the pin-thin cast (Seriously Meredith, eat something) - even when not mentioned in show this trope still comes through. I do agree she's "Dirty Hot" though.
- Ugly Betty, although on the show this is because of the fashion industry she works in, where fat=having natural boobs and hips. In real life, America Ferrera was at most a size ten, and thinner now, but you still get people on the IMDB boards calling her a bad role model for being obese.
- Ugly Betty also had a woman everyone called "Fat Carol" who really wasn't, which was the whole point of the joke.
- For Hypocritical Humor, Amanda commonly jokes about how much Betty eats while chowing down on anything she sees.
- Ironically, in the original Yo Soy Betty La Fea one of the points about the ugliness of Betty is that she is thin as a toothpick, and in an attempt to disguise that she ends wearing clothes better suited for her heavier mom. But then, they had the Big Eater gossip hen Bertha, who was genuinely overweight (about US size 18, and when the actress - and her character - got pregnant, even bigger) but received a far less amount of fat jokes than a character of that type would receive, and all the remarks she got were from the vainest evil characters.
- Parodied on an episode of Third Rock From The Sun. The world was being invaded by aliens disguised as supermodels, and Dr. Allbright was considered a larger woman for being a size 8.
- Again when Dick struggled with his weight for an episode. The ultimate solution: larger pants.
- Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show was considered fat, even though her build was no different than Mary's. They would dress her in baggy outfits as opposed to Mary's more form fitting clothes, but no reasonable person would look at her and label her overweight.
- This was finally inverted in a Season Three episode where Rhoda admits to having lost 20 pounds. Despite the constant compliments (even from Phyllis), she still can't see herself as attractive until she ends up winning her company's beauty contest.
- And when Rhoda moved to her own show and became The Mary she got her own Rhoda in her sister Brenda, played by Julie Kavner.
- Elliot on Scrubs feels guilty about eating a ton of cookies, but it's been said a few times that she's underweight (5'9" and 118 lb).
- In an episode of 30 Rock, Liz, who is regarded as frumpy in New York, meets a woman in Cleveland who asks her if she's a model and says "You are so skinny! You really should eat something."
Liz: "And in Cleveland, I’m a model!"
Jenna: "Yeah, we’re all models west of the Allegheny."
- In another episode, Jenna put on the pounds. Jack's response? "She needs to lose thirty pounds or gain sixty. Anything in between has no place on television."
- Many "jokes" about Carol's weight on Growing Pains, which certainly didn't help Tracey Gold's anorexia any.
- A lot was made of Sara Rue being a "full figured" woman on her ABC sitcom Less Than Perfect; indeed, the show's title was supposedly in reference to Rue's character's appearance. In reality, of course, Rue was a mildly zaftig size 12, and gorgeous as hell.
- It's also worth mentioning that after Less Than Perfect, Sara Rue slimmed down...and promptly lost a good deal of her male fans.
- Amber Benson has mentioned in interviews that she caught this kind of flak from some Buffy The Vampire Slayer fans, despite being large only in comparison to her unbelievably petite co-stars. Amber was like a size 8. In fact, Word Of God says that there were originally fears about casting her because she was too attractive and voluptuous for the supposedly plain Tara, but her shy and withdrawn audition won over the producers. No one in the wardrobe department seemed to know how to dress someone above a size 2, and the poor girl was always stuck wearing "hippie" outfits that made her look wide and dumpy, and TERRIBLE hair in season four. They FINALLY dressed Tara in some lovely clothes (the Renaissance Faire corset dress from "Once More, With Feeling" comes to mind) in season 6 but then Bury Your Gays kicked in.
- This may have been deliberate, in that the character starts out as painfully shy and awkward, and grows in confidence and happiness. (Which of course meant that Joss Wheden had to have her shot.)
- Dollhouse has the character of Mellie, played by Miracle Laurie, who looks about a size 8 to 10, who is the shy next-door-neighbor. Mellie comment that she rarely gets dates because she is not attractive by Los Angeles standards. Though larger than the rest of the female cast (which is not saying much), she is stunningly beautiful.
- Subverted somewhat in that the decidedly attractive male lead calls her "gorgeous" and proceeds to start a romantic relationship with her.
- Well, that and the fact that she's actually an Active and her entire persona is programmed.
- That line is also a particularly self-referential bit of Truth In Television, since Miracle Laurie stated she knew "this character is perfect for me" after reading the casting description, which begins "20’s, any ethnicity, beautiful and heavy" (more discussion here). Which may also make the above line an interesting example of hanging a lampshade on a real world instantiation of a trope.
- Comments about the show in Hulu complain that the show would be better if the star wasn't so fat.
- And an an aversion, Kaylee Frye's weight is never commented on in Firefly...despite the fact that Joss Whedon asked (politely) that Jewel Staite gain 20 pounds for the role.
- Probably because he wanted someone who was normal by normal standards rather than Hollywood standards.
- Also, I'm given to understand that on top of that, she only managed ten.
- Samantha in Days of our Lives, before she loses weight and becomes a stick like everyone else.
- Harriet Olson is the butt of several fat jokes on Little House On The Prairie, though multiple episodes feature larger characters to each us that fat people have feelings, too.
- Ethel Mertz of I Love Lucy fame, called a "fat old bag" by her husband, despite Vivian Vance not being noticeably heavier than Lucille Ball. It got so bad that an Urban Legend sprung up claiming that she was contractually obligated to remain 20 pounds overweight.
- The truth might be that Vivian was styled to look frumpier than Lucy, in part because the actor who played her husband was over twenty years older than her. Ironically, she became a star by playing sexy vamps in Cole Porter musicals on Broadway. She was a knockout.
- Peggy Olson of Mad Men gains weight throughout Season One. We're led to believe it's because she's trying to avoid being treated as a sex object at work.
- However, in the season finale we learn that she's actually pregnant with Pete Campbell's child. As Season Two begins, she's depicted returning to work (much slimmer) after several months' absence, which Pete falsely assumes she spent at a "fat farm".
- Rodney McKay of Stargate Atlantis is occasionally referred to as fat by other characters — and frequently in fanfic and discussion — despite probably being of average weight for his build.
- Averted in an episode of Lizzie Mc Guire where Miranda becomes convinced she's fat and goes on an anorexic diet. The episode ends with an inshow music video which gives ample evidence that she's quite attractive.
- Invoked, possibly, on Keeping up with the Karsashians, when Kourtney tries to get Khloe◊ to stop reading blogs that refer to her as a "whale", stating that the people making the criticisms are probably overweight themselves. Shortly thereafter, the audience is treated to Khloe in a miniskirt and heels. Check out her drastic weight loss!
- Occurs accidentally in Blackadder the Third, where several people describe Prince George as fat; the historical Prince George was actually fat, but here he's played by the tall and lanky Hugh Laurie, so the insults just seem to come out of nowhere. Which of course just serve to make it even funnier.
- Averted in of all series Wizards Of Waverly Place. Although the father and Harper are both mildly overweight it's never brought up, not even by Gigi
- Definitely played for comedy in Bottom (especially in the live shows), where Richie is apparently monstrously obese.
- This is used in Absolutely Fabulous, where the entire cast talks as if Eddie is noticably fat, including Eddie herself, when she is in fact completely average. It isn't clear what they are aiming for by invoking this trope, but chances are it is either a ridiculous concept intended to garner a few laughs or a lampoon at thin people who think they are fat. It could also be being played sort-of straight in a way, as Eddie works in the fashion industry, where yes, she would be considered fat.
- They sure dressed Jennifer Saunders fat, especially later on. Much as with the Amber Benson example above, those clothes would make anyone look a little hefty.
- Subverted on a Just Shoot Me episode where one of Nina's former colleagues shows up having gained considerable weight. When Nina finally confronts her with this, she says she has no problem with her weight and actually worries about how Nina is still so obsessed with looks after so many years.
- The New York Times had an article on the Lifetime series Drop Dead Diva praising it for having a realistic attitude towards women's weight, but accompanying it with a picture in which the "fat" protaganist is obviously, by any realistic standard, not fat.
- Al from Home Improvement is a male example. He's only a little chubbier than average by real world standards, but in the show people talk about him as if he were a 400 pounder with all the behaviors that would go with it.
- No, they talk about his morbidly obese (and never on camera) mother that way...and 99% of those lines are from Tim.
- Gaby in Desperate Housewives Season 5, when she is supposed to gain weight after two childbirths. Eva Longoria looks exactly the same she looked in the previous seasons, she just wears baggy clothes and her hair is unstyled.
- Eli on Stargate Universe is treated as if he's obese when he's about average or only slightly overweight for his height.
Newspaper Comics
Professional Wrestling
- Towards the end of her WWE career, Molly Holly's gimmick became that she was overly sensitive about her huge ass. Which wasn't really huge; she had bigger curves than most of the "divas", certainly, but she wasn't large in any sense of the term. This didn't stop women like Trish Stratus and Lita from making fun of her — and they were supposed to be the faces.
- In a bit of a twist, some fans tend to rag on guys like Matt Hardy, Rey Mysterio, etc., if they gain a little bit of softness around the middle. These same fans will often also bitch the loudest about the chronic abuse of steroids in the industry...
- Have said fans themselves ever done a sit-up?
- And in a not-so-twist, Mickie James gets more of this than anybody else. Combined.
Close Professional Wrestling
Real Life
Video Games
- For some undecipherable reason, The Sims 3 allows males to get MUCH fatter (at least much more realistically so) than females, who are adamantly maintained into at least a rubenesque figure.
Web Comics
- Faye Whitaker in Questionable Content. More recently, Marigold, but she seems to be the only one who thinks this.
- Zed and everyone else in Day By Day see him as fat but as drawn he looks about average. At worst.
- Played with a couple of different ways in Gorgeous Princess Creamy Beamy. The title character-a Magical Girl whose powers are literally fueled by calories-starts out Hollywood Pudgy; being your basic anime schoolgirl with just a bit of a belly. However, she has steadily gained weight as the comic has progressed and is now genuinely chubby (and still adorable). It's also used with Big Bad Vanilla Bazooka and her Dragon (and sister) Banana Bazooka. Every time they communicate, Vanilla berates Banana for how fat she's gotten...despite the fact that Banana has a trim, shapely figure and Vanilla is so enormously fat she can barely move.
Western Animation
- Toot Braunstein. Toot eventually bites back and yells at everyone for making a big deal about her weight. "Will you cut it out? I'm slightly overweight for pete's sake!"
- Meg Griffin on Family Guy, big time. In the case of Meg, that's because she's the Butt Monkey.
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