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| Scene from Insatiable |
Welcome to a new column called Channel Surfing, in which I sporadically look at current TV shows and talk about them. These are not ones that I care to write weekly recaps for and are instead reflections either on the episode, the series, or particular moments. This will hopefully help to share personal opinions as well as discover entertainment on the outer pantheon that I feel is well worth checking out, or in some cases, shows that are weird enough to talk about, but should never be seen.
It's a bit difficult to talk about Netflix's latest series Insatiable without coming across as fat shaming. However, it's exactly the issue that the show tries to address and fails to do within its first episode, choosing instead to fall back on a Hollywood-esque take on obesity that is regressive and insincere. Much like Fat Schmidt on New Girl or Eddie Murphy in several of his movies, there's something insulting about the very idea of casting a "fit" person in a story about how obesity takes a physical and psychological toll on a main character. Of course, the premise of the show had some promise: a formerly obese teenager (Debby Ryan) loses weight and seeks revenge on her bullies. It's quite simple, and according to creator Lauren Gussis was meant to be somewhat autobiographical. So, where exactly does everything go wrong?
It's a bit hard to say, as the marketing itself misrepresented the series by playing up the revenge fantasy side. There's also plot lines regarding ultra-conservative beauty pageant winners and a man falsely accused of pedophilia. It's all here, and it does feel like it's all supposed to build on how toxic society and bullying can be on the individual. But on another note, it's a bit hard to not feel like this is sidetracking from the central issue of Insatiable, itself named for the protagonist's belief that her diets at eight-years-old made her hungry. However, Gussis also believed that the show would reflect the downside to beauty, suggesting that it's hollow and hides behind something. Basically, losing the weight doesn't immediately make you happy, it just gives you new problems.
But the issue is again that this is the Hollywood version of fat, or that there's not enough time with the fat character to provide a deeply rooted sympathy. The introduction doesn't even last 10 minutes before she is transitioned into a coma after beating up a homeless man trying to steal her candy. Then she is mysteriously skinny. There's no real struggle presented other than "being fat is terrible" and by then, the episode has transitioned into what the next 11 episodes will presumably be. There was no need to cast an actual obese actor because it didn't matter. Instead, it's once again a skinny person in a fat suit, acting in the presumptive ways that obese people move. Even if the actor chosen was at least a little overweight by socially accepted standards, this show would be closer to representing something more honest. Instead, it treats weight loss as a very easy solution: just close your mouth.
The good intentions are there, especially in the realm of psychology. There is that desire to want to stress eat and Gussis already reflects the characters' need to find another satisfaction. There's definitely traces of something personal that makes the show's offensive content a bit disappointing. Unless the show reflects additional struggles of obesity in future episodes, it is the equivalent of a MacGuffin, mostly there to get to a petty revenge show that is a dime-a-dozen in the teen comedy/drama category. If you go that way, it's not a particularly exciting or original one. In fact, by making it a revenge story it already makes it hard to sympathize with the character who was poorly established to begin with. She is about to be a hateful character, whose only virtue is being better than the vapid cuties who chastise a world it sees as lesser. So in a sense, the obese characters are the lesser of two evils. This is of course unless it actually takes time to explore the emotional subtext of its characters.
Is the show capable of reaching its potential? Possibly, especially given Gussis' insistence that it's a positive representation of obesity. However, it has so many of the constructs of a series that doesn't understand the struggle. Ryan may be an applicable actress, but it does a disservice to not have an actress who looks or behaves in ways that feels physically changed. It's also an odd idea to suggest that having a jaw wired shut is the only way to lose weight. Sure, there's sympathetic elements in her watching romantic comedies and feeling less valuable socially, but what about the character feels like she's a changed woman? Please don't take it as fat shaming Ryan, but her standing in for a character meant to be fat is a bit of an insult, especially given her excellent physique. Maybe if the show gave more of an effort to understand the root of the prejudice first, then everything after the first 10 minutes would work better. Instead, it's a farce that tries too hard to have it both ways.
Again, this is based solely off of one episode. It would be one thing if the writing and characters were bland (they are). However, this show isn't revolutionary in any significant way in its depiction of obesity - one of the last few vestiges of caricature along with the mentally impaired and drug addicts. This is a show from another era, where TV wasn't as scrutinized for its image of people, whether they be gay or straight, black or white, male or female, or in this case fat or skinny. It's not a great depiction with a cast whose other plot lines are rather problematic in ways solely to make the struggles of obesity seem more tedious. It's hard to base a show around the psychological struggles of being a fat teenager, but Insatiable manages to feel like it was neither a bully or someone bullied but instead someone who didn't even pay attention in the first place.
It's a bit hard to say, as the marketing itself misrepresented the series by playing up the revenge fantasy side. There's also plot lines regarding ultra-conservative beauty pageant winners and a man falsely accused of pedophilia. It's all here, and it does feel like it's all supposed to build on how toxic society and bullying can be on the individual. But on another note, it's a bit hard to not feel like this is sidetracking from the central issue of Insatiable, itself named for the protagonist's belief that her diets at eight-years-old made her hungry. However, Gussis also believed that the show would reflect the downside to beauty, suggesting that it's hollow and hides behind something. Basically, losing the weight doesn't immediately make you happy, it just gives you new problems.
But the issue is again that this is the Hollywood version of fat, or that there's not enough time with the fat character to provide a deeply rooted sympathy. The introduction doesn't even last 10 minutes before she is transitioned into a coma after beating up a homeless man trying to steal her candy. Then she is mysteriously skinny. There's no real struggle presented other than "being fat is terrible" and by then, the episode has transitioned into what the next 11 episodes will presumably be. There was no need to cast an actual obese actor because it didn't matter. Instead, it's once again a skinny person in a fat suit, acting in the presumptive ways that obese people move. Even if the actor chosen was at least a little overweight by socially accepted standards, this show would be closer to representing something more honest. Instead, it treats weight loss as a very easy solution: just close your mouth.
The good intentions are there, especially in the realm of psychology. There is that desire to want to stress eat and Gussis already reflects the characters' need to find another satisfaction. There's definitely traces of something personal that makes the show's offensive content a bit disappointing. Unless the show reflects additional struggles of obesity in future episodes, it is the equivalent of a MacGuffin, mostly there to get to a petty revenge show that is a dime-a-dozen in the teen comedy/drama category. If you go that way, it's not a particularly exciting or original one. In fact, by making it a revenge story it already makes it hard to sympathize with the character who was poorly established to begin with. She is about to be a hateful character, whose only virtue is being better than the vapid cuties who chastise a world it sees as lesser. So in a sense, the obese characters are the lesser of two evils. This is of course unless it actually takes time to explore the emotional subtext of its characters.
Is the show capable of reaching its potential? Possibly, especially given Gussis' insistence that it's a positive representation of obesity. However, it has so many of the constructs of a series that doesn't understand the struggle. Ryan may be an applicable actress, but it does a disservice to not have an actress who looks or behaves in ways that feels physically changed. It's also an odd idea to suggest that having a jaw wired shut is the only way to lose weight. Sure, there's sympathetic elements in her watching romantic comedies and feeling less valuable socially, but what about the character feels like she's a changed woman? Please don't take it as fat shaming Ryan, but her standing in for a character meant to be fat is a bit of an insult, especially given her excellent physique. Maybe if the show gave more of an effort to understand the root of the prejudice first, then everything after the first 10 minutes would work better. Instead, it's a farce that tries too hard to have it both ways.
Again, this is based solely off of one episode. It would be one thing if the writing and characters were bland (they are). However, this show isn't revolutionary in any significant way in its depiction of obesity - one of the last few vestiges of caricature along with the mentally impaired and drug addicts. This is a show from another era, where TV wasn't as scrutinized for its image of people, whether they be gay or straight, black or white, male or female, or in this case fat or skinny. It's not a great depiction with a cast whose other plot lines are rather problematic in ways solely to make the struggles of obesity seem more tedious. It's hard to base a show around the psychological struggles of being a fat teenager, but Insatiable manages to feel like it was neither a bully or someone bullied but instead someone who didn't even pay attention in the first place.
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