# Thread about overweight fictional heroes—insensitive? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 13, 2021, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-about-overweight-fictional-heroes-insensitive/946362 "2021-07-13T02:02:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-about-overweight-fictional-heroes-insensitive/946362/21 "2021-07-14T16:12:54Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > > [@HughGoply](#): > > > > Fictional heroes who are larger-bodied persons. > > You mean like Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson? He’s pretty large. Not to mention the Hulk. ---
**Author:** ![HughGoply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hughgoply/32/7834_2.png) [@HughGoply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HughGoply)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-about-overweight-fictional-heroes-insensitive/946362/22 "2021-07-14T16:17:55Z")
If we’re using BMI, the Rock is overweight. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-about-overweight-fictional-heroes-insensitive/946362/23 "2021-07-14T16:34:26Z")
> [@HughGoply](#): > > If we’re using BMI We’re not. Check out the thread, it’s pretty obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-about-overweight-fictional-heroes-insensitive/946362/24 "2021-07-14T17:45:57Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Call me “fat” and I’ll punch you. Just curious… is Weird Al Yankovic’s parody of _Bad_ (by Michael Jackson) offensive to you? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-about-overweight-fictional-heroes-insensitive/946362/25 "2021-07-14T17:49:21Z")
It might be on his archive, [pinkwater.com » Pinkwater Podcast Archive](https://www.pinkwater.com/podcast-archive/) ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-about-overweight-fictional-heroes-insensitive/946362/26 "2021-07-14T18:14:38Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Just curious… is Weird Al Yankovic’s parody of _Bad_ (by Michael Jackson) offensive to you? Nah. It’s Weird Al. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-about-overweight-fictional-heroes-insensitive/946362/27 "2021-07-14T19:35:58Z")
I’ll look through it, but I think it was older than that. I might be wrong, though. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-about-overweight-fictional-heroes-insensitive/946362/28 "2021-07-14T19:38:55Z")
Can’t forget this guy, who died heroically over the Death Star: [What was Lucas thinking with the Porkins character in Star Wars?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-lucas-thinking-with-the-porkins-character-in-star-wars/510349) ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-about-overweight-fictional-heroes-insensitive/946362/29 "2021-07-14T19:53:08Z")
I don’t think the topic is insensitive. However, most people in many countries are overweight. Given that, there seems to be a paucity of representative heroes. Perhaps that is a bigger problem. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-about-overweight-fictional-heroes-insensitive/946362/30 "2021-07-14T21:31:05Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > is Weird Al Yankovic’s parody of _Bad_ (by Michael Jackson) offensive to you? I loved it. I wasn’t fat then, in fact fairly thin, but my enjoyment wasn’t mean-spirited, just the cleverness of the parody. > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I’ve tried before and failed to find a link to Daniel Pinkwater doing a piece about “the F word” He had a wonderful call-in to Car Talk about how much trouble he had getting into and out of cars, and his favorite for that reason was the new version VW Beetle, because the doorway was large and the door opened all the way out. I don’t remember what euphemism he used to describe himself, but it was used for humor not to deny his fatness. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-about-overweight-fictional-heroes-insensitive/946362/31 "2021-07-14T21:34:28Z")
Indeed, I would agree with you there. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2021, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-about-overweight-fictional-heroes-insensitive/946362/32 "2021-07-14T22:08:53Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > > I’ve tried before and failed to find a link to Daniel Pinkwater doing a piece about “the F word” > > He had a wonderful call-in to Car Talk about how much trouble he had getting into and out of cars, and his favorite for that reason was the new version VW Beetle, because the doorway was large and the door opened all the way out. I don’t remember what euphemism he used to describe himself, but it was used for humor not to deny his fatness. Might have been Car Talk; it was almost certainly NPR, and almost certainly before podcasts were a thing. But basically he says he’s going to say the F word on the radio. Yes, the F word, on the radio, right now. Here it comes. F … F … F … F … FAT! and then goes on from there; but whether it goes on from there to discuss car doors or something else entirely, I can’t remember. And it was a lot funnier to actually hear him doing it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thread-about-overweight-fictional-heroes-insensitive/946362.md?page=1)