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When Fat is Phat and Hot is Not, 21 July 2005

Author: dunmore_ego from Los Angeles, California

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

There's a horrible paradox eating at the heart of the movie, Shallow Hal.

The film-makers' intent was to impart the message that "inner beauty" should make "outer beauty" irrelevant - unfortunately, that message is beamed through the prism of the visual media and – like it or not – as animals genetically geared towards choosing mates of visually-pleasing mien, we cannot effectively depict "inner beauty" without representing it as "outer beauty", thereby negating the supposedly noble message.

Obesity, like cancer, or a thousand other nonessential genetic flaws in humanity's makeup, should not be EMBRACED simply because the person who is affected by it happens to be of pleasant disposition. Lying to ourselves that "inner beauty" overshadows obesity or gross disabilities (as traits that one seeks out in a mate) does not curb the desire to seek out mates of healthy proportions and faculties. From an evolutionary standpoint, this is the right thing to do.

We don't make the rules – we follow them blindly. Good-looking people are geared to mate with good-looking people. Get used to it, or move to Arkansas.

The hypocritical "message" of Shallow Hal is bludgeoned into audiences by stereotyping every character that Hal encounters into two molds: all ugly and undesirable women are inherently GOOD (volunteers for children's hospitals or minding their sick grandmas) and anyone with 10% body fat HAS to be "ugly inside". The clichés are so syrupy-thick that they cancel themselves out! For example, if you're going to compliment ugly women by implying that their "true beauty" is *internal*, then why does the movie portray Hal's perception of these ugly women as externally stunning? Because it is simply impossible for Beauty to be rendered as ugly, for then it wouldn't be – Beauty.

Hal visits a hospital where he perceives all the children as charming jujubes - since when is every sick child a paragon of innocence and purity? Where are all those smart-mouth, precociously-slappable BRATS who populate Disney movies and PG-13 films?

Jack Black, as Hal, assumes the mantle of romantic leading man surprisingly effortlessly, *his* body type speaking more persuasively for the positivism of the film's message than any of the extremities of type that the film subjects us to. He is not "obese", though not "inshape" either, yet commands respect and inspires desire in the opposite sex through his overwhelming charisma, talent and financial status. A perfect casting choice. Unfortunately, Gwyneth Paltrow as his leading lady, dilutes the "message" of acceptance through the paradox of representing Ugliness as Beauty.

In a scene where Hal dances with three women who are, in reality, hideous, we realize that though he may see the inner beauty of *other* people, HE is still simply trying to get laid. The whole point of seeing other people's inner beauty is to find that quality within *yourself* that would SEE that beauty.

Hal also initially pursues Rosemary because he is aroused by her lithe body, and when he achieves his sexual conquest of her, he still perceives her as svelte – which raises more issues: when he is later un-hexed and perceives Rosemary in obese reality, how does he retain his sexual fervor? She did not gradually balloon over years of marriage, or bear a child and retain the weight - her elephantine girth was thrust upon him instantaneously. Hal was never aroused by obesity before – yet everyone lives fatly ever after.

But we're not simply talking "fat". Fat is okay. Obese is not. Obesity is a medical condition considered unhealthy, overstressing the body's cardiovascular system, bone structure and – through sociological factors – even mental health.

Rosemary is "morbidly obese" through over-eating, meaning that she is battling deep-rooted psychological demons – how then could she be so "beautiful inside"? This movie sends a message that this UNHEALTHY condition is acceptable, simply because this woman has some kind of sophistic "inner" beauty. Patently bogus on all fronts!

And here's some news for the Fat Chick Brigade: Preferring an inshape woman to an obese one does not delineate men as SHALLOW. By god! - these pc-junkies with their insane rationalizing! So the MAN'S at fault if he prefers to bed someone who isn't directly related to Jabba The Hutt? So ONLY fat, ugly and deformed people have feelings worth sharing? (Tom Leykis notes: Only fat women have great personalities - *because they have to*!) It's perfectly fine for women to nag, "Even if I'm FUGLY, you've still got to accept ME, for who I am!", yet these same women WILL NOT STAND for a man demanding, "Even if I don't make six figures, you've still got to accept ME!" (Paraphrasing Leykis again: Men end up with women they can *afford*.)

Ironically, Shallow Hal's grandest insult is aimed at fat people. When two mall-rats insult obese Rosemary (Gwyneth Paltrow in a fat suit) and Hal defends her, "If you add up all the women you've gone with, they still wouldn't equal Rosemary!", he is referring to the slim Rosemary HE sees, the metaphysically beautiful person that inhabits the physically fat beast - but in truth, the REAL GWYNETH PALTROW is unabashedly wallowing in the reality of that statement. And it's got nothing to do with her metaphysical beauty - it's plainly and simply her SMOKIN' BOD. The Farrellys hired Gwyneth Paltrow to sell tickets by LOOKING HOT whilst PRETENDING to be obese. Are we on the lip of outrage yet, fatties?

The high-browed egalitarian concept of this movie cannot exist under the bone-crushing weight of Reality and the "nobility" of the film-makers is demeaned by the species itself, who would rather be hot than not.

You wanna be noble? – be my guest! Take all these "beautiful" fat chicks off my hands and leave me with the "shallow" skinny ones….oh, the horror…

(Movie Maniacs, to view this article in its savage entirety, visit: www.poffysmoviemania.com/ShallowHal.html)

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