Hey People
0
It's Ren here. Making a rehash of a thread I made before (although at the time it was more of a joke thread).
I have a theory and my belief in it has only ever gotten stronger over the years.
Before I say what the theory is, let me point out that I don't believe in fat acceptance. Most sane fat people know that being fat is unhealthy. A lot of them don't have the time, energy and willpower to get into shape. I can understand that they don't want to be reminded everyday that they are fat and such. However I think trying to make being fat a good thing/ making it popular or mainstream is the dumbest thing ever. Being fat will kill you, end of story.
Despite all that I want to share this idea of you. As I've said before. I don't believe in fat acceptance and skinny shaming, however I also dislike fat shaming.
Anyway the theory is:
1. There are two types of fat people personality that are generally portrayed in modern media.
2. These two personalities are heavily based on classes from the middle ages. (As in lower, middle, upper/ commoner, noble, royalty.
3. The two personalities are "The joke" or "The villain"
I know what you're gonna say. "How the hell is a noun a personality?" Well let me explain.
From observation, I believe there are two types of traits/ personalities that are exhibited in media.
1. The Joke: Can be the main characters friend or some random person. He/she will always be someone to laugh at. Such as making jokes, being a point of ridicule for being stupid, or is just funny in some general sense.
Examples can be seen in: "The nutty professor" "Paul Blart" "The Goonies" "Super Bad"
2. The Villain: Can be the main villain or some random no-name. He/ She can be a mastermind or a complete idiot. However they're obviously supposed to make you dislike them and are just around disagreeable.
Examples can be seen in: "Norbit" "Austin Powers" "The Little Mermaid" "Batman"
Sometimes the character can be a mix of the two. Like Fat Bastard for instance.
Well that aside let me explain why I believe this is influenced by class-ism.
See back in the middle ages, just like how it is today. Society is broken up into three classes. Upper, middle, lower.
In middle ages that would be Royalty/Royal Family, Nobility/Merchants, Commoners/Slaves.
As I'm sure you all know. Royalty owned the entire kingdom and gave land to nobles to govern. The Nobles then have commoners work the land. The Commoners had to farm and such and give up majority of their food to the the nobles as taxes for letting them live on the land. Then the nobles would either sell this food or use it for something else and then give taxes to the king. This was the general practice of most kingdoms.
My theory is that the reason why we have a lower opinion of fat people is because of this. You see, back then only the rich and powerful could get fat. They hardly did any physical labor. If they could live off of taxes, there was hardly any reason for them to even leave their houses. Of course, the lower class would assume this (even though it wasn't always the case) and thus would hold contempt for the nobles. Either they'll see them as villains or as idiots (if they saw them as idiots, it was because of some kind of strife or event that took place within the nobles land). This is why I believe we have this outlook on fat people.
In a sense, we still have this mentality today. Even though the circumstances are quite different. Not everyone who is fat is a person of power nowadays. In fact, there are many fat people in America who are poor. It's because of how food distribution is in our country. Unhealthy food is cheaper than healthy ones. Everyone needs to work and some would rather use their spare time to doing things that are fun. So they won't bother exercising. There's also an increased amount of people who can't cook.
However, that mentality still hasn't left the culture. It doesn't help that in a few instances. The stereotype is actually right. I'm pretty all of you can think of at least one boss who was fat, lazy and incompetent. Was a complete asshole and didn't know shit. I myself can think of at least one guy.
That's really all I wanted to say. There's no deeper meaning to me posting this. It's just and idea. I believe this does influence the media. However, I don't think of Fat people as victims. There's no one out to get fat people. It all comes down to circumstances.
Feel free to disagree or to point out faults in my argument.
I have a theory and my belief in it has only ever gotten stronger over the years.
Before I say what the theory is, let me point out that I don't believe in fat acceptance. Most sane fat people know that being fat is unhealthy. A lot of them don't have the time, energy and willpower to get into shape. I can understand that they don't want to be reminded everyday that they are fat and such. However I think trying to make being fat a good thing/ making it popular or mainstream is the dumbest thing ever. Being fat will kill you, end of story.
Despite all that I want to share this idea of you. As I've said before. I don't believe in fat acceptance and skinny shaming, however I also dislike fat shaming.
Anyway the theory is:
1. There are two types of fat people personality that are generally portrayed in modern media.
2. These two personalities are heavily based on classes from the middle ages. (As in lower, middle, upper/ commoner, noble, royalty.
3. The two personalities are "The joke" or "The villain"
I know what you're gonna say. "How the hell is a noun a personality?" Well let me explain.
From observation, I believe there are two types of traits/ personalities that are exhibited in media.
1. The Joke: Can be the main characters friend or some random person. He/she will always be someone to laugh at. Such as making jokes, being a point of ridicule for being stupid, or is just funny in some general sense.
Examples can be seen in: "The nutty professor" "Paul Blart" "The Goonies" "Super Bad"
2. The Villain: Can be the main villain or some random no-name. He/ She can be a mastermind or a complete idiot. However they're obviously supposed to make you dislike them and are just around disagreeable.
Examples can be seen in: "Norbit" "Austin Powers" "The Little Mermaid" "Batman"
Sometimes the character can be a mix of the two. Like Fat Bastard for instance.
Well that aside let me explain why I believe this is influenced by class-ism.
See back in the middle ages, just like how it is today. Society is broken up into three classes. Upper, middle, lower.
In middle ages that would be Royalty/Royal Family, Nobility/Merchants, Commoners/Slaves.
As I'm sure you all know. Royalty owned the entire kingdom and gave land to nobles to govern. The Nobles then have commoners work the land. The Commoners had to farm and such and give up majority of their food to the the nobles as taxes for letting them live on the land. Then the nobles would either sell this food or use it for something else and then give taxes to the king. This was the general practice of most kingdoms.
My theory is that the reason why we have a lower opinion of fat people is because of this. You see, back then only the rich and powerful could get fat. They hardly did any physical labor. If they could live off of taxes, there was hardly any reason for them to even leave their houses. Of course, the lower class would assume this (even though it wasn't always the case) and thus would hold contempt for the nobles. Either they'll see them as villains or as idiots (if they saw them as idiots, it was because of some kind of strife or event that took place within the nobles land). This is why I believe we have this outlook on fat people.
In a sense, we still have this mentality today. Even though the circumstances are quite different. Not everyone who is fat is a person of power nowadays. In fact, there are many fat people in America who are poor. It's because of how food distribution is in our country. Unhealthy food is cheaper than healthy ones. Everyone needs to work and some would rather use their spare time to doing things that are fun. So they won't bother exercising. There's also an increased amount of people who can't cook.
However, that mentality still hasn't left the culture. It doesn't help that in a few instances. The stereotype is actually right. I'm pretty all of you can think of at least one boss who was fat, lazy and incompetent. Was a complete asshole and didn't know shit. I myself can think of at least one guy.
That's really all I wanted to say. There's no deeper meaning to me posting this. It's just and idea. I believe this does influence the media. However, I don't think of Fat people as victims. There's no one out to get fat people. It all comes down to circumstances.
Feel free to disagree or to point out faults in my argument.
