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When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its Oscar nominations on Tuesday, Brendan Fraser’s nomination for best actor came as no surprise. The actor has received widespread praise for his portrayal of Charlie, a morbidly obese man who’s essentially confined to his home, in “The Whale.”
Yet after seeing the film, Drake University English professor Beth Younger left the theater shaken. As someone who researches fatness in popular culture, she’s written about how overweight characters usually must lose weight in order to gain acceptance or to be loved.
But Charlie, she notes, “does not lose weight … he gets bigger and bigger, suffering a slow and painful physical breakdown.”
In “The Whale,” she sees parallels to a subgenre of horror called body horror, which depicts the destruction and degeneration of the human body. She wonders: What does a film that fixates on the horror of obesity say about our culture’s fear of fatness?
This week we also liked articles about the pope’s comments regarding LGBTQ people, California’s new climate plan and the role of standardized tests in the college admissions process.
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Over the course of ‘The Whale,’ Charlie’s body gradually breaks down.
A24
Beth Younger, Drake University
In a thin-obsessed culture, fatness has become its own kind of monster.
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The FDA advisory committee discussed vaccine safety, effectiveness of the current shots, potential seasonality of COVID-19 and more.
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Matthew Woodruff, Emory University
Many questions remain about next steps for US vaccine policy. But the FDA advisory panel’s hearty endorsement of a single-composition COVID-19 vaccine represents a pivotal step.
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Pope Francis leads the second vespers service at St. Paul’s Basilica on Jan. 25, 2023, in Rome.
Alessandra Benedetti/Corbis via Getty Images
Steven P. Millies, Catholic Theological Union
Catholic leaders’ attitudes toward LGBTQ people have shifted dramatically – but the actual theology behind them, not so much.
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Mary L. Churchill, Boston University
An increasing number of colleges aren’t interested in seeing applicants’ standardized test results.
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Daniel Sperling, University of California, Davis
California is one of the world’s largest economies, and it’s aiming for net-zero emissions by 2045. A transportation expert involved in the plan explains why it just might succeed.
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Thom Reilly, Arizona State University
Pollsters, pundits and politicians all get it wrong when it comes to independent voters, who have become a crucial – and sometimes decisive – group in American politics.
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