Where Is All The Fat Joy?
Until the advent of GLP-1’s being marketed as weight loss drugs, you might have heard the stirrings of the “body positivity” or even “fat liberation” movements in western society. Now, however, it seems that the film world is returning to red carpets full of wide-eyed starlets with all their ribs on display.
For a fat gal like me, and yes, I do use this “f” word as a descriptor, it definitely feels that mainstream Western culture, after a tiny glimpse of an alternative, is back to pushing unnatural thinness as the one and only feminine ideal, which is bad news for - well - everyone.
In the shadow of weight stigma
Written by Jess Sweetman
It’s widely known by now that weight stigma is a thing. People in fat bodies deal with medical mistreatment, lower pay, and bullying, as well as being constantly targeted by a multi-million dollar weight loss industry selling everything from appetite suppressant lollipops, to drugs that turned out to carry cardiac risk, to powders you can sprinkle on your food, to operations that can cause horrific and lifelong side-effects, or even kill you.
Feature films, when they’re not completely ignoring the existence of fat people, usually tend to portray fat people as stereotypes as lazy, dumb, horny yet undesirable, embarrassing, or just plain evil. More feature-length movies focus on fat women falling over than having fat femme (or nonbinary folk while we’re at it) characters who are desirable, or god-forbid enjoying themselves - be via it food, sex, dancing like no one is watching, making art, partying, or anything!
Missing a portion of the population out when depicting pleasure is dangerous for both individuals and the greater good. According to poet, activist, writer Audre Lorde in her essay “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power”, the erotic (pleasure felt within the body): “is the nurturer…of all our deepest knowledge.”
There’s a tacit message being given out when ignoring fat joy on the big screen. To exclude swathes of people from having their physicality, their sexuality, their joy represented on the screen is to claim that such people aren’t deserving of love or pleasure, and that causes insane amounts of psychic damage and social disconnection.
Why Fat Representation Matters
As a fat kid and later an adult with disordered eating, I was constantly given the message that I was inherently unlovable because of my body. Romantic comedies served up the message over and over that love was what happened when a man saw a thin, mostly white woman, and found her to be beautiful. To be thin was a precursor for being an object of love, and this message that fatties weren’t worthy of love was reflected back across society as a whole.
Audre Lord saw the oppression of those seen as non-ideal as deliberate, with the erotic providing revolutionary energy. Building on Lorde’s thesis, activist and artist Adrienne Maree Brown argues in her book “Pleasure Activism - The Politics of Feeling Good” that pleasure and the erotic have the potential to create social change through pleasure activism.
What’s more, she explores the need for pleasure activism to reach those who society fails the most: “In this moment, we must prioritize the pleasure of those most impacted by oppression,” which means those bodies that are discarded most - those of fat people, people of colour, people with disabilities, ageing bodies, and more.
So What Is There?
In the past decade, TV seems to have got the memo that fat people could be more than just the butts of jokes. With “Raised by Wolves”, “Survival of the Thickest”, “Dietland”, “Shrill”, or anything starring Natasha Rothwell, Gabourey Sidibe, or Danielle Brookes, viewers have been invited to see fat people also have other characteristics than just their body size. It’s unsurprising that black fat women are leading the charge, many coming from the lineage of human beings that the stereotypes of larger bodies were first designed to humiliate and control.
And sure, Hollywood has thrown the occasional bone in the name of fat joy, there’s “Dumplin”, and a whole sub-genre of fat teen movies where the main character realises that she is beautiful in her own way. We have Beanie Feldstein - a joyous advocate of not listening to outside pressures about how to treat your own body - but - well - I want films about fat adult women.
What’s more, if you argue that supply begets demand and that people just aren’t interested in seeing fat people having sex, I offer you this report from Pornhub in 2019, which showed increases in searches for BBW (big, beautiful women.)
So what is there in terms of films depicting fat bodies and pleasure? I set out on a journey to find where the fat love was lurking, a road that took me from sweet, sensual line drawings to porn. So here’s my list, starting at the U-rated and ending with an invitation to the most daring, XXX movies. Pick your poison, this is a no-judgement blog. Also some of these are extremely NSFW - so be warned.
Film Recommendations for Fierce Happy Fats
U-rated - IN OUR SKIN (Rosa Beiroa 2019)
Rosa Beiroa’s gorgeous so-smooth-she-makes-it-look-easy line-drawn animation celebrates fat bodies in a way that is sensuous and loving.
“The idea of the film came with the intention of underlining the beauty found in moments of daily life, in situations where we can all identify ourselves within one way or another,” says the author.
It screened at a BFI special about fat women in cinema a few years ago and deserves many more outings.
PG-rated - HAIRSPRAY (John Waters, 1998)
One breakout genre depicting fat joy is the coming of age film. There are actually a fair few examples of movies about misfit teenage girls who are othered by their size, who learn something about how to be in the world. I’m going to admit that apart from HAIRSPRAY, it’s not my favourite genre, much like the coming out film, it deals with the fat character from the point of view of their difference and being rejected by high school society.
HAIRSPRAY, however, bucks the trend. Both for Rikki Lake’s camping-it-up and joyful performance as Tracy Turnblad, for Divine, who, along with Ursula the Sea Witch from THE LITTLE MERMAID, is a middle-aged fat lady style icon (watch LUST IN THE DUST and try to tell me that it’s not true.) There’s also the gloriousness of Ruth Brown playing Mad Motormouth Maybelle, dancing away in an incredible wardrobe with hair so high I have no option but to sit back in awe. And because I’m legally obligated to celebrate John Waters with every breath I have, I recommend that you stop whatever you’re doing right now and go watch HAIRSPRAY, whether it is for the first or the five-hundredth time.
12-rated: OLD GIRL IN A TUTU: SUSAN RENNIE DISRUPTS ART HISTORY (Cheri Gaulke, 2025)
Octogenarian art scholar Susan Rennie places herself into different paintings from art history, subverting the male gaze and, apparently, having an excellent time. The short from filmmaker Cheri Gaulke has been a hit on the festival circuit lately, and for good reason - the film allows us to see the varied characters that Rennie can cast herself in, imposing herself on artworks. The pleasure here is the subversion, the play of dressing up and superimposing herself onto artworks that are otherwise littered with the male gaze. Uplifting and most enjoyable!
15-rated: ALL I DIDN’T WANT FOR CHRISTMAS (Brittany Scott Smith, 2022)
A year ago I added the festive romcom / wish fulfilment daydream “All I Didn’t Want For Christmas” to my annual watch list and never looked back. Gabourey Sidibe effortlessly leads this fun and frivolous movie, making the most of her hilariousness, teaming her up with Kel from Keenan and Kel (I’m old, sue me.) I’ve written about this gem of a movie before on my personal blog if you’d like to find out more.
X-rated: Peaches “Rub” (Peaches + A.L. Steiner + Lex Vaughn, 2015)
The first time I saw Peaches play, in Seattle in 2017, I made my way to the front of the show where there was this glorious throng of people just dancing and I felt pure joy. It was one of the first times I didn’t feel like my size was going to be inconvenient to someone else. I just danced like I was in some kind of bacchanalian throng and glowed like a newly lovebombed cult member for the rest of the week.
Peaches Nisker has continued to bring this gift to audiences for over 20 years. The Canadian-born artist and musician is now known worldwide and her songs, which explore sexuality in so many forms, emphasise inclusion of everyone with a soul, a kink, and the desire to get down.
Really really don’t watch this one at work or near kids.
XX-Rated - Erika Lust Presents Heidi and The Dough Boys
My buddy Walter Crasshole from the Berlin Porno Film Festival recommended Erika Lust to me as a creator of “ethical” pornography (although he questioned the use of “ethical” as many porn filmmakers do, are we assuming that mainstream porn is “unethical”?
Either way, Erika Lust has led the industry for 20 years, with productions on her streaming channel that emphasise a variety of humans in various bodies having a really good time. Heidi and the Dough Boys is her take on the movie “Chocolat”, but with loads of explicit sex and no Johnny Depp thank god.
XXX-rated - Mahx Capacity and Aorta Films
My beautiful friend Sara Neidorf (Final Girls Berlin) sends me a link to an interview with the non-binary filmmaker and performer Mahx Capacity, who echoes the theories of Audre Lord and Adriene Maree Brown, as well as emphasising the significance of representation:
“As a fat, trans, nonbinary person I know how important it is to be able to see yourself reflected back to you. As queer people, it’s historically been rare for us to get to see ourselves in media in a way that doesn’t feel stigmatized or linked to violence.”
She continues: “When we’ve been told we shouldn’t exist based on the identities or sexualities or bodies we have, reclaiming our sex and desire becomes such a potent, beautiful, radical act.”
You can browse Mahx Capacity’s films and more via the Aorta Films website, I admit it was a little racy for me, but if you’re game - get in there!
A final word from Mahx Capacity: “I deeply believe that art should bring you to your knees and leave you god-smacked–if you’re not getting that regularly, go get a lot more art in your life.”
Amen to that.
