I'll say that this film would be given more stars out of 10 if the message delivered had been actually fat-positive. Indeed, when I first saw it, about 5 1/2 years ago, I was impressed that it even made it to television at all, given North America's fat-phobic stance. But now that I've learned a little more about oppression, and have opened my eyes to my own experience as a fat person within the larger culture, I have the advantage of seeing things for what they really are. The entire movie seems to target fat prejudice in mainstream culture, but the messages throughout are anything but: fat people can only be losers. Only 'losers' hang out with fat people because they can't get any 'real' friends. Every thing about this film suggests that, although the main character becomes more 'sympathetic' to the 'fat experience', it's still okay to be mad at people for being fat and the best we can do for fat people is feel sorry for them because of the mockery made of fatness in modern culture. At the end of the movie, any semblance of a positive message is all thrown in the can when the potential love interest of the 'fat' girl admits that in reality it could never work between them if she was actually fat because he enjoys sports (which, effectively, suggests that fat people cannot and do not enjoy physical activity, further perpetrating the stereotype). As one of the most accepted forms of bigotry, fat prejudice definitely benefits from exposure and from being challenged. I agree with what's being said by other reviewers here. I would not let my daughter watch this, if I could help it. Not if I wanted her to have a more holistic outlook of the various forms people come in, and not if I wanted her to have a healthy body image, whatever her size happened to be. I just hope that in the future, films made like this one carry it all the way to the end without falling back on tired stereotypes.
Review of To Be Fat Like Me
