Fatsuits: harmless Hollywood costumes or as bad as blackface?

The debate has been brewing in Hollywood for years, but more recently, some activists and experts are stepping up to argue about the dangers of slapping fatsuits onto Hollywood stars. A growing number of voices say the practice should go the way of blackface and be canceled and relegated to the past. Let's dive into the controversy!

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Fatsuits have been used in Hollywood for decades, but two high-profile examples of actors wearing fatsuits — Brendan Fraser in his Oscar-winning role for 'The Whale' and Emma Thompson in 'Matilda' the musical — re-opened the floodgate for debate and complaints over famous actors using prosthetics to depict overweight characters.

Image: 'The Whale' A24

At the heart of the debate is a serious question: Why can't Hollywood simply hire overweight actors? In America, 73.6% of people are overweight or obese, according to the CDC, but that's not what Hollywood looks like.

The fact that Hollywood is dominated by actors with "perfect" bodies, even if roles call for overweight people, can be damaging to individuals and societies that look up to Hollywood's impossible standards of beauty. Even Jennifer Lawrence told Elle magazine in 2012: "In Hollywood, I'm obese."

This was the title of an article in Glamour Magazine. "There are hundreds, if not thousands of fat actors who are looking for work – but instead of them getting picked for a role that would suit their body type and kick fatsuits to the curb, thin actors are given the job and told to wear a fatsuit in order to look fatter than they likely ever have," writes journalist Mollie Quirk.

A 2023 article by Cate Young (pictured), published in Cosmopolitan, went even further in its criticism of the Hollywood practice. While Hollywood has progressed on racial diversity, she argues, it has fallen short on body diversity. She argued that fatsuits are harmful because they "cast bigger bodies as a moral failing."

Photo: battymamzelle / Instagram

That's the argument of Young, who says blackface and fatsuits both serve "to mock and diminish people who are already marginalized." She continues: "It begs the question: Why do we continue to heap acclaim on actors wearing fatsuits when we know that stories about any group of people should include buy-in from them?"

Image: 'The Whale,' A24

African American history Professor Alyssa Lopez says that blackface was used by white actors, allowing them to depict interracial intimacy without needing black and white actors to interact, as seen in the 1915 film 'The Birth of a Nation' (pictured). Black actors also used it to make themselves darker and therefore "more authentic" to white audiences.

The practice also served to turn stereotypes about Black people into entertainment and justify racism. "It allows a society to routinely and historically imagine African Americans as not fully human. It serves to rationalize violence and Jim Crow segregation," Professor David Leonard told History.com.

Image: American actor John Edward McCullough (1837-1885) as Othello? Colour lithograph. US Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division, digital ID var. 0623. by Forbes Co., Boston & N.Y.

According to the Cosmopolitan article, another thing fatsuits have in common with Blackface is that Blackness and fatness are treated as things one can simply put on or take off at will. But in the real world, that isn't the case. "There's something so strange about seeing somebody spend six hours in makeup to look like me, for a role that I would never be considered for," actor Guy Branum (pictured) said in the article.

Famous actors don't always resort to fatsuits, particularly after Robert De Niro gained 60 pounds to portray Jake La Motta's decline in 'Raging Bull' (pictured). It's more common in men, according to psychology professor J. Kevin Thompson, who says just a small fraction of women have been allowed to gain weight for a role.

Image: Raging Bull (1980), MGM

The actor made a stunning transformation in just three weeks by eating 7,000 calories a day to play a boxer turned priest for the 2022 film 'Father Stu.'

Photo: markwahlberg /  Instagram

Zellweger is famous for having gained weight for her rol as Bridget Jones. Even though Jones was what most would consider "a normal weight," Zellweger gained 30 lbs for the role, and yo-yo dieted for years during the sequels.

Image: 'Bridget Jones's Diary,' Universal Pictures

Doctors say that the yo-yo dieting required for this type of method acting can be harmful to the actor's health. Not only can the weight gain harm body parts like joints or organs, but losing weight too fast can also be bad for the metabolism.

To play Mark David Chapman, Jared Leto gained 67 lbs. He did so by, in part, consuming concoctions like microwaved ice cream mixed with olive oil and soy sauce. "My body was in shock from the amount of weight I gained... I had a wheelchair because [walking] was so painful," he told Digital Spy. "It took about a year to get back to a place that felt semi-normal. I don't know if I'll ever be back to the place I was physically."

On the actress's decision to use a fatsuit to portray killer Pam Hupp, plus-sized writer Sarah Alexander told Metro: "Zellweger [masquerading] as a plus-size person is damaging, fatphobic and potentially triggering to other plus-size people." Zellweger, in reply, said her transformation was all about accuracy.

Image: 'The Thing About Pam,' NBC

Sarah Paulson wore a fatsuit to play the White House employee Linda Tripp in an FX series. Later, she said she had regrets. "I think fatphobia is real. I think to pretend otherwise causes further harm," she told the Los Angeles Times. "I had an opportunity that someone else didn't have... And I wouldn't make the same choice going forward."

Image: 'Impeachment: American Crime Story,' FX Networks

That is the title of an article penned by Emma Specter in Vogue. She reflects on how 'Fat Monica' taught her and others that fat women don't deserve love and that it's funny to make jokes about being fat or even starving oneself. Interviewees argue that this character reinforces fatphobia and how fat people only serve as "the punch line."

Image: 'Friends,' NBC

"I loved playing overweight Monica because I felt so free," said Courteney Cox on 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show.' However, a writer in Glamour Magazine points out that "in the real world, fat people often don't feel free because they are constantly discriminated against and are frequently ostracised by thin people."

Image: 'Friends,' NBC

While Paltrow also came under criticism for using a fatsuit to depict an obese woman in 'Shallow Hal,' she had a different takeaway than Cox. "It was so sad. It was so disturbing. No one would make eye contact with me because I was obese," she told Netflix. "For some reason, the clothes they make for women that are overweight are horrible. I felt humiliated because people were really dismissive." However, her clothing line Goop has been criticized for a lack of size inclusivity.

Image:  'Shallow Hal' (2001), Twentieth Century Fox

The 'Grease' actor came under fire for both wearing a fatsuit and playing a female character that was originally played by the overweight drag queen Divine. Did the hetero actor shine in the role and show it's OK for men to dress like women, or should it have been reserved for a real drag queen with curves?

Image: 'Hairspray' (2007), New Line Cinema

Brendan Fraser wore a fatsuit to depict a 600-pound man for 'The Whale' and ended up winning the best actor Oscar in 2023. Many critics say the film is a touching portrait of a complicated character, but the Cosmo article says it dehumanizes the character, reducing him to a "disgusting and sad" obese man who is nothing more than his weight.

Image: 'The Whale,' A24

"There was a chapter in the making of this film where we tried to research actors with obesity," he told Variety in October 2022. "Outside of not being able to find an actor who could pull off the emotions of the role, it just becomes a crazy chase. Like, if you can't find a 600-pound actor, is a 300-pound actor or 400-pound actor enough?"

The Canadian actor said he did a lot of research and consulted with the Obesity Action Coalition while preparing for the role. He is now an advocate against fatphobia. "We can often lose sight that they are human beings with thoughts and feelings and hearts and families and everything… To be a person of that size, you really have to be very strong physically and emotionally," he told BBC.

A 2007 analysis found that 'fat' roles in Hollywood were mostly associated with humor. Now, observers point out that overweight characters are now being more depicted as 'pitiful' instead of funny, as is the case with 'The Whale.' "We’re meant to find Brendan Fraser in a fat suit tragic, not funny. Is that really progress?" asks Guardian writer Phoebe-Jane Boyd.

Image: 'The Whale,' A24

Of course, not everyone agrees with the criticism. "Casting directors have to stop listening to the casting police and go back to doing their job, which is picking the best actor for the role," Maher wrote on Twitter. But New York Times reporter Farah Fleurima pushed back, saying "the 'best actor for the role' tends to be drawn from the status quo: white people, slender people, whatever the case may be."

The NYT article points out that money may have a lot to do with Hollywood's use of fatsuits. "Movies need to turn a profit, and the surest way to generate ticket sales is to pump up the star power," writes Fleurima.

Photo: Ahmet Yalçınkaya /  Unsplash

"Thanks to the entertainment industry's history of avoiding plus-sized talent in leading (or most any) roles, very, very few have achieved that level of bankability. Yet if Hollywood took a chance on actors of bigger sizes, isn't it possible enough of them could be elevated into an army of top-notch talent to choose from?"

As opposed to outright condemnation, this article says they do make sense to depict a character's physical transformation that takes place over a relatively short period of time, as was the case of Chris Hemsworth in 'Avengers: Endgame.' Others, however, still criticized 'Fat Thor' as another attempt at using weight for comic relief.

Image: 'Avengers: Endgame' Official Behind the Scenes Clip, IGN / Youtube

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