I overheard the most disturbing conversation last week at Starbucks. These two women were talking about Adele with this “good for her being so recognized despite being the size she is” attitude, which I found extremely condescending. Apparently only very thin women can be recognized without question. Each of these ladies then tried to convince the other (and themselves) that Adele is beautiful even if she doesn’t fit the standard definition of “beauty.” My question is: whose standard? Because I think she’s a pretty damn beautiful woman. I mean, you can’t argue with that bone structure! One of these two ladies even said that it shouldn’t matter what she looks like with a voice like hers, but if you have to go out of your way to say this, doesn’t that sort of make your point? If it doesn’t matter why bring it up at all?
Now I would like to talk about the Oscars. Octavia Spencer, in particular. Pretty much every recap I read referred to her as “full-figured” and “curvy.” Are these the only adjectives you could come up with, people? Does it matter? Does it make her brilliant performance any more or less brilliant? Also, why is “curvy” a bad thing?
When we as a society put the likes of Angelina Jolie on a pedestal, do we think we’re sending our young girls the right message? You guys! Did you see her at the Oscars? YIKES, right? Remember when she was athletic and sexy? Bring that Angie back! #AngelinaJolie was trending on Twitter right after the awards, so for fun, I read through a bunch of the posts. About half were making fun of that ridiculous leg pose, and the other half were saying she needs to eat something. And, of course, there were a few that defended her waifish (can we call her that? Is there one step beyond waifish that might be more appropriate?) figure. They said that all the haters were probably just jealous, fat women. Interestingly, most of those “eat a cookie” comments were from MEN!
Oh, you guys, I’m not sure what the answer is here, and I know things probably won’t change in my lifetime, but, seriously, something’s got to give.
You make a lot of sense, but let me ask you this: How many "curvy" or "full-figured" women have you called in for roles in the past month? Roles that did not specifically call for a fat woman? Until that changes, then nothing will.
ReplyDeleteAnon:
ReplyDeleteI personally call in women of all shapes and sizes whenever possible. If they are the best actor for the part, you bet your ass I will fight for them! If they aren't, well, then they aren't.
Sadly, directors/producers/studio heads don't share my feelings that we should populate these fictional worlds with "real" women, and thus I have nothing to "show" for it on my resume. But not for my lack of trying.
On a cool note, the last indie film I did featured a full-figured female lead. The director even fought the producers to get her the role! Too bad we lost our financing and the project never got made. But, see? Sometimes there's hope.