# Howsabout A Futuristic Movie Where All the Women Are Plump? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 2, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howsabout-a-futuristic-movie-where-all-the-women-are-plump/192475 "2003-08-02T01:17:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2003, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howsabout-a-futuristic-movie-where-all-the-women-are-plump/192475/41 "2003-08-03T17:17:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \* > \*\*It’s something of a tradition in SF literature to use well-thought out extrapolations to add minor details to a story, that are mentioned in passing and only significant to those who see their reasoning and implications. The reason for going through the work is to add both versimilitude and to give the reader more of a sense that the story is taking place in a world different from their own. > > The thing about doing something like this in a book is that the narrator would HAVE to make a point of the characters weight in the descriptions, or else the reader will just assume that the people are like themselves. It would be really cool to do this in a movie because you could just cast larger-than-average people for almost all the roles, make no mention of it, and allow the viewers to notice it and think about how the society portrayed must be different from our own. > > \\*\* This is my point exactly; don’t mention it, don’t have any characters even notice it; just have it be part of the background setting. I would even say that perhaps the characters wouldn’t even be grossly overweight; just enough so that the average viewer of the movie would see all these well-built people, think something is funny here, this isn’t what I’m used to seeing in movies, and maybe not be able to put their finger on why. As for the health issues of people striving to be overweight because that is the fad of the future, I don’t even think that is an issue. It would just be the other side of the coin from people making themselves unhealthy in body and mind from striving to be thin, like the fad is now. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howsabout-a-futuristic-movie-where-all-the-women-are-plump/192475/42 "2003-08-04T02:33:19Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s something of a tradition in SF literature to use well-thought out extrapolations to add minor details to a story, that are mentioned in passing and only significant to those who see their reasoning and implications. Yes, but usually those background details are such that most folks won’t even notice them at all. But half of a movie’s audience _does_ notice the shapes of the actresses (the other half being those who notice the shapes of the actors, of course). If you made a movie where everyone was above-average weight, it couldn’t be a subtle thing. And I think I’m using a different definition of “overweight” and “underweight” than most folks here. I use those terms to mean “far enough from proper weight that it causes health problems”. The optimum weight varies from individual to individual, and what’s overweight for one person might be healthy or underweight for another. Is there some other standard definition for over/underweight? ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howsabout-a-futuristic-movie-where-all-the-women-are-plump/192475/43 "2003-08-04T05:31:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > \*\*True. Health Insurance and Life Insurance companies no longer put you in a higher risk category if you’re just a little overweight. They **will** put you in a higher risk category if you fit the clinical definition of obesity, though. (The clinical definition of obesity seems to change every few years; right now, you’re clinically obese if your Body Mass Index is 25 or over.) \*\* Isn’t BMI a rather crude method of determining health, since it makes no allowances for muscle mass that weighs more then fat? ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howsabout-a-futuristic-movie-where-all-the-women-are-plump/192475/44 "2003-08-04T06:40:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*Since this is not the Pit, I’ll be nice. You, sir, are a First Class Boob! \*\* The two Official First Class Boobs that I carry around with me on an everyday basis would like to announce that they resent this statement and refused to be categorized with the likes of homercles. Perhaps if we demoted him to Second Class Testicle? ---
**Author:** ![DaPearl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@DaPearl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaPearl)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howsabout-a-futuristic-movie-where-all-the-women-are-plump/192475/45 "2003-08-04T06:42:49Z")
Where do you suppose they’ll find enough soylent green in the future to support an overweight population? ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howsabout-a-futuristic-movie-where-all-the-women-are-plump/192475/46 "2003-08-04T08:06:57Z")
The Colonel: “Six hundred million screamin’ Chinamen.” Matt Eckert: “I thought there was a billion screamin’ Chinamen.” The Colonel: "There was. " “Red Dawn” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howsabout-a-futuristic-movie-where-all-the-women-are-plump/192475/47 "2003-08-04T13:14:14Z")
In a Los Lane comic I read back in the 1960’s, Lois finds herself in a parallel Earth where all the women are anoexic (this was the heyday of Twiggy), and they all point at her and laugh because she is, to them, ludicrously fat. I notice that the artist drew all the men staring at Lois, though, and unable to look away. Never saw the flip side of it, though, with any DC character on an “all fat” world. (Although they also gave us a “fat Lois” in one story.) ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howsabout-a-futuristic-movie-where-all-the-women-are-plump/192475/48 "2003-08-04T15:51:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > **I challenge Chronos, HPL or anyone else to cite evidence showing that it can ever be unhealthy to be underweight, assuming adequate nutrition.** That “assuming adequate nutrition” clause is kinda unfair. It’s very difficult to get adequate nutrition and be underweight. That’s why so many annorexics have health problems (e.g. osteoporosis, fainting spells, death, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![MemoryGongs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58f4c7/32.png) [@MemoryGongs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MemoryGongs)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howsabout-a-futuristic-movie-where-all-the-women-are-plump/192475/49 "2003-08-05T00:11:20Z")
fat chicks rule…i love em…the ongoing war against overweight people in north america is shameful…what do you expect from such a shallow vain society? best sex ever…hands down… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/howsabout-a-futuristic-movie-where-all-the-women-are-plump/192475.md?page=2)