Pixar: We're All Just Fat Blobs

You'd think Disney would have learned something from its issues with "Song of the South."

Maybe we should start keeping a running list of all the things bigots say we're responsible for. I've heard it's everything from cancer to healthcare costs to global warming. You'd think if we were really that powerful, we'd be allowed to revel in it.

We're also responsible for declines in mental health and the raise of dental care cost....

So now fat people are responsible for the destruction of earth?! Dang! I'm with Rebelle, if we're that powerful we should get to enjoy it more.

I'm waitng for all the "fat re-writes" of history to start now too. Go back and make Hitler fat and Pol Pot, and all the serial killers too. Make fat people resopnsible for everything wrong in the world at all times.

Well that's extremely disapointing. You would think Disney has people to stop this sort of thing...As one of (possibly the) largest family entertainment company they'd do an extra-hard job of making sure they don't offend people.

I've been googling on it, and it looks like Pixar's wavering based on negative reactions to the fat characters' portrayal. I'll bet enough letters would push them over the edge, since they've got enough time to edit the film before release. Does anybody want to put together a protest letter that can be used as a template?

That's well written, and inspired me to my own letter. I know from my work that protest letters that are individually written get much more attention than form letters, so I hope people will put their own thoughts together. On the other hand, there's no reason not to share letters that might help serve as templates that people can take the concepts from and re-word. Anyone else have something? Here's what I'm planning to send, although I might still tweak it:

Pixar Animation Studios
122 Park Ave.
Emeryville, CA 94608

Disney CEO/President Robert Iger
500 S. Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521

Re: depictions of the obese in Wall-E

Dear Madam or Sir:

I am writing to express my disappointment in the depiction of fat people in your soon to be released movie, Wall-E. According to the trailers, this movie describes fat people as responsible for the destruction of the earth, portraying them as extremely lazy, gluttonous, awkward and often stupid. I understand that you may be using the visual of obesity to represent consumer corporations, but I’m disappointed that such a creative studio working on such an exciting and ground-breaking new concept in animated film would, as part of that project, resort to an inaccurate cliché that constitutes an attack on a significant percentage of your audience. It seriously detracts from the main concept of the movie and casts Pixar studios in a very negative light. I’m sure many others would be eagerly awaiting the release of Wall-E, if we didn’t know that we would be subjected to stereotypical portrayals which provide fuel for discrimination, social injustice, and hatred against so much of your audience.

Whether it is your intended message or not, the fat characters are portrayed as responsible for the destruction of the world through gluttony and laziness. The portrayal of fat people as lazy, stupid, weak-willed, lacking in ambition, selfish, greedy, gluttonous, sedentary, and ugly has been promulgated in our society primarily through the weight loss and pharmaceutical industry, which relies on this social pressure to increase their profits. This stereotype, like so many others directed at scapegoat populations throughout history, is as inappropriate as any stereotype based on race, income or handicap. According to the Council on Size and Weight Discrimination:

“These are false stereotypes that are used to justify the prejudice and discrimination that fat people suffer. The same stereotypes have been used against Native Americans, Mexicans, African Americans, poor people, and other groups that have been subject to systematic discrimination by the dominant culture of the United States and other countries. People of all sizes, classes, and ethnic groups have positive and negative qualities. Some may have personality traits of which we don't approve, but it is unfair to make a judgment about an entire group based on a stereotype or based on one individual's behavior. .”

This discrimination is based on two false assumptions: that all fat people are fat because of their own choices, and could lose weight if they wanted to, and that being fat in of itself is bad for you. The first premise is positively disproved by statistics from many health organizations and research projects, which show that 96% to 98% of all diets, including weight loss surgery, fail within the first five years. Studies are also showing that this cycle of dieting is the true likely culprit for those diseases (such as diabetes and heart disease) attributed to simply being overweight. Studies which did not receive funding from the weight loss industry show that even being 75 pounds overweight in an active lifestyle does not shorten your lifespan, while being of what is considered “normal” weight in a sedentary lifestyle can shorten your life significantly.

Despite these statistics, children as young as 9 are forming negative images of their body, often beginning their diet cycle before puberty. Negative portrayals of fat such as those in Wall-E are encouraging young children to fear fat to the detriment of their own health, obsessing about their size, rather than learning to live a healthy lifestyle at their natural weight. 70% of girls within the “normal” weight range in high school consider themselves fat. 25-30% of those girls will progress from diets to eating disorders. According to the American Journal of Psychiatry, Anorexia has a 25% mortality rate.

Obviously, Pixar and Wall-E are not responsible for the rise in body-hatred and eating disorders among America’s youth. On the other hand, each portrayal of body size in the media, especially those movies directed at children and young adults, has an opportunity to either advance or dispell the stereotypes. Each time a character of size is seen, it can prove to be one tiny step towards or away from encouraging every young man and woman to love the differences in their bodies and seek health, fitness and acceptance at any size. I hope that you at Pixar will continue your tradition of excellence and consider the social messages you may be inadvertantly sending to your viewers. I have included some informational brochures from NAAFA and other size-acceptance organizations, and hope that you will take the information into consideration when creating future characters.

Thank you for your time.

So I had to de-lurk just for this comment. I first heard about this issue when Pixar presented some preliminary clips from Wall-E at Comic-Con 2007. According to a review from Aintitcool.com, the clip "showed a big plaza where dozens of these couch potato humans were moving about in their hoverchairs. The next clip showed one human attempting to roll out of his chair and falling on the ground. Humans are big and fat, but not quite blobs or mutants. Just fat humans." I haven't seen the clip, but going from this source, it doesn't seem that the human race will be evolving into a gelatinous jellyfish-like race with no bones. It just seems like the film is saying that fat people are so gluttonous and lazy that we will destroy the Earth. I don't think I have to mention the repercussions of this statement. I drafted a quick angry letter to Pixar Studios but didn't end up sending it because I heard soon after that they may be changing the humans after some public response. Guess they never got around to changing it.

Also, today while researching this a bit, I found this rather disturbing quote from the film's director, Andrew Stanton. "One of the keys to us is we’ve never thought about our audience, or never thought about who our audience might be. We honestly are just making the movies that we want to make." So he isn't making the film as a statement? Is he just using fat people as scapegoats because that's what he believes? That almost makes it worse.

I'm ready for a letter writing rampage. Not only will Pixar Studios be getting one, but so will Andrew Stanton, Bob Iger, John Lasseter (executive producer), and the film's stars, Fred Willard and Jeff Garlin. I suggest you do the same.