# "Fatty" jokes on TV and Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145 "2012-07-13T21:47:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/21 "2012-07-14T03:31:40Z")
When I hear someone thin make a fat joke, I write them off. I’ll still talk to them if I have to and be polite, but I’ll never bend over backwards to help them. They’ve already told me everything I need to know about them. I don’t care if they’re an Eagle Scout that volunteers at the Humane Society on the weekends and drives their grandma to church every Sunday – they’re still mean. That said, _I_ can make a fat joke about myself (defense mechanism). _YOU_ can’t make one about me, though. If you’re fat you can make one about yourself, that’s fine. If you’re thin, STFU. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/22 "2012-07-14T04:40:34Z")
Meh. Mean jokes are mean, whether they target fat people or not. Funny jokes are funny, whatever the target. Fatness isn’t the issue, humor is. I haven’t watched Mike and Molly, but I wonder if they avoid the issue or embrace it. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/23 "2012-07-14T04:50:31Z")
If being fat is off-limits for jokes, then that seems to indicate that there is something truly and deeply shameful about it. We make fun of people being ugly, stupid, short, black, gay, redneck, retarded, disabled, female, raped and abused. Why should fat people be off limits. I don’t get how so many people say, “Fat people are the last group we can safely make fun of…” Really? We make fun of all of the groups I have listed, all the time. Sometimes people get offended, sure, but then sometimes people get offended at fat jokes too. I’m in trouble if I get offended at that kind of humor. I can tick off fat, black, female, ghetto and a whole bunch of others on the ‘frequently mocked’ list. Better to laugh at the funny shit and brush off the unfunny shit. ---
**Author:** ![KayLovesPurple](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylovespurple/32/6114_2.png) [@KayLovesPurple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KayLovesPurple)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/24 "2012-07-14T06:36:40Z")
Speaking of fatty jokes, I’ve been recently watching the whole run of Friends. A series I like a lot and find funny, yet there was something about it that left me with a bitter taste: all the jokes about Monica’s childhood as a fat kid. Every single time it comes to that, they mention she was eating an ungodly amount of food, helping promote the stereotype that fat people are so because they eat A LOT. If they only decided to stop eating so much they will get thin, too (Monica easily lost all the weight as soon as she wanted to, and kept it off forever for all we know). ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/25 "2012-07-14T07:20:13Z")
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Fat people are the new smokers. They will be endlessly ridiculed and discriminated against until they get thin. And they deserve every minute of it. ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/26 "2012-07-14T08:38:49Z")
Depends. I occasionally find them funny in the same way I find short jokes funny. A fat comic playing a scene where he’s unfairly squeezed into too small a space can be amusing in the same way a short comic trying to jump for something on a tall shelf, then finally giving up and climbing the set, can be. It boils down to comedian vs adversity, more or less, and whether it comes off or not depends on how good the performer is. Jokes where the punchline is some variation on, “Ew, you’re fat!” are lame at best and insulting at worst. People doing it specifically to be cruel under the excuse of “comedy” make me angry. I’m particularly displeased by people cracking fat jokes at the expense of someone who isn’t fat at all, implying that becoming fat is a fate worse than death. Those are insulting to pretty much everyone involved, including the viewer. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/27 "2012-07-14T08:56:02Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Fat people are the new smokers. They will be endlessly ridiculed and discriminated against until they get thin. And they deserve every minute of it. It must be a joy to be friends with you. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/28 "2012-07-14T09:29:24Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > Presumably the logic is that the majority of fat people are fat through their own choices and some probably also think that fat (or at least obese) people _need_ to be prodded into changing something. I can’t say I entirely agree _or_ disagree with those things. I agree. Writers need a group to make fun of. Unlike race, disability or sexuality, weight is perceived as a choice, hence acceptable as a target. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/29 "2012-07-14T09:50:12Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Fat people are the new smokers. They will be endlessly ridiculed and discriminated against until they get thin. And they deserve every minute of it. You joined 3 years ago, have 750 posts, and a very distinctive user name. Yet I don’t recall ever seeing a post from you. Guess my luck just ran out. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/30 "2012-07-14T15:26:00Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > We make fun of people being ugly, stupid, short, black, gay, redneck, retarded, disabled, female, raped and abused. t. Maybe you do. Most of us don’t. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/31 "2012-07-14T15:37:34Z")
> [@Arabella\_Flynn](#): > > Depends. Sure, incontinance jokes are ok.☹ ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/32 "2012-07-14T15:56:02Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > As an aside did you notice the guys in movie look better than they actually are as well? I missed that! Really? Like, there are scenes where Black (and Alexander, etc.) are deliberately wearing makeup, or fat-pads or something, to indicate that, in other scenes, certain people around their characters are magically (mis)perceiving them as rather more physically fit? If so, that was a cool decision by the film-makers – to turn the tables, so to speak, lest women be the only “objects” – but the makeup or whatever was too subtle for me, at least, to have noticed it (at least consciously). ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/33 "2012-07-14T16:05:06Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I missed that! Really? Like, there are scenes where Black (and Alexander, etc.) are deliberately wearing makeup, or fat-pads or something, to indicate that, in other scenes, certain people around their characters are magically (mis)perceiving them as rather more physically fit? > > If so, that was a cool decision by the film-makers – to turn the tables, so to speak, lest women be the only “objects” – but the makeup or whatever was too subtle for me, at least, to have noticed it (at least consciously). It was kinda subtle. I think I missed it the first go around. But once you noticed it there was no denying it was there. It wasn’t like some of the guys went from Fabio to Alfred E. Newman. Now, there is a chance my horrible memory is making all this up so we might need third party confirmation. Some see this movie as just an excuse to make fat jokes, which has some validity. But the overall message seems pretty positive. He learns to see her and love her for all she is (and everybody else I guess). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/34 "2012-07-14T16:07:48Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > It was kinda subtle. I think I missed it the first go around. But once you noticed it there was no denying it was there. It wasn’t like some of the guys went from Fabio to Alfred E. Newman. Now, there is a chance my horrible memory is making all this up so we might need third party confirmation. > > Some see this movie as just an excuse to make fat jokes, which has some validity. But the overall message seems pretty positive. He learns to see her and love her for all she is (and everybody else I guess). Okay, thanks! I agree with your summary, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/35 "2012-07-14T16:35:43Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Some see this movie as just an excuse to make fat jokes, which has some validity. But the overall message seems pretty positive. He learns to see her and love her for all she is (and everybody else I guess). The whole idea, IIRC is that he would see people’s internal beauty expressed as external beauty. The reason he saw his love interest as so beautiful is because of her personality. I think it’s a good movie, poorly marketed as being just about a bunch of fat jokes, but the whole point is that he learns to see people for who they are instead of what they look like. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/36 "2012-07-14T16:37:14Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Fat people are the new smokers. They will be endlessly ridiculed and discriminated against until they get thin. And they deserve every minute of it. I’m curious why you think fat people deserve to be ridiculed and discriminated against. I can guess the answer, but hey, you might surprise me. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/37 "2012-07-14T17:42:43Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > The whole idea, IIRC is that he would see people’s internal beauty expressed as external beauty. The reason he saw his love interest as so beautiful is because of her personality. > e. I never understood though why inner beauty was represented by thinness. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/38 "2012-07-14T17:45:04Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Maybe you do. Most of us don’t. Well, I’m not a comedian, so maybe I don’t make jokes about those topics as much as laugh at those who are really funny enough to make those kinds of jokes well. So, since you don’t enjoy the comedy of Chris Rock, Richard Pryor, Family Guy, Louie CK, George Carlin, The Simpsons, … and so on, I will be careful to exclude you when I speak of those of us who do like such comedy. ’ I don’t know if I can agree with you that “most of us don’t” since I have no idea who you mean by “us”. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/39 "2012-07-14T17:59:32Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Do you find these “fatty” jokes offensive, bothersome, unfunny, etc? They actually bother me more now that I’ve lost all kinds of weight. Weird but true. I guess now I appreciate how hard it is. They’re certainly unfunny, though, because mot of the time it’s just really shitty, lazy humor. “Ha ha look at the fat chick!” just isn’t original or smart. It’s seven-year-old humor that no adult with an IQ above 85 should find funny. Of course, it IS possible to construct a funny joke out of anything. There’s a great little exchange in an episode of Friends when they’re watching an old home movie, taken when Monica was a fat teenager. When she appears on screen and everyone is surprised skinny Monica was once big, this exchange occurs: MONICA: Alright, come on, eeryone knows the camera adds ten pounds. CHANDLER: So how many cameras were on you in this shot? This joke is funny because it’s verbal humour; it relies on Chandler taking a common cliche and using the words in an unexpected way. It’s good verbal humor. Or a “Fat” joke can be a person struggling with the adversity of being too small for something, as Arabella Flynn suggests, or a comedian making fun of himself. A local comic named Michael Jagdeo has some very funny material about accepting his being overweight; he combines verbal and visual humour to actually talk about being overweight and find humour in it. Similarly, you can make jokes about race that are really funny, but chortling “Niggers are stupid!” is not funny. “Ew, fatty!” just isn’t funny. Not because it’s about being fat, but because there isn’t a joke there. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145/40 "2012-07-14T18:03:39Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > I never understood though why inner beauty was represented by thinness. Mostly because thats what he wanted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fatty-jokes-on-tv-and-movies/628145.md?page=3)