Snipped....All just a little bit tasteless
Lorelei Vashti
February 10, 2011
On to The Biggest Loser (Channel Ten), which does offer us something slightly different this season: the contestants compete in family groups of four. It's pretty much like Family Feud but with more drills and dry-retching.
This show is hideous. Teaching people about the importance of a healthy diet and lifestyle is one thing but The Biggest Loser dresses up the dressing down of overweight contestants as education and self-help. Occasionally, obesity might be alluded to as the complex health issue it is but it gets overshadowed by the voyeuristic aspect of — as I constantly hear it described — "watching fatties cry".
The whole thing feels like high-school bullying, with the skinny, popular kids making fun of the fat kids. Its message is that crash dieting is acceptable and healthy but as the trainers tell the contestants they're disgusting for eating so much, the ad breaks encourage more consumption. I don't care if the people involved with this program genuinely believe they're doing something good for the world; they seem like mean girls, plain and simple.
I don't know if that author was fat, but she is right on target! It IS mean spirited. I feel bad for the contestants. I know they volunteer and audition for the show....but I don't think they know any other way. Sometimes, ok, all the time, I wish fat acceptance was more mainstream and people had a chance to really love themselves.
The BL isn't just a diet and some exercise. It's a crash diet and crazy amounts of exercise. The fat people nearly pass out whilst working out and the trainers shout at them for not "wanting it bad enough".
Holy fuck. The people on the BL are usually good looking yet they hate themselves so much. I don't understand it. I've been "supersized" my whole life. At 3 years old I was nearly 80lbs. I mean...I was a very large kid...before there was an "epidemic" or more recently a "Tsunami." I know what it is like to be bullied and physically abused because of being different. However, I've never felt so low that I wanted to go on TV and get pointed at whilst people laugh and then "tempt" you with monetary rewards for breaking your diet.
It's just so asinine. People deserve better!.
This world sanctions abuse of the fat and displays it openly. Torture and abuse for you is the message. I wonder if they have to sign releases to be on that show, and I wonder how many have ended up hospitalized.
ReplyDelete