Even though conversations about body-positivity have increased manifold in the recent past, the representation of plus-size bodies on the screen still remains minimal.
Shows with leads who are plump, curvy, fat, or anything but model-thin, are rare even now. For all those of us who aren’t sample sizes, not seeing any woman who looks like us on screen is not just discouraging, but it can affect our body-image and make us feel like there’s something wrong with us.
Fortunately, there are some shows which are all about body-positivity that remedy this. Here we list our favourite five.
1. The Mindy Project
Where: Hulu
This show is a lesson in body-positivity because it never addresses Dr Mindy Lahiri’s weight or body type in the first place–it normalises her shape as acceptable and as attractive as any other. She doesn’t see herself as any less beautiful or sexy because she’s curvy. Not only that, her career is given more importance in the show, as is her wit and her obsession with pretty things. A character previously reserved for a thin, blonde actress who sounds like a Valley girl, Mindy Lahiri breaks boundaries by playing an attractive and stylish Indian doctor who is everything but conventionally-good looking, yet self-assured and confident despite that.
2. Curvy Brides Boutique
Where: TLC, YouTube
Finding a wedding dress should be a fun and exciting experience, but for plus-size brides, it means raking through shelves of clothes meant only for petite women. This show is about making those brides feel beautiful and helping them find the perfect dress. A reality bridal-gown shopping show set in UK’s Essex, this is hosted by Jo Cooke and Alison Law, who, as two curvy women themselves, help plus-size brides find their dream wedding dresses. But unlike other bridal consultants, Jo and Alison counsel these brides and guide them through body image issues, banishing their self-doubt with an empathetic approach. “Unless you’ve walked in a plus-size lady’s shoes you’ll never know how they feel. We have. We know. I’ll hold your hand, we’ll do it together.” You don’t have to be a to-be bride to binge-watch this heart-warming show!
3. Girls
Where: HBO, Hotstar
Lena Dunham’s hit feminist serial made many uncomfortable because her comfort in her own skin shocked those used to seeing model-thin bodies in sexy lingerie doing sex scenes. In Girls, Lena flipped the script by baring her regular-schmegular body, granny panties and all, in all its plus-size glory. The normalised approach to bodies which aren’t skinny or hourglass shaped is not common on TV or movies, least of all in the nude, for which most actresses go on diets, get photoshopped, or use body doubles. Lena owned her love handles and thick thighs in Girls, and gave all of us with that body type the representation we needed. Most women do have bodies like that, but going by the bodies of women in TV shows, you’d think the average woman is the size of a Victoria’s Secret model.
4. Drop Dead Diva
Where: Amazon
Deb, a blue-eyed blonde model dies and is reborn as Jane, a plus-size lawyer, retaining her memory as Deb. What follows is her learning the difficulties of being seen as lesser because of her appearance. The once-shallow Deb who always had it easy because she was conventionally good-looking, now realises how much harder life is now that people don’t bend over backwards for her just because she looks different. Despite that, Deb (as Jane), proves her mettle to the world and bashes stereotypes about “fat” girls, channelling her powerful inner diva instead of cowering in front of people who refused to see the good in her because of her weight. The show follows her unlearning everything she believed about being fat as she enters stores where there are no clothes for her, meets clients who dismiss her because of her weight, and navigates society as someone she was always afraid of being: fat.
5. My Mad Fat Diary
Where: Netflix
A 16-year-old girl called Rae struggles with mental health issues and being overweight, especially trying to hide it from her friends to impress them and appear “normal”. They think she’s been holidaying abroad, but in reality, she’s just been released from a mental institution, and constantly battles body image issues. There are some painfully real moments in the show, especially a scene when she pictures unzipping her flesh and being released from her body, which she hates. The most heart-breaking parts of the show, in fact, are the ones which are the most normal–such as managing one’s mental illness on a day-to-day basis, which the show approaches without any melodrama but still in an impactful way.
