I haven’t had cable television for quite a while (though I finally got it this week - yes!), so in order to catch some of the shows that I like to see, I have to drive to my parents’ house about 35 minutes away (not that I’m just going up there for TV, of course, but so long as I’m there…). Thus, my dad tivos things he thinks I might like and queues them up for me. On some recent Sunday there were new episodes of Family Guy and The Simpsons, both of which my dad made sure to save for me.

Fat in Family Guy

In the episode of Family Guy, Stewie made a mistake (I forget what) and says to himself something like, “You’re stupid and fat.” I don’t remember what the first adjective was, but it was something akin to stupid. The relevance was the word’s juxtaposition to the word fat. Now, Family Guy, though often funny, isn’t meant to be taken too seriously (unlike, say, South Park). That said, what Family Guy is good at is making us aware of behaviors, habits and ideas that permeate our culture. Why? Because it mocks them and us.

That Stewie, the show’s talking baby, says about himself in disappointment calls attention to the shame not only of talking horribly to ourselves after mistakes, but also of slinging the most absurd insults at ourselves. As awful as it is to think of ourselves as stupid, to set that aside the word “fat,” something that cannot be helped and that has nothing to do with the mistake that was made, is ridiculous - especially since it’s not an insult! It’s just a physical state of being. However, that people criticize themselves for being fat is unnecessary and unfortunate, and Family Guy has pointed this absurd cultural phenomenon out to us.

Fat in The Simpsons

The episode of The Simpsons didn’t just contain a throwaway line about being fat. The entire thing was about being fat. Indeed, Comic Book Guy, an very fat owner of a comic book store, has secretly been writing a comic book for years. His hero is actually a representation of Comic Book Guy, who calls himself Avery Man, and whose superhero name becomes Everyman. He is fat and unsuspecting as a civilian, but being fat doesn’t preclude his ability to turn into Everyman (no less fat) and fight crime (his power is the ability to absorb other heroes’ powers from comic books).

At first, this episode seems to have a largely positive message because we see this talented fat guy - previously overlooked (so overlooked in fact that he is known by his occupation rather than his name) - making something out of himself and creating a hero out of a fat guy as well: a guy whose name indicates that he is a person just like everyone else. However, the episode takes somewhat of a turn when Hollywood becomes involved.

Hollywood execs want to turn the Everyman comic book into a movie, and according to Comic Book Guy’s wishes, Homer is cast as Everyman - largely because of his frame. However, the Hollywood execs want Homer to appear svelte and muscled, and so they get him a professional Hollywood trainer who knows how to take off the pounds in a hurry. Now, despite the fact that I don’t support dieting and weight loss because they don’t work long term, attempt to be a solution to something that isn’t a problem, have few, if any, proven salutary health effects, and even precipitate detrimental health effects, few people would deny that a rigorous and closely monitored lifestyle of starvation and intensive exercise will strip poundage (even if said poundage is destined to return).

And indeed, when Homer’s specialized Hollywood trainer - who is made to be ridiculously shallow and unprofessional in his behavior - goes off to help another star unhealthfully transform his body, Homer quickly returns to his previous habits and all of his weight returns. What stinks is that his size ruins the movie when size is part of what made the comic book hero, Everyman, so great. This is one large dig at Hollywood and pop culture’s deleterious influence on our health, body image and self perceptions.

Less of Me to Love

There were a variety of great lines in the episode, which I’ve failed to mention here (though I would be delighted if you saw the episode and could share some of them in the comments), and a few that annoyed me, but only one in particular sticks out in my mind.

With much of his weight lost and his body magically transformed by the power of animation into a ripped one, Homer becomes quite idolized. Marge, his wife, is also more attracted to him, and says, “There may be less of you to love, but I love you even more.” The italics are mine, and obviously on a site called More of Me to Love, this caught my attention. Now, Marge is generally a deeper character with a good head on her shoulders. I hope that this line was more for the poetry of the words (contrasting less v. more?) than her belief that such things are important (and yes, I know that she’s an animated and fictitious character).

Overall, I think it’s great that more and more television is drawing attention to these issues, even if those of us who keep our heads mired in such ideas have a different and nuanced perception of their importance.

Did you see this episode? If so, what did you think? What other places in pop culture have you found these kinds of issues to come up? How do you think those shows handled them?

As an historian, Jay understands the degree to which our aesthetic judgments are shaped by our cultural surroundings, and he has studied and written about the importance of rights, respect and acceptance for all people. Jay is a member of the Association for Size Diversity and Health.