Four walls and a keyboard: Just Friends

Four walls and a keyboard

'I love talking about nothing. It's the only thing I know anything about.' ~ Oscar Wilde

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Just Friends

Last night I watched ‘Just Friends’ with my Dad and Brother, and almost wet my pants! If you don’t know the just of the story, the main character (played by Ryan Reynolds) leaves his hometown fat and socially awkward and smitten with a girl who considers him just a friend. He arrives back in town ten years later, a Hollywood success, thin and a hit with the ladies, and eventually gets his girl. There are some very hi-larious fights with his younger brother, and his rock star client that is a little psycho, who also ends up in his hometown with him.

But, it also opened up a whole can of worms. Being ample of both mind and body, I started to analyze the hidden assumptions/stereotypes about fat people that came through in the show (I did the same thing when Shallow Hal came out, which I will never watch again, nor will I ever be a fan of Gwyneth Paltrow’s). Here when the main character was fat, he was socially awkward, ridiculed by his classmates, and not attractive enough to land the girl. When he comes back to his home town ten years later, he’s thin, suave, confident with himself, and he gets the girl.

And this is something that hits a nerve with me- it is perhaps my biggest nerve, so to speak. I know that some people think- relax, it’s just a show, it isn’t real. The problem is- it isn’t just a show! Theatre and arts (including movies) are a good barometer of the social environment at any given time and often serve to reinforce the social attitudes that we ‘ought’ to have. Back in the 20’s and 30’s white men would do blackface routines and that was perfectly fine. That would never float today- in the 90’s Ted Danson did blackface for Whoopi Goldberg’s Friar’s Club Roast and he received a lot of flack for it, and rightfully so. Discrimination is discrimination, anyway you cut it. To me movies like Just Friends, are still promoting discrimination only now it’s based on size.

And it makes me wonder how people view me....if these shows are highlighting how fat people should be viewed and treated. Do strangers look at me and assume that all I do is eat and sit on my hump? That I am a blubbering fool who won't succeed? Do guys look at me and see me as ugly? If guys get to know me, and I immediatly put on the 'just friends' list? If a guy is indeed attracted to me, would he be too embarrased to approach me because of what his friends and peers might say or think?

Most of the time I just say, to hell with the lot, if this is really the case, people are losing out on how good of a person I really am, and I know I'm awesome! But sometimes when it feels like the whole world holds that opinion, and that's all I see on tv, it's really hard to make it feel credible.

posted by angelina @ 12:32 PM

4 Comments:

At 9:07 AM, Zurocosa said…

I know how you feel, and I agree with you. Most of the time it doesnt matter what you do or who you are as a person... it is what you look like and whether that will be embarassing to them. But chin up, if I can find someone that doesnt care about stuff like that you can too.
At 12:41 PM, Fluffica said…

all i have to say angie is love blows. why bother?
here is the rules:
1)boys lie.
2)as i learned from sex and the city, boys are like taxi's. until their light is on, they aren't looking. and their light usually isn't on until 30'ish. you still have 5 years to go.
3)if somebody is embarrassed because of how you look, or who you are, or what you do, give them the royal f.u and put your own light back on.
At 9:52 AM, Kwazer said…

Okay, here is my rewrite of the movie:
Ryan Reynolds' character comes back to town, all slim and sauve and debonair. However, he finds his love interest, Amy Smart's character to have gained a lot of weight since he is gone. Like a good 80 pounds. Now she is the fat and socially awkward one. Does he get revenge on her for all of the times he was spurned as a teenager?
Nope.
He chooses her and loves her and accepts her for who she is, and she learns the error of her previous ways in spurning him because of his identity and not choosing him for who he really is. Her character makes it clear what a mistake she made all those years ago in choosing someone based on their looks.
The audiences love this re-write, and critics applaud it for going against the normal sterotypes, and then at the Oscars Kwazer's rewrite of the movie gets the nod for movie of the year....well okay, I made that part up.

Anyways, there are good people out there and not everyone is superficial and shallow. It just takes a bit more effort and digging to find them.
At 7:58 AM, Anonymous said…

Hey Angie

I think your blog kicks ass and I've been laughing my ass of reading all of your very intersting and funny stories. I love your out look on life. Your a great person.

Brandi