From Friends to Insatiable, Hollywood (Still) Has a Fat Suit Problem

In the Season Five entry “The One with all the Thanksgivings,” Ross brings Chandler home for Thanksgiving and Chandler says, “I don’t want to be stuck here all night with your fat sister.” Later in that same episode, on another Thanksgiving, the now thin Monica accidentally drops a knife on Chandler, cutting off his toe. She was trying to get back at him for calling her fat, but the episode ends with Monica apologizing to Chandler. I don’t condone violence, but watching it now, I think Chandler got off easy. Oh, and in every scene Fat Monica is eating, or spilling mayonnaise on Rachel’s prom dress, or some other action that (wrongly) suggests fat people are fat because they can’t stop eating. The whole thing is insulting, but the fundamental problem is the attitude among the producers and writers that having the super, super skinny Cox wear a fat suit, and be a fat person, is intrinsically funny. That somehow Cox, who is beautiful, is less beautiful if she’s not a size double-0.

New Girl has the same approach to Fat Schmidt (Max Greenfield), who meets his roommate, Nick (Jake Johnson), when he just shows up in his college dorm room eating raw ramen noodles (because, as discussed, fat people just can’t stop eating). That Season Two episode, “Models,” ends with Nick throwing pieces of Pop Tart at Schmidt so he can catch them with his mouth. I wish I was making this up, but I am not. Once again, there’s not a lot of nuance here. Fat Schmidt is just funny—or meant to be—because he’s fat. It should also be noted that, to my memory, not once do Monica or Schmidt ever truly fear getting fat again, watch their weight or worry about the calories they’re consuming.

When January Jones became pregnant while filming Mad Men, an entire Season Five episode, “Tea Leaves,” was built around Betty’s weight gain. And even though Jones was pregnant, they still put her in a fat suit. I was not a fan of the episode: Give me Kerry Washington carrying a ridiculously large purse on Scandal any day. Or American Housewife, which never even mentioned star Katy Mixon’s obvious pregnancy. Betty’s weight gain leads to a cancer scare, which leads to her realizing how truly special her children are and what a terrible mother she’s been, and perhaps to her wanting to change her ways. I posit that this epiphany could have been achieved without prosthetics to make Betty look fat.

This is Us has received quite a bit of flack over the fact that Chris Sullivan, the actor who plays Toby, dons a fat suit for the role. Production makes a point of calling it “prosthetics,” not a “fat suit.” And honestly, I’m fine with Sullivan having to add girth to play a man struggling with weight loss—I’ve already written about how weight loss is not the most interesting aspect of either Kate (Chrissy Metz) or Toby—because Toby’s weight is not a one-note joke. It is an ongoing aspect of his character. (We can save the discussion of how annoying Toby is for another time.)

Fat Mac (Rob McElhenney), who made his appearance during the seventh season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, was creator McElhenney’s way of commenting on the fact that, usually in comedies, the stars get better looking as the seasons progress and the stars have more money to spend on their appearance. McElhenney gained 50 pounds to make this point, which resulted in weight gain that looked real and not the bizarre fat suit motif. I don’t know if assuming the health risks of gaining and then losing that amount of weight is advisable, but as a viewer, real weight gain looks a lot better than fat suit weight gain.

How has TV not evolved past this? Why do those behind the scenes still think putting a super skinny actor in a fat suit is acceptable? I know plenty of non-size 2 folks living happy, healthy, productive lives. They aren’t constantly eating. They wear great clothes. They don’t think their lives are a joke, and neither should we. That being overweight equals unhappiness is a Hollywood myth foisted upon viewers, and it’s time for it to stop.