Sunday night’s Oscars provided several.
But this is 2023.
Which automatically makes celebrating anything unanimously impossible.
One Twitter account accused the film of appropriating obese people’s identities with the fat suit.
User KB Heylen wrote: ‘So disappointing that The Whale won the Oscar for best hair and makeup.
Fat suits are harmful - they are not your opportunity to win awards.
Our identity is not your costume.
Cast fat actors to play fat characters.
#TheWhale #fatphobia #fatsuit #Oscars.’
It’s like an all you might eat buffet of ridiculousness.
OK, that’s an unfortunate comparison.
It’s a Whitman’s Sampler of stupidity.
Let’s call it a salad bar of nonsense so as not to promote unhealthy lifestyles.
So I seriously don’t get what their angle is here?
How does it help business by denouncing a guy for using makeup effects to look like another guy?
Which is exactly what a certain percentage of acting is.
Most of the surviving cast fromThe Sopranos.
Weensie fromOld School:
So maybe Dove’s motive is profit driven.
But why would anyone not motivated by money be against an actor acting in a fat suit?
Should Universal have dug up dead bodies and stiched them together when they madeFrankenstein?
Jeff Goldblum was nominated forThe Fly.
Was that offensive to half human/half insect actors who’ve been struggling to find work?
We can all appreciate actors who undergo severe body transformations so that look convincing for roles.
Robert DeNiro got fat to play old, post-boxing Jake LaMotta.
Matthew McConaughy lost a ton of weight forDallas Buyers Club.
Especially one that is too depressing for anyone to actually ever watch.
Showing up for auditions.
Hoping to land a role in the next Marvel film or live action Disney remake or whatever.
And The Whale would’ve been perfect for one of them.
And I’m sorry the studio went with the recognizable name instead.
Only a monster would be in favor of ridiculing people with crippling weight problems.
They’re in the throes of a medical crisis, and deserve empathy, compassion, and help.
But the solution isn’t pretending severe weight is not a problem.
Perhaps the most urgent problem we have right now.
Good luck selling more soap with this.
But instead of #LetsChangeBeauty, we should be focused more on #LetsGetHealthy.
