A Weighty Issue© Amanda Cuda
Apr 30, 2001
I'm not one to obsess about my weight. I don't exercise much. I have a weakness for chocalate. And I almost always take a second helping.
But recently, a trip to the movies made me feel, well, fat. That's not surprising, given the amount of frighteningly skinny women on screen.
But my insecurities weren't caused by a thin women. They were caused by a woman who was supposed to be fat.
Much was made of Rene Zellweger's weight gain for her role in "Bridget Jones' Diary." She supposedly put on nearly 20 pounds for the role. Nearly every review of the movie has mentioned the weight gain -- which Zellweger promptly dropped after filming ended. But when I saw the movie, I noticed something strange. Zellweger didn't look heavy to me. She looked normal. She looked -- gasp -- like me. My first reaction was depression. If a woman has to put on 20 pounds to look like me, then what does that say about me?
Then I started thinking. There is nothing wrong with my weight. I'm healthy and I'm happy with how I look.
However, my point isn't that the majority of actresses are too skinny or that Hollywood's view of female bodies is totally unrealistic (though both are true).
It's that, when an actress does point on weight for a role, it shouldn't be a big deal.
Let's put it this way -- Robert DeNiro's weight gain for "Raging Bull" was viewed as method acting. Zellweger's extra poundage is viewed as a personal sacrifice. She's an actor. And weight gain or loss (done safely) can be just a part of the physical preparation for a role -- just like dying hair or learning an accent.
In Zellweger's case, the weight gain probably wouldn't have seemed nearly as dramatic on screen without all the advance hype. But when visible women gain weight -- for whatever reason -- there's always a media hub-bub. Conversely, when a male actor gains weight, it's not nearly as big a deal.
Why is that? There's obviously some sort of message here about Hollywood's perception of how women are supposed to look. But maybe there's a deeper message, one about how society in general -- not just Hollywood -- singles out women who don't fit traditional stereotypes. Thus, viewers of "Bridget Jones' Diary" are being pushed -- through constant media references to the star's add inches -- to gaze up at the screen and gasp "Wow! She DID get fat for this role!"
Go To Page:
1
2
The copyright of the article A Weighty Issue in Women on Film is owned by Amanda Cuda. Permission to republish A Weighty Issue in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
