'Drop Dead Thin'

On Tuesday I was skimming the science section of the New York Times, not expecting to anything to catch my interest, however, a review on a new television series “Drop Dead Diva” caught my attention. The premises of the series is a thin supermodel, Deb, gets trapped the body of an average, plain-looking lawyer, Jane. The conflict centers on Deb’s struggle to accept her new plus size figure and inability to lose weight no matter how hard she tries. Although in the article the creator of the series, Josh Berman, states his intentions are “to try to be nonjudgmental about weight and focus on issues of self-esteem and identity”, my first instinct is the very basis of the story promotes the dominant ideology that being thin is more desirable. Yet, the more I considered the influx of television shows, such as ‘The Biggest Loser’, ‘Ugly Betty’, and ‘More To Love’, which feature overweight people, I begin to question whether the media is making a spectacle of them or the possibility that the shows are a counter hegemonic movement in the process.

The first thing that I noticed is the difference how overweight people are treated in, comedy shows, reality television shows and new scripted shows. The reality shows, ‘The Biggest Loser’ and ‘More To Love’, obviously promote the idea that being thinner is more ideal, as the contestants try tirelessly to lose weight or find it difficult to find love. It gets worse in comedy shows as overweight comedians make fun of themselves and generally take on roles that portray them as unintelligent clowns. On the other hand, I’ve noticed in recent years, starting with the advent of ‘Ugly Betty’, that the media is portraying overweight people in a new light. After the success of ‘Ugly Betty’, there began an influx of media showing real women promoting self-acceptance. Examples of this are Dove’s real beauty campaign using real women, not

models and magazines, such as French Elle and Glamour, showing models without any touch-ups or airbrushing. Could these new movements within media be a small counter-hegemonic movement in the making? It is possible, however at the moment it seems more of a hope than a reality. These movements take time, so for now the dominant ideal that “thin is in” still prevails.