MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Betwixt and Between: The Obese Female in Film as a Liminal Being

The obese individual is often a target of derision and stigma in today’s media. The negative connotations attached to the obese body are fomented in the viewer’s mind by the constant bombardment of imagery portraying the obese individual as carefully constructed stereotypes. More specifically, the obese are a tool of today’s directors when it is important that a character be seen as the sloth, the glutton, the deviant, or the slob. In other words, the obese body has usurped the domain of the worthless societal outcast from the Steve Urkels, Screech Powers, or Lewis Skolniks of the television and film worlds. It is with the fate of the obese body seemingly locked into place societally that the emergence of the roles of Melissa McCarthy -- specifically Bridesmaids, Identity Thief, and The Heat -- becomes interesting. These roles relate to the meaning of the obese body in media today as they usher in a liminal period for the obese female body, i.e., illustrating a transition between societal boundaries that is reminiscent of liminality (Campbell, Driscoll, and Saren, 346). These roles represent a liminal state for the obese female as it represents a state that involves the transgression of socially, naturally, or morally accepted boundaries of experience in the negotiation of a state of being. Furthermore, the portrayal of the obese female in these films is dangerous and subversive to the social norms associated with the obese body as it disrupts social classifications (Campbell, Driscoll, and Saren, 349-350). This paper highlights the transition of the obese female from the traditional portrayal of the obese body to a respected figure to which society can relate.