Even though Netflix released its new show Insatiable on August 10, just the teaser got the internet crazy. Why? The trailer shows the ex-Disney star Debby Ryan in a fat suit being bullied by her high school colleagues, sad and eating a lot. That’s just until she suffers an accident, loses weight and comeback as a “beautiful” and popular girl seeking revenge.
Just in the first few minutes, we can see a lot a fatphobia and stereotypes that can be really dangerous for the audience. The main character, Patty (Debby Ryan), is the ultimate “fat girl stereotype” that we for years have fought against so hard. So, here are some reasons to why we have to stop to reproduce these stereotypes on media and don’t watch the show.
First, when Patty shows up as a fat girl she looks sad, wearing sweat pants, with messy hair and eating tons of ice cream, a image used for years and years to stereotype fat people. Her life is miserable and the show makes us understand that this only happens because she is fat.
Image Souce: Youtube
That sends to the audience and to fat people everywhere that they are only going to be happy if they lose weight. Which, obviously, is a lie. Following the beauty standards are not at all a insurance of happiness in life. We’ve seen that in a lot of Hollywood productions, for example our dear TV show F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
Have you ever notice how Monica Geller was represented before losing weight, exactly like Patty is in Insatiable? Before, Monica was just the popular girl’s fat friend. She only appears as a real person after she is skinny. Making fat character’s life only happen after they lose weight is a terrible thing to do. Is basically saying to fat people they are condemned until they lose weight.
Besides that, she lost weight because of a health problem. The fact that the characters are celebrating the loss of weight by being sick shows to the audience that yes, you have to do anything to lose weight, even if your health is in danger. These two things are triggers to thousands of people out there dealing with eating disorders and mental illness.
And third, the so called “revenge body”. That concept became very famous after Khlóe Kardashian made a lot of changes in her body as a revenge for being called fat when she was young. That is so problematic. The whole point of “revenge body” is to change other people’s opinion about your body, when the only important opinion of your body is, well, you! Sending that message is just making hate over hate and there is no positivity in it.
Netflix made a irresponsible TV show with fat people stereotypes that are real, and it only helps to make them keep going in our society. So instead of watching this show, how about cultivating a little bit of self love instead?