I'm Okay, You're Too Fat

[vovat]

I'd heard about Roadrunner Records not wanting to promote Amanda Palmer's "Leeds United" video because she looked too fat in some shots before, but I thought it was something worth sounding off on. (Off on? That's some weird phrasing, right there.) jenhime provided this link, and Amanda tells the whole story here. I see two different issues here, one being that I've never thought Amanda WAS fat, and I doubt I would have noticed her belly in the video if I hadn't been alerted about it about of time. But I've never quite understood what the entertainment industry considers "fat." I mean, maybe I'm misremembering, but I'm pretty sure I've seen Pink referred to as "plus size." But the other more important issue is, so what if she IS? I'm not going to say image isn't important, because image is a significant part of what Amanda does. But since that image isn't supposed to be that of a flapper, supermodel, or refugee, I don't see how her belly size is at all relevant. I can't say I understand why entertainers are supposed to be skinnier than ever before, even when pretty much the opposite is the case with the American population in general. And why the double standard? I'm not saying fat guys don't get mocked, but they don't seem to undergo the same prejudice that overweight girls do. Oh, but the Roadrunner A&R person is a guy, so he understands what people like. He said so himself, after all.

Comments

[zimbra1006.livejournal.com]

Even more than being annoyed at the shallowness of the issue, I have been perplexed as to on what planet amanda palmer is "fat".

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I don't know. It seems like record executives have the ability to see fat where no one else can.

[bec-87rb.livejournal.com]

OMG, loved the pictures of all the bellies! SO much fun.

And I agree, Ms. Palmer just isn't overweight in any realistic schema. She is built wider at the bottom than across the shoulders, as many women are, and her abdomen is slightly rounded, as many women's are. In fact, she is rounded in way that is markedly feminine, in contrast to her masculine face and performance makeup.

Plus, I have seen a recent photo of her at the beach, in a swimsuit and a top that reads "LICK MY LEGS" (HAHAHAHAHahahah) and if she were fat, there would be no place to hide the fact in that get up. She just has a style of body that isn't currently fashionable with the media, despite her killer legs. Watch the Victoria's Secret show and notice that all the women look exactly alike, and I mean so much alike that they look like Barbies with different heads. She doesn't fit that mold.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Watch the Victoria's Secret show and notice that all the women look exactly alike, and I mean so much alike that they look like Barbies with different heads.

Yeah, I know what you mean. It isn't that those women aren't attractive in their way, but it's a very cookie-cutter kind of way. I prefer a little more personality in someone's appearance, you know?

Incidentally, I think I've seen a picture of P.J. Harvey in a "lick my legs" top. Now THERE'S someone who's never been accused of being fat. :P

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Hey, I tried to reply to this last night and ended up getting Spyware on my computer, thanks! I'm kidding, I know it wasn't your fault. ;)

I was just going to say that I think that with the entertainment media's obsession with their young females being Ridiculously Thin and the news media's obsession with going on and on about The Obesity Epidemic, it's a wonder eating disorders haven't gone through the roof lately. I mean, how many impressionable and self-conscious pre-teens are going to completely get the wrong idea of what constitutes "obese" with the way the tabloids go on about "WHOSE FLAB IS THIS?!?!" headlines and so on.

Somewhere on the special features of either the Firefly series or the Serenity movie, there's an interview where the one actress said that in order to secure her part, she was told she had to put ON twenty pounds because the director wanted her to look like a Real Woman, and we (J and I) were both like "She put ON twenty pounds?!?!" because as far as we were concerned the character was still frickin' skinny. And now that that show/movie is no longer in production, I hope that poor actress hasn't withered away in effort to impress the less sensible directors out there....

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I was just going to say that I think that with the entertainment media's obsession with their young females being Ridiculously Thin and the news media's obsession with going on and on about The Obesity Epidemic, it's a wonder eating disorders haven't gone through the roof lately.

I kind of think they have, although I don't actually know the statistics.

As for the "Whose Flab Is This?" headlines, I think they're partially related to the obsession with weight, but also simply due to tabloids trying to fill up space. You know, the same reason they put in pictures of celebrities watering their gardens or taking their kids to McDonald's.