The last week has been pretty exciting for fat people.
A woman named Nicole Arbour recently posted a video called "Dear Fat People" in which she basically does what she calls a stand up act about the subject of fat shaming. The video went viral, and now people all over the internet are freaking out because of the offensive nature of her comments. Here's a link to the video in case you haven't seen it:
It's important to note that Arbour has said that she was not to be taken seriously and that the video was meant to be satire. But it's also important to note that Arbour doesn't understand what satire is. We'll get to that a bit later.
For now, though, I want to make something clear about why this video is offensive to me. I am not offended by the fact that Arbour is mean spirited when talking about fat people. There are plenty of assholes in the world, and if I got offended about all of them, I would have barely any time at all to complain about dieting.
What is offensive, however, is how EXCEEDINGLY UNFUNNY this video is. I was expecting to hear at least a couple of things that would make me chuckle, but instead was just left staring blankly at my computer screen, listening to jokes my middle school students would think were stupid. This did not hurt my feelings in any way, it was just...disappointing. Watching it actually reminded me of bullies in school who would make fun of a fat person by yelling "Fatty!" or puffing out their arms to allude to having a larger physique when a fat person walks by. This is not funny, because humor should have at least some element of being clever, creative, or thought provoking. Something is not humor simply because it is mean or stupid. (Yes, there is more slapstick humor, but even that requires that you have timing.)
Arbour's video is just downright lazy. In it, she does nothing more than repeat the same tired tropes and overused insults of any slow, insecure high school jock. At one point, she actually compares fat people to Frankenstein. Because you know, Frankenstein couldn't run fast? (I'll give you a moment to recover from the side-splitting laughter).
What's worse is that she seems to think that this is satire. Satire doesn't mean telling bad jokes about something controversial in order to score extra followers or subscribers. Satire is intelligent humor used to point out the flaws and hypocrisies of people or societies. There is absolutely nothing intelligent about Arbour's jokes. They aren't creative. They aren't unique. They don't provoke thought. They're boring, bland, and painfully overused.
Can someone make jokes about fat people in a way that is funny?
Of course! Here are a few of my favorite examples:
Notice that Chris Rock is making a thought-provoking point through humor: We live in a world in which nobody really likes who they are and everybody is made to feel as though they should be ashamed of some part of their physical selves. Chris is praising fat black women because although this is the reality they live in, fat black women refuse to let that dictate whether or not they can have confidence in themselves.
This humor is intelligent and (as is a requirement for humor) actually funny. Please also note that Chris Rock is NOT a fat person. But because his humor is intelligent and truthful, he doesn't have to be in order to speak about fat people.
Now, here's the part where you think that I'm just mad because I'm a fat person and I just don't want her to hurt my big fat feelings.
Well, let's look at another example:
Ricky Gervais makes many of the same points that Arbour makes in her video, so it might be a bit perplexing to understand why his material is so funny while hers falls flat. That's because Gervais's observations are clever and creative. Do I agree that ALL obese people are that way because they have no will power? Of course not. Do I agree that obesity isn't a disease? Not really. But it doesn't matter, because Gervais is presenting important points of irony within that whole debate. I'm not on his side, but that doesn't mean it can't be funny.
As a more specific example, both Arbour and Gervais talk about having room on an airplane. But while Arbour makes a very obvious, uninspiring "joke" about a person's fat falling on to her, Gervais hilariously points out that we can't make all the seats accessible to obese people, because then there would only be 12 seats in the whole plane! I think this bit is hilarious, actually. And it doesn't offend me--even as someone who is obese. I can disagree and at the same time, still think something is funny. Gervais is highlighting the irony of an issue, Arbour is highlighting her own hatred.
And yet another example...
You'll have to jump to 2:45 in the video to get to the material about fat people. There are few comics in the world who I believe could hold a candle to the late George Carlin, so please understand that it pains me to have to make any sort of comparison to someone like Arbour.
BUT...my point here is that Carlin was a MASTER at creating humor around truthful and prevalent issues using brilliant rhetoric. He talks about the issue of America's overindulgence in everything, especially food. And yes, he points out that there are a LOT of enormously fat people in the United States. And know what? He was right. And even today, he still is.
The difference, though, is that Carlin is zeroing in on the issue of overindulgence itself, not proclaiming that fat people are X, Y, or Z. He's using observational comedy to pinpoint many different situations which are funny in regards to fat people. And it is brilliant comedy, unlike the material presented in Arbour's video.
And finally...
What is probably the biggest difference I can see between these examples and Arbour's work is that none of the comedians I mentioned before (Rock, Gervais, or Carlin) tried to claim some sort of stake in how their work affects fat people. They were saying their material because it's funny. Arbour, in her video, at some point says something to the effect of, "Well, if shaming fat people makes them lose weight, I'm ok with that." As if she were some type of innovative hero. Yes, Arbour, you've truly changed the world.
Seriously, though, if someone is going to talk about fat people under the guise of being a 'comedian,' then at the VERY, VERY least, you should be funny. I'm not offended because what you said was provocative. I'm offended because your comedy sucks dick.
No comments:
Post a Comment