"THE FAT CHARACTER IS BAD!" - How Art Tropes Body-Shame || SPEEDPAINT + COMMENTARY
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
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celestia could you talk about csp it´s been a year since all the mess
I've been noticing that people are being intentionally obtuse and ignoring the fact that the whole point of this video is that someone being conventionally unattractive shouldn't mean they are dehumanized.
also being too attractive is apparently dehumanising (objectification), for example marylin monroe, hollywood actors/actresses, Influencers.. etc. it’s like two sides of the same coin. ya know?
The problem is that being fat causes health problems, so it will never be seen as attractive.
@@thatstockin balance is the word of the day here folks
I would love to see a video on the difference between stylization and characitures.
Same
Same!!
Sameee
Mhm, same!
Same!
I feel like that too everytime when I see a fat character, they are seen as "pigs", "ugly", "slobs". I really hate that trope because I'm also a plus-sized person(female). Thank you so much for pointing out this issue.
@@NiloNova I actually am trying. I used to be smaller but then after the quarantine, I gained weight and I also started to have depression over the years.
@@NiloNova being plus-sized doesn’t necessarily mean you’re unhealthy, and assuming all people who fit that term are being irresponsible with their health can be harmful
@@NiloNova I’m sorry if my reply sounded like an opinion but it’s not
@@NiloNova
if you were going to be fatphobic, take your shit somewhere else dude. No one cares about what you THINK about fat people, quit being the problem and feeding into the trope of fat = unhealthy. You can be perfectly fine and still be overweight (you, like many people just jump to the conclusion we're trying to glorify morbid obesity, if someone is fat and can still do almost everything a skinny people can do, stfu).
@@CakePopArtist16I wish you good luck on your journey to becoming healthier ❤
I remember when I was younger the whole unrealistically thin trope was almost always a thing with females which I heavily dislike to this day- all females that had an ‘hourglass’ body shape were considered attractive and had many men all too fond of them whereas the characters considered more meek (both with men and women) were thin although also beautiful which I myself disliked, villains were overweight and ‘ugly’.
So I definitely agree with the points made in this video which as always was of very good quality, thanks for posting this :D
Edit: that’s a lot of likes, cheers people!
"I remember when I was younger the whole unrealistically thin trope"
You mean a healthy body weight.
"was almost always a thing with females which I heavily dislike to this day"
Because they remind you that you're overweight?
"all females that had an ‘hourglass’ body shape were considered attractive"
They still are.
"whereas the characters considered more meek (both with men and women) were thin although also beautiful which I myself disliked"
Because they were more attractive than you?
"villains were overweight and ‘ugly’."
What about the Dsiney villains Gaston (muscular) and Jafar (slim)?
Yeah even as a kid I didn’t like when the villain was super overweight and the mc was perfect hourglass unrealistically skinny, it just really annoyed me for some reason
@@uanime1shut up bro nobody wants your opinions anymore please go back to your mom’s basement and watching anime
@@uanime1 That’s a fair point and I definitely phrased that sentence wrong, thank you, Gaston is very much an example that goes against the point I made with the overweight villain trope. However I have to disagree with the point you made about the healthy body weight somewhat, yes characters can be thin but when a full cast of female characters (maybe male) are unrealistically skinny for the sake of beauty standards: take equestria girls for example, that just makes a whole thing about them all being thin without representation. This also happens a lot in anime (I rarely watch it but I have seen trailers and UA-cam videos commenting on it)
But yes this still happens, I should have stated that more clearly, thanks :>
@@sageourplanetmeow Also "healthy body weight" still tends to ignore many factors like muscle mass, bone density, metabolism, actual weight distribution, one's actual lifestyle, et cetera and just reduces things to "who gets me hard".
"My love story!!!" is an AMAZING anime when talking about stereotypes. Takeo (the main character) is seen as an "ugly" character, yet he still is the most amazing character i've ever seen in an anime. I really recommend watching this anime if you're looking for some smiles and a cute love story
well we also have good plus sized characters, like shrek, fairy godmother,mrs potts
Unfortunately they're very few and far in-between, but at least we got a pool the size of my palm of good representation
I NEED A HERO
Good points, but unfortunately those characters are usually overlooked or overshadowed by the sheer amount of bad plus sized characters
Well fairy godmother was the villain in Shrek 2 wait are you talking about the one in shrek or one in Disney movies
@@Jellyfish-t8r the disney one
Pokemon characters show more diversity, theres different weights, skintones, strength and personalities that don't revolve around their weights or other trait. Theres the belly folds and six packs with all genders at not only makeing men stronger than women like various other media does
Casing a casual side glace at those in the South Park fandom that draws Cartman skinny or ugly or just refuses to draw him
They also forget these kids are like 8-10 years old and they draw them like 14-18 year old highschoolers so they can ship them 💀
@meat3958 I mean there's nothing wrong with shipping, I like shipping myself, but I'm talking about the people who demonize Cartman’s weight
@@Haunted_Plush they’re like 10 😭
@meat3958 they literally have relationships and date each other, they act like adults a lot of the time, Tweek and Craig are literally canonically gay and dating
@@Haunted_Plush Yeah, and… They’re still 10? Just because they write it into the show doesn’t mean a bunch of mfs should be fixated on shipping fictional children together, that’s what we have adults for 👍
I’m someone who does meet “impossible” standards (I’m not really pretty, I just am a little underweight and naturally skinnier than most at a healthy weight) I have still been irked at the way fat people were portrayed in media. I feel like it contributes to my negative self image and perception of others who are fat. Im seriously working on it so thanks for the video.
i see a lot of people in the comments arguing against this by saying being fat is unhealthy. i just wanna know why, even if it is unhealthy, you think fat people warrant being put into these negative tropes in media and why you think more people shouldn't represent them normally. i don't see how showing fat people as normal characters is gonna 'promote obesity' because if someone's overweight to the point it's unhealthy then they're either going to work on that for the sake of their own health, or not ( in which case it's fine they can experience the consequences but its none of your business )
Also just ignores muscular people with a fair amount of fat density (who more often than not are often physically stronger).
Oh yeah, forgot to mention that "overweight" merely means "above average" in overall weight without consideration for other things like muscle mass, bone density, or just how people's body types and metabolism will vary. It's also worth noting that nowadays, obesity is more characterized by mental health related issues such as eating disorders atop the physical health problems that DO come with being very overweight physically.
I don’t see a lot of people arguing against this tho
A weird example for me would be "The Fat Controller" from Thomas and Friends. On one hand, he's often presented as a firm but fair boss/father figure. But, on the other hand, there's a running gag about how whenever he gets a phone call, he's always eating something or drinking tea. It didn't really help that outside observers perpetuated the idea that he was a tyrant who over works his engines, although it's not canon.
There’s also a show called rainbow high, where the body types aren’t extremely skinny. The show is about fashion on top of that.
The funniest part is that Hifumi from Trigger Happy Havoc isn't close to being the most morally reprehensible character. He's just an anime fan (bad start, cringe) and made fun of for being overweight
I like drawing different body types, I've always had starting out because I thought it was fun. I want to make a show and ive been drawing a bunch of concept and think hard about all the plot n stuff and plan of having a chubbier hot character in it >:3
Thank you for speaking about this.
It really makes me think. In my current comic story, most of the main cast is lean/a bit muscular, but that's because they're in the military. I realized that the bodies weren't diverse enough, so I decided to have my MC be a bit chubby before joining the military, and to have more side characters be fatter as well. I mean, it takes place on Mars, so it would make more sense for people to have more body weight in general. I also decided that I want to be more deliberate about shape language to differentiate the lean bodies mostly seen throughout the story.
I grew up with the German FKK culture (naturist), and have seen MANY different types of bodies, yet I'm heavily inspired by anime and manga. I can definitely improve in that area of my art. I have already taken steps to introduce more diversity! Queer diversity is nice and all, but visual diversity is important as well. Dunno how to end this comment lmao
Your videos are so interesting to listen to when drawing it’s so amazing and your art in general is amazing!
I love ur profile pic, it’s so interesting to look at-
I was going to change it but now I won’t @@That_Russel_Pup
At least they didn’t do my boy Spongy from BFDI dirty later on in the series 😎
XD
Shouldn't we also talk about the topic of "health" when talking about this topic?
As much as it sucks, but a certain amount of over weight IS unhealthy to varying degrees. The same way beeing skinni till your bones show is unhealthy. They partly even share the same negative health symptoms: low stamina, weak hearts, tiredness, etc.
This is probably a loaded question that can't be really answered, since morals varry from person to person, but:
Should we push something that can negatively effect our health, or is alredy coused by a negatively effected health (like a sickness), as something desireable? ESPECIALLY in a country like america where the amount of unhealthily over weight citicens, including children, is so incredibly high?
(This applies to extremly underwaight as well.)
(Edit: just to clarify, I'm talking about the extrems here. Not the avarage body. Specifically the extrems of dangerously over weight and dangerously under weight)
not trying to be rude here so sorry if my tone is like that but. . in my experience and opinion, its less harmful to portray a diverse cast so that people *dont* feel pressure to be one specific body type.
you have no idea the kind of mental health benefits that have come of it. liking or at least not hating my body has led to me treating it better!
the moment someone mentions wanting representation of *realistic* bodies/chubby characters, theres always retort with a discussion of health as if they asked *specifically* for there to be representation of 5000 pound people like in that one reality show with the crane and o n l y 5000 pound people. .im tired of it lol. .
people can be genetically predisposed to being fat. although it can be changed via lifestyle, its not *entirely* determined by lifestyle. . some people are just like that even with healthy lives, weightlifters sometimes look fat because their muscles arent as defined as bodybuilders' but this is an extreme example, some people just have a higher metabolism & store more carbs because of it.
thanks for reading this.
@@galacticpotato607 don't worry, you didn't come off as rude! ^^
I apreciate your input, especially since you worded it so nicely! :3
It depends really, while yes to some point overweight can be unhealthy to a certain degree there have been some people who are overweight and had some sort of treatment for certain health risk through dieting and medication.
Some overweight people can live out a healthy life due to those treatments, however losing some weight for an extremely overweight people can be good for their health but isn't always need due to surgery choices but that depends if it's truly need.
However some form of mental health exist such as eating disorders which make's it a bit difficult for people who are normal weight/overweight to eat something, or people who are normal weight/overweight to stop eating something, most cause for the loss of eating are, depression, anorexia, avoidant/restrictive food intake (ASFI, for sort), and most causes for eating too much are, stress, bulimia, and binge-eating, which all is really difficult to mange if not treated or medicated if medication is need.
Though even with eating disorders it's still possible to mange it and live a healthy life despite it being difficult, since most disorders are psychological and or emotional it take's a bit more time to overcome something though with the right treatment for it can still benefit greatly to one's health.
For me personally since i have, tiredness and somewhat out of shape despite be being cubby and not super overweight, i am highly healthy for my age though i take medication for my celastrol due to my eating habits despite me being semi vegetarian and lacking vitamin d which i also take despite me eating stuff with vitamin d in it.
Also it is so hard to get healthy foods in america, they make it so expensive that i can't even get any vegetarian plant meats, chicken, and fish, i mean the fruit, veggies, and dairy products are decent to get but still, no wonder the health system in america is so bad because the food is expensive, even for those who are struggling with money.
I remember when they used to show smoking as being cool or a rebel before people realised it led to lung cancer. Now it's always shown negatively.
I wonder if one day they'll have to restrict fat characters for the same reason.
@@galacticpotato607
"in my experience and opinion, its less harmful to portray a diverse cast so that people dont feel pressure to be one specific body type."
Even though some body types are more unhealthy than others?
"liking or at least not hating my body has led to me treating it better!"
If you're fat no matter how much you might like your body it's putting extra strain on your organs.
"the moment someone mentions wanting representation of realistic bodies/chubby characters, theres always retort with a discussion of health as if they asked specifically for there to be representation of 5000 pound people like in that one reality show with the crane and o n l y 5000 pound people."
The problem is those people are correct as fat people have been medically proven to be less healthy than slim ones.
"people can be genetically predisposed to being fat."
So what. They still suffer the same health problems because they're fat.
"some people are just like that even with healthy lives"
No they're not, that's why many countries have low obesity rates.
"weightlifters sometimes look fat because their muscles arent as defined as bodybuilders'"
So what. Muscles don't harm your body the same way high levels of fat do.
Your entire post ignored that being fat is unhealthy because you want fat people to feel better about being fat. That's like saying we shouldn't tell people smoking causes cancer so smokers won't be sad.
*Recent Wario-inspired indie games* and a cartoon show I used to watch back in 1st year of high school: *Oggy and the Cockroaches* neutralize my outlook towards everyone and made me adore fat and ugly yet competent and lovable protagonists.
So thank heavens I no longer watch anime that much after quitting back in March.😮💨
The Heavy Weapons Guy from Team Fortress 2?
A good show for body diversity is Netflix’s she ra and the princess of power 2018.
I used to have an eating disorder in high school becasue I wanted to be so so thin. I am still skeletal becasue I got my dads metabolism but please please please PLEASE never ever starve yourself to reach a weight. It will harm your body and your mind and your health is so much more important
As someone who is a literal 2 by 4 I know people see me as weak or like they view me as a child because I'm small and easy to shove around because of it but I'm not and I've been constantly told I should eat more and it only messed with my depression I've had people tell me they wish they could be as thin as me but I actually don't like it because I have no padding on my bones and I get injured easily and bruised alot because of not having padding from extra meat and I've had people questioning me if I eat enough and do I need help? But I don't and it hasn't led to ED yet but it has gotten me to the point where If someone tells me to eat more I won't I'll lose my appetite and not wanting to eat but when they ask me if I'm being mistreated I force myself to over eat and if I think someone is think these things while I'm eating around them and it's very unhealthy for me and I also have a stomach issue where I don't get hungry or digest my food and the muscles in my stomach just are failing and forget the movements ( gastric paresis) which caused me to have to eat slower even with my meds and also my stomach shrinked and hasn't really stretched back out because to stretch it back out I would have to over eat and my Appetite isn't that big since I'm a smaller person and also I have a high metabolism and always have been in like the 5% section of healthy weights because of it I wasn't a big baby I was so small the doctor thought I wouldn't be alive and my size had Alot to do with it and it bugs me so much when people get on my case saying I need to eat more or I need to go to the doctor because I look I'll I get that the people who want me to go to the doctor are just trying to make sure I'm okay but you can go about it a much nicer and less hurtful way (this is such a aggravating thing to me that I'm ranting). Also what's the deal with people wanting to like touch your ribs to point out how thin you are like it's a good thing I'M NOT A DAMN XYLOPHONE! it also always hurts psychically and mentally because A lot of my classmates would do this to me and at the time and even now I think a kid's fingers can easily poke in-between the spaces of my ribs and it's worse than stepping on Legos ! I get that kids don't know boundaries and are curious but even when I yelped in pain because they jabbed me hard on accident they then would tickle me between my ribs on purpose and I would have to shove them off or my actual friends or teachers would have to get them off me ( it probably didn't help I was a easy target for bullying since I didn't talk to many people and was viewed as weird and a creep because I was awkward ) but wtf?! Why did they attack me like that sometimes I had to get the kids sent to the principal office because they wouldn't stop even after my friends or teachers scolded them and it separated me from social circles more because I seemed like a snitch but in reality I didn't know what they were doing was wrong I didn't know why they did it but I never wanted to tell people my friends had to make me tell the teachers or else I would just let it happen and not to mention crying in public is just so embarrassing and I would have constant break downs in school from confusion, pain, discomfort, over stimulation, and fear . I was in so much distress that I would end up having two break downs in one week be my minimum amount because of this stupid "tickle" attack thing they did
I automatically thought of ‘My Love Story!!’ both the anime and manga are thoroughly enjoyable!! 🌟🙌
I absolutely LOVE your content! You always seem to find the best words to express yourself and your opinion
One of the first shows I saw somewhat positive plus sized rep was the shortlived CN show Megas XLR, While it still had a lot of the fat guy tropes, Coop was the protagonist and fairly competent in his own way.
the first time i saw a character with a similar body shape to me in an animation who wasn't just there to be ugly or a joke, i literally cried. that character and that show are so, so important to me now, and will be forever. these things are important. i wish i'd had that character when i was growing up, and i hope with all my heart that kids today and in the future get to see themselves represented in media more than i did.
What show was it and who was the character
@@joshuabautch8936 steven universe, smokey quartz
I didn't watch this anime (Accel World is the name and remember it through its church music, Blood History), but I think I remember the main character being a bigger size, but also 'stylized'.
Unfortunately, I think, a significant amount of viewers body shame him.
His art style is so different that he looks like he was photoshopped in the images which is a bit funny because the rest of the cast look like generic background characters what makes him stand off even more
me when ppl draw cartman skinny
I actually remember seeing a post somewhere recently talking about an issue on Stardew Valley's modding community and fat phobia, particularly portrait mods and how Morris looks. I want to say that something that was touched on was how people/modders would "fix" Morris' portrait design to make him more thin. (I can't say for sure if this is true as I haven't looked too far into it nor do I have any game modding experience, so I wouldn't take this at face value)
I think it’s mainly to represent gluttony 🤔
I may have some bias, considering the fact that my type IS bigger women, but one of my most powerful characters in my story is a big woman who's INCREDIBLY wealthy, intelligent, and powerful, with her biggest flaw being greed in the financial sense, and I want to portray her as very attractive but VERY terrifying as she's incredibly volatile, strong, and combat skilled
The main reason she's even big is for physical dramatic presence, and the fact that she's essentially a monarch which were typically bigger as a sign of wealth
Also, as previously mentioned, I just like big women lmaooo
Thank you for inspiring me. For a while I’ve been working on learning to draw sexy anime girls with a fuller or more normal body type and while watching this I was working on art for a card game my friend is making. Thanks to you I will include some of these body types as well even if they won’t necessarily make sense for cave people just to prove it can be done and show respect where it is well overdue.
Rule34 is more body positive cause R34 artists like how fat characters have jigglyer body portions that skinny characters , small boobies are seen as
cutesy-er than big boobs and many R34 artists are making a stand to have more down-there hairs for women
no one paid attention to how cute the Layla drawing is
Why is peter on The Thumbnail tho.
Fat-Stupid-Husband with Thin-‘hot’ not incompetent- Wife trope, we see it in the simpsons too, but they were kinda the ones to popularize the trope in animated western media in the first place everyone else just hopped on the bandwagon
@@meat3958 holy fuck Lois.
@@NoSoyDib hes also just an asshole a lot of the time lol. but i'd describe him as morally grey if anything cuz he's probably done good things? idk honestly, i dont watch the show
@@carpetburns4007 im coming lois
Excellent points, Due Chess Sylvester. Good video
I'm a simple gal. I see my boy Hifumi in the thumbnail, I click.
Not here for the vid, just here to say Hifumi ain't bad- he's a decent character whose morals were exploited by someone else.
So your talking about Patrick star
I had all of those things I wasnt attractive and I was overweight and Im not smart and yet I have a great life I like the idea of the video
If your going to be doing anime tropes because I always had a question about like demons in anime why are they either complete monstrous looking creatures, or theyre just the most attractive person in the world cause a lot of demons that I see in anime are like really attractive and I always wondered why would they never like just a normal looking demon?
Cant give a super concrete answer here, but I can make a somewhat educated guess/assumption; For starters, the percentage of people who are actually religious in the same way that Abrahamic religion followers are religious is a lot lower than in other countries.
The two most dominant religions in Japan (And a chunk of the population doesn’t even really consider it religious so much as they do cultural or ancestral/traditional) are Shinto and Buddhism. In Shinto, a demon is actually not called a demon at all, but have various other names depending on what the spirit is there to do. Usually, they are mischievous; They will often take very human like forms or the form of a beautiful person or more commonly woman or sometimes child in order to create chaos, disruption, or deceptions. Because a lot of folk tails have the ‘demon’ taking on a human face or human like characteristics, the artistic culture will reflect similar in media;
Christianity/Catholicism have had a similar”sexy demon” controversy themselves in art; A church commissioned an artisan for a large hand carved statue of the fallen Angel Lucifer, and when it we unveiled, the church was a gasp because the statue was incredibly attractive. Naturally, the church didn’t want a statue of Satan looking hot and steamy, so they took it down and commissioned the first artisans brother, who then proceeded to carve an even HOTTER sexy lucifer statue.
TLDR: The characterization of religion is japan is widely different from the type of religion most folks are exposed to and is based a lot in tradition and spirituality as well as folk stories that teach lessons or provide philosophical questions, and the depiction of demons or underworld beings interacting with humans is a lot less culturally strained than in other places of dominant religions background as a result, but I’m sure there are probably another morbillion factors that contribute to the depiction of demons or supernatural beings in anime
@@meat3958 Great example op also thank you for reminding me about that Lucifer statue story I love that story
You know its bad when the ONLY character I can think of that is of a unique bodytype of the overwheight variety is thor from god of war. I just think that the fact i can only think of a few games with a good variety of bodytypes is terrible and its the same with most media
Ayane from porkshop and flatscreen❤️✨
YES she's an icon
This was a good video
PREACH!!
This is pretty much correct and I agree. I would like to see more fat, chubby and I guess normal weight. Although I can see why people make extremely skinny characters sickly, and fat characters over exaggerated it would be nice to see normal body types drawn in actually realistic sizes.
Ok but Joran got redeemed in Xenoblade 3
c0mmenting f0r the alg0rithm
Thank god i am not the only one annoyed about this. Thank you for adressing this issue!
Hi
This trope is actually good because it persuades people to not be fat, and, of course, being fat is terrible for your health and something that is within your power to change.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6565398/
"Being fat is terrible for your health"
My dude. Fat people have existed perfectly fine for thousands of years and no one complained until modern ideas of beauty standards reared its head.
And do you really think that portraying *all* fat people being bad is going to encourage healthy life habits? That's either going to make others feel okay with treating fat people badly just for existing and/or pressure people into having ED's.
We have plenty of media that portray abusive parents negatively, but there is still no shortage of abusive parents out there. So I don't think the general population is basing their lives on fictional characters.
@@Pinka13 First, if being fat was just totally fine until modern beauty standards then find me all the Renaissance paintings with fat people. They don't exist because fatness has never been considered positive.
Also, it is just straight up unhealthy to be fat. This honestly doesn't even warrant a response because the literature is obvious and non-debatable which is probably why you don't mention it despite quoting me on it.
Finally, you can argue about the subconscious messaging of media, but the shaming of fat people would encourage fat people to lose weight in order to no longer be fat. Also, fat people already have eating disorders since they're eating more than they should. Fasting to lose weight would be an improvement, to be honest. Although, your point makes no sense because what you're describing just doesn't happen. Basically everybody who loses weight does so through diet and exercise.
@@renotv3860 "fat has never been a positive thing"
You can find old advertisements encouraging women to gain weight. And 25,000 year old sculptures that portray fat people positively (The Woman of Willendorf, for example). Not to mention a lot of people like boxers, wrestlers, and strongmen aren't exactly thin.
@@renotv3860 that also ignores beauty standards for other parts of the world as well. In certain parts of Africa or Hawaii, for example, being fat (or at least chubby) is either considered normal or even beautiful.
As an overweight individual I have split views on the trope.
you should had drawn a fat character in this video dontcha think? would stablish yourself as part of the movement to diversify bodies in the art community. would be iconic, oh well
im pretty sure she was drawing a comission
Its a commission she cant just change the weight of the charecter
this video feels like something i can agree and disagree on. fat is a controversial topic rn and for some, showing more fat characters in media is considered normalization. as far as i know there aren't a lot of villainized fat characters in media where it's overpowering to the many good ones, but above the surface there aren't too many fat characters to begin with...
i feel the number of tropes to fat characters dwindled overtime on its own but for anime i cant say it's our place to complain when the writers are from a different country with very different standards and if you're not born there yourself pushing our agenda on another country is just pointless. western media tropes for fat characters feel few and far between since it's definitely not as bad as it was back then and i think people cling onto that when in current day western media is changing on its own with more body types. though we can't really force artists to feed our own demographics and they're free to draw their own characters their way
👁️👄👁️ what?
I have an oc who is plus sized and i love the chubby boi 🥹. Why are people so mean. I think those body times are attractive ☹️ unless they are going through things ans rather be skinny but is unhealthily big, some people are more comfortable that way. And i support them all
Another thing that I hate is when they make the fat character’s trait only to always be hungry. It’s a dumb trait and it’s a harmful on top of it
Fr
Or in art when they just have the plus size character holding/eating food while everyone else isn’t
They're fat because they eat a lot, just like how all the muscular characters exercise a lot.
like Owen from total drama :(
@@uanime1 or because they don't exercise a lot. Maybe they ask for seconds but doesn't mean they eat every single minute
What really annoys me is how, if there's a flat chested character in anime, their whole joke is that they wish they had bigger boobs and get super pissed whenever someone mentions the topic... Also how people with bigger chests are CONSTANTLY sexualized :/
It's men writing women chicken-egging culture. Men dont know what women (and girls) talk about, and that media is sometimes presented to kids which lead them to actually talking that way
I agree. Big breasts are normal...not a fetish.
I've been reading a lot of manhwa (korean cartoons) lately, and almost every character in a romance story has mentioned 'dieting' at least once to become 'more attractive', even if they're already drawn attractive and skinny.
Also in media, every single 'hot' man has abs?
Like come on now, no way that every guy 'naturally' has bodybuilder-level of visible toned muscles
I have a species that do that that I made, but like...
They're literally a genetically-engineered abandoned bioweapon merfolk species who uses their muscles as their exoskeleton to pressurize their body (they're able to dive below the bottom of Challenger Deep, or to get thrown into space, and their outermost muscular system can resist the crushing depths AND the vacuum by exerting an equal amount of pressure to counter it), so they store their fat reserves by having marbled inner muscles and fatty-cell-lined organs instead of normal fat deposits, to avoid interfering with their exoskeleton and the way it anchors to their endoskeleton to help achieve the adjustable pressure stability.
(they also would die of heat if they had blubber like a marine mammal predator, since the high metabolism means they also use their skin and breathing to shunt out all the heat their hypermetabolism generates)
I'm pretty sure most anime protagonists aren't from a species that has those exact adaptations.
Lol abs aren't even that hot in my opinion. My one exception goes to Miguel O'hara
I may give Owl House a lot of credit, but Owl House includes a fat-and-athletic character in Willow Park. More than that, she was crushed on first, before she reciprocated said crush.
Even Boscha, a bully at the school Willow goes to, does not bully Willow for her weight- but because initially, Willow struggled with keeping up with magic expectations. Nothing to do with her weight, and she even keeps her glasses (there's no "more beautiful without glasses" trope).
Finally someone mentions this cause Willow is loved by everyone, and never had any issues with her weight! 😊
Also bothers me when people draw fanart for characters and they change the body type to fit in 'conveniently attractive' bin.
It doesn't take much, internet.
Spoiler: people like drawing attractive people.
@Thedemonicsxreech I couldn't have said it better myself.
@Thedemonicsxreech Also applies for muscular people as well, among other body types.
I don't have realistic body's in my style it's literally just shaped like a brick
and does attractive only means fitting into 'conviently attractive' bin? @@uanime1
Unironically, a video game called rain world has a really good fat playable character. They are a slugcat (the creatures you play as ingame), and they are strong, intelligent and resourceful. Their character is portrayed as a legend and a strongman. They do require a large amount of food in the game mechanics, but so do a lot of the smaller slugcats. Also they are good with the tribe's slugpups :)
yooo i wanna get rain world slugcatsocute
@@noctuabird It's great! Definitely worth investing in, especially with the new DLC :)
the gourmand!!! love that guy fr. (i love rain world in general sm)
@@noctuabird Rainworld is awesome, definitely recommend it. It’s also really hard, though, but the creature AI is some of the coolest and most complex in a game I’ve ever seen.
Gorm is the best scug :}
One great example of a good plus-sized character in media is (in my opinion) Diane from Bojack Horseman. She started as a more skinnier woman and throughout the series she gained more and more weight. And it wasnt played for a joke or something like that. It was a part of her character and it was used for her development. Her weight change was caused by antidepressants and by her changing mental state.
In anime there's near to no fat characters because obesity rates are extremely low so when there is an obese person their only thought is "they must eat a lot" so that becomes the trope. Anime always plays on tropes to an unhealthy degree
I would bet there are not much women with massive breast, tighs and butt in Japan (some may argue anywhere)
Which is weird why they are so common as people find a different body type more attractive in real life.
Would they count as fat characters or does fat have to be stored or shown in certain places for a person to be considered fat?
@@sugarzblossom8168
"I would bet there are not much women with massive breast, tighs and butt in Japan (some may argue anywhere)"
You'd be surprised.
"Would they count as fat characters or does fat have to be stored or shown in certain places for a person to be considered fat?"
Being fat is determined by their BMI and waist size.
It regardless shouldn’t be used as an excuse, just because you don’t see many people of different skin tones where you live doesn’t mean you shouldn’t draw any people of different skin tones, just because you don’t see many plus sized people doesn’t mean they don’t exist, etc. If you don’t know how to draw them because of that it’s not an excuse, educate yourself and draw them, use references!
@@uanime1 how susprised exactly? People in Japan generally prefer thin to voluptuous. Just find it rare that they are more common not that those characters exist at all.
The hourglass figure may not be rare and having big breast and but may not be either but having a very thin waist with those other features is rare.
@@sugarzblossom8168 Also isn't BMI generally not that accurate for people besides cis men and doesn't account for muscle mass either?
People say that fat characters exist like that because of the whole fat is dangerous thing, but if that's the case, wouldn't depicting them more neutrally rather than bumbling buffoons or villains be more effective at possibly convincing larger people to lose weight? After all. stress eating exists, and can be caused by bullying.
"People say that fat characters exist like that because of the whole fat is dangerous thing"
Medical evidence proves being overweight is bad for you.
"wouldn't depicting them more neutrally rather than bumbling buffoons or villains be more effective at possibly convincing larger people to lose weight?"
Why would they lose weight if they have positive fat role models?
They don’t care about your health tbh. They just want you to fit their image of what’s “correct.”
I have long hair as a man, and get compliments all the time about how nice it’s kept (which is a little weird tbh like it’s expected for me to have dirty hair?), but I also get lots of comments that men shouldn’t have long hair, that I should cut it, that they would “totally be into” me if I cut my hair and…. I don’t care lmao.
They don’t care that my hair makes me happy, they want me to look the way they expect/desire.
@anubis7457 and frankly that sucks. 😢 wear your hair however ya want.
@@anubis7457one of my friends is a guy with long hair and the fact that anyone, and not even just one person has asked me to ask him to cut it???
Honestly my respect for those people plummeted when they said that, they can’t even say it to his face
Moral orel flashbacks
One of my ocs is a little bit chubby, but is also attractive, which is a step in the right direction. She’s super energetic but also awkward and insecure. I was gonna make her insecure about her body, but this video made me reconsider that. It’s definitely better for her weight to have nothing to do with her character. So thank you, Celestia, for bringing this to my attention
She sounds like a good character!! but the "It’s definitely better for her weight to have nothing to do with her character." part is something i disagree with. While it is a fine concern, having your oc be insecure about her weight isnt inherently a bad thing. As humans, we all have various insecurities, and in today's world it'd make sense for her to be insecure about that sort of thing if you feel that it'd fit her. The problem (as addressed in this video) comes whenever her weight (or, in this case her insecurity about her weight) becomes a huge part of her personality and how she's portrayed.
You seem to have more ideas for her personality beyond just her weight, so I personally don't see any issue!
I actually have an OC who is also chubby but just really terrible with drawing the fat of their body tbh
I also have one that's a bit chubby but also no one dares mock him for it because he's a god. I have 2 characters that are mean and would mock him for it, but they are scared of him
hifumi is actually a super nice character in danganronpa :C
And super relatable, too.
Kinda funny honestly, he's one of the least evil characters in the game 😂
doesn't he associate an actual child with lolis/shotas in drs
isnt he a pervert
A thing that also annoys is when the actual creator DID include a little bit more diversity but when it’s adapted to animation, that’s removed or edited. In the MHA manga, several of the girls are drawn with a little extra weight on them. It’s more of an average/slightly bigger size but that matters! As an aside, Miruko is also different when drawn by the mangaka than she’s animated in the show, she’s a few shades darker. Most of the time the excuse I see is that it’s “harder” to animate diverse bodies (usually from fans, not animators) and that really peeves me off. It’s also difficult to animate exciting fight scenes, highly detailed characters etc, but that certainly doesn’t stop anyone!
Such an interesting topic and important as well. If anyone needs suggestions of animated series with a lot of body diversity, I recommend "She-ra and the Princesses of Power": the characters all having different bodies was an highlight for me, in addition to a lot of other qualities of the show.
Love that show. Regarding body types, I was super happy with it. Glimmer especially having a square body type, but never having it brought up or insulted because shes a princess/eventual queen. She doesn't ever change her body because she's perfect the way she is!
Exactly! Glimmer is such a cool character, one of my favourites! My only regret about character design in "She-ra" is that there is not the same body diversity for the male characters.
Yes the cheesy remake
The modern audience really enjoyed it🙄
Also Steven Universe and many of the gem characters. I agree though She-Ra was 30 times better than the original version.
Also ARCANE!
mexican person here, when i was very small and young i always grew around tv shows with Mexicans being shown as fat, with proportions which were stereotyped on mexican people, like the book of life where many mexican people besides the main characters are stereotyped as stupid, dirty, perverted and well, fat. I am glad that at least today in media, people are respecting latinamerican people without making one of the largest traits being weight and ugly. This video means a lot to me and im glad you touched this subject!!
Wasn't the book of life also directed by a Mexican person?
@@Twat_Dirt while yes, i interpreted it as a form of internalized racism, using a stereotype in a movie made by a mexican person has been common even if how harmful it may be for other people, for example how it affected me since at that time, once i went to school in a different country, people were already calling me fat because of the left out context of media made by mexican people, which white people didn't get, and therefor made it a stereotype in media made by white people in result and then it goes full circle
@@Ocelotcoatl That's just Jorge Gutierrez's artstyle. He likes to draw weird-looking characters. It has nothing to do with their race.
"THE FAT CHARACTER IS BAD!" yet shows a Danganronpa character in the thumbnail... While yes Hifumi is portrayed with stereotypical traits like you mentioned in the video, he still plays an important role in trial 1 and 3. Not to mention that Hifumi isn't the only fat character in Danganronpa too.
The ultimate impostor and Teruteru are fat characters too. Teruteru also suffers from being pervy but he's not one dimensional and has a pretty rich character for dying in the first chapter.
However I think the ultimate impostor is a example of a good example of a "fat character" (i'll only mention the games as i havent and dont really plan to watch the anime loll.) He's incredibly caring and protective of his fellow classmates. Hell, he even risked his (and lost) his life just to save everyone from a potential murderer.
Sure he brings up his weight for a couple jokes but it's really only brought up by him, he isn't stereotyped for his weight by the other characters.
But in the short time he's alive his character blossoms as he's shown to be a natural leader to the rest of the class and has his own one to one scenes with the protagonist; Hajime. He's also shrouded in mystery as his true identity is hidden from the player until *the last chapter*. If he isn't an important character then I don't know who is!
TLDR: using danganronpa on the thumbnail is weird because there are other fat characters that arent bad
The impostor is one of the most heroic characters in the anime. He rescues his classmate when he pretends to be him and gets him a nurse when he sees his health is failing. He only fails because of Junko. But no one wins against Junko.
Peter Griffin is one of my favorite cartoon characters he is how I found out I was Bi
Your so real for that.
Holy fuck, Lois
@@smugglefish8171IM COMING LOIS
The bi awakening of all time.
I sometimes wish fat people being seen as cute, because they can be really cute or attractive. It’s such a same mainstream media won’t show this anytime soon.
I remember there was this anime about a chubby protagonist girl who got very depressed due something bad happenning to their favorite character in an anime/show(?) (I'm being kinda ambiguous because I don't remember the details, not even the anime's name). By consecuence of her depression, she locked herself in her room for a whole week where she starved herself in the process. When she came out, she magically was reduced from chubby, to "pretty attractive underweight girl". The author really made sure to emphasize the attractive part since her facial features (like the eyes and lips) got a major glowup that she somehow didn't have when she was chubby?
I remember the anime being pretty funny overall and a good watch, but the way they projected mental illnesses and eating disorders as "funny", "relatable" or a gateway for our problems without the show being remotely serious or "deep" (meaning they included them just for the sake of comedy) was very upsetting.
Can you talk about Ugly or unattractive female characters compared to ugly or unattractive male characters.
One seems to be more prominent that the other and seem to be less of a problem to people in general than the other.
It is not just being ugly but being creepy, scary, alien, monstrous and being unconventional when it comes to gender traits.
Male characters to me seem to have more allowance.
Hey, while I agree with male characters having more freedom, just because one group has it worse than the other doesn’t mean that the other group isn’t also negatively affected by such representation. I grew up as a fat male and was bullied by my peers for it. I’m pretty sure the media played the part in how those boys and girls saw me. Also think about characters like Dudley who are given wide proportions to accentuate their bad qualities. There are some but not MANY positive portrayals of fat men in both live-action and animated media. Think about comic book guy from The Simpsons or Recess. I personally believe that patriarchy requires mind to embody some really stifling gender norms, which include being overly ambitious, a constant hard worker, and possessing an almost unrealistic, hard body.
For the past year now, I live at my father's place instead of my toxic mother's place, and since I started having a lot more freedom on what I eat and that I don't go out as much as I used to, it caused me to gain a bit of weight.
The show I plan to create someday, though it won't happen in a long time because I'm an unemployed burden to society, will have a "me" in it. She won't be a Mary Sue since I'm extremely wary of Mary Sue personas and I'm extremely careful to not create one.
And since I have a bit of extra weight now, so will she. She'll be a bit chubby, just like me. I personally like chubby body types. I think it's cute.
aw I’m glad u moved out of ur moms house :) I hope u get to make the show!
@@aisldqz Thank you ^^ You don't know how much it means that someone cares ^^ Also my father isn't perfect (transphobia but not as bad as my mother's and he never tries the things I like while I always try the things he likes), but it's still better.
Also if you want I could tell you about the show (story, character and all that). I have MANY ideas and I'm sure it'll be great ^^
thank you so much for bringing up underweight representation!! it's not as severe as what fat people face, but as a severely underweight cosplayer i've never been able to comfortably do it in public. it sucks when i ask for ideas on who to cosplay and the only answers are either child or creepy/ill characters, and it's even worse that no one ever brings this up😭
OMG??? IT'S MY COMMISSION!!!! SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU SHOW OFF THE DRAWING PROCESS IN THE VIDEO
I thought I recognized Layla. This is such a cute idea. Girl deserves it
TW//
overweight people being made fun of for eating too much (which is not true in MANY cases) gave me an ed LMAO (AND IT DIDN'T WORK I'M STILL OVERWEIGHT 💀)
anYWAYS I CAN'T WATCH ALL OF THIS CUZ IT'S TRIGGERING FOR ME BUT YEAH
I like to see people talking about the actual issues when it comes to the portrayal of fat people in media. I feel like a lot of the time people get mad over meaningless things when it pertains to this topic. Cough cough Sashley drama cough cough.
Yeah, I'm gonna be THAT person and I don't care how unpopular this comment will be. Anyway, I find your complaining about the lack of fat characters in Japanese anime/media a tad out of touch (in terms of Japanese society) It's mainly because in the East, obesity is not as big a problem there like it is in the West and it's not considered "normal" neither. Because of that, of course Japanese manga & anime artists aren't gonna dedicate time to making fat characters. Why would they? Obesity in Japan makes up 3.0% of the population compared to a place like America where it's 32% of the population. More than half of their population is slim to average and seeing really fat to obese people in that part of the world is a rarity (in comparison to the Western world where it's a more common) and this rarity further fuels their notion to not even think about creating fat characters, especially not as main character. As for them making fat characters unappealing in the rare times they do feature overweight characters, I won't disagree that it's not particularly kind or forgiving and sure,they could try to change with that but the likeliness of that is very low because obesity is seen as a disease in Japanese society.and they don't accommodate for it either, there's a reason why Japanese clothing sizes run quite small and not many of their companies see point in making larger sizes. Their society doesn't want to normalize it at all.
Also I'm just gonna add another caveat to this. You kept tailing back to how fatness is considered "unattractive" which is why there is not much focus on this body type and while you're not wrong that a huge part of the population don't view overweight bodies as "attractive", the other part of the reality is that to many people, it signals unhealthiness. And before anyone says that being skinny is just as unhealthy, that can be true but last I checked, the world is not glorifying people with the body build of Eugenia Cooney and the whole "heroin chic" look of the 90s and early 2000s is not encouraged at all anymore, at least not in mainstream. In Japan, yes thinness is deemed much healthier but the average Japanese person is not anorexic looking, they just have smaller portions of food they eat and a lot of it is much more healthier than Western food, plus it's a lot more common in Japanese society for people to walk more since driving can be a bit of a hassle if you live in the cities. Anyway the point is, fatness can be unhealthy but it also depends on how fat. A little overweight is fine but it's funny you mention the "body positivity" movement because the most prominent "activists" tend to be obese to morbidly obese and sorry but it's no surprise that a lot of people are against that. Including myself because I've seen where that kind of denial can lead which is an early grave. In my own personal life, I've lost my grandmother, mother, and uncle as well as a lot on my mom's side of the family that all had weight-related issues due to being more overweight to obesity and yeah no, no way in hell will I ever glorify that ridiculousness.
Anyway, It's good that you specified at the end that no one is obligated to draw fat characters if they don't want to because that's the simple truth. And it's why it's good that more people are taking matters into her own hands creating what they want to see and yes, there have been fat character portrayed in a more flattering way. But it's not surprising at all that most of the people doing this are not from the East which circles back to while hoping to see fat protagonists in Eastern media is a waste of time. Should they at least try to make fat characters not look so grotesque or unappealing? Ideally sure but realistically, that just is no gonna happen because of the way that particular place views fatness and obesity. So just take the strides that have been made outside that area.
--- Also side note, you could've also drawn out an example of the type of fat body you want to see as an example for the video ---
Maybe i haven't seen enough anime or cartoons but pretty much every fat character i've seen is the trope of a likeable, chill and loveable person, the trope of a big fluffy ball of love to put it bluntly.
Also when they're portrayed in a bad light pretty much always are portrayed as a part of a group of losers or nerds instead of being isolated by themselves, with bad personality traits that are shared among the others in the group and the main reason why those chatacters are unlikeable, while one of them happens to be fat.
The times fat people are portrayed as you point on the video pretty much everytime the audience sides with the fat person because the antagonist of the chatacter, is mainly a highly disrespectful asshole that is intended to be dislikeable to begin with.
So maybe it's me but i dont see direct discrimination and hostility towards fat chatacter, and when i see it is not because they're fat, its because they're a highly flawed human being that *happens* to be fat.
Reminds me of that one comic by Merryweather with a big character and his wife and the wife was defending him from some d*ckhead who was berating her husband assuming the husband was an ugly bastard(y'know, THOSE ugly bastards).
Yeah it’s just you. As in, there are so many media demonizing fat characters and people, you just haven’t seen them.
I have seen some of each.
Some series where being fat is an seemingly important character trait as it is brought up a lot. I have seen things that are meant to be comedic because a person is fat or everyone making fun of a character because of their size.
On the other hand I have seen fat characters exist without their weight coming up or being laughed at and insulted
@@sugarzblossom8168I’ve seen an anime where the entire first few episodes is them making fun of the over weight mc, and praising her for unhealthy eating. Like UH- nah
you gotta tell us what you've been watching, man, cause i'd love to find more media that doesn't do an unbelievably poor job representing fat people
I think a really good example of a character with an unconventional body type in media would be Sophocles from the Pokémon Sun & Moon games. His appearance is pretty much never brought up in the games and he’s allowed to simply exist as an individual in the universe without his body type being a caricature or the receiving end of any kind of negative joke. In fact, one of the the primary things he’s characterized by is his intelligence and inventive ability, and he’s also in a ‘Trial Captain’ position, making him basically THE Electro Pokémon user in the Sun & Moon games. And even if occasionally it could be argued that the Sun & Moon anime falls into some negative stereotypes regarding his body type, his portrayal in the animated series is also overall pretty good as well. The series establishes his goals and also showcases his intelligence and love and curiosity for all things technology, and the anime gives him some really funny moments that don’t rely on making fun of him (like when he asks to dissect Rotom in episode 3). Regardless of what anyone’s opinion is on the Sun/Moon anime or games or on the Pokémon series as a whole, I do think the existence of Sophocles as a character provides a rather healthy outlook on plus-size people that’s good to see in media, especially for a franchise that’s geared towards children.
Sort of an aside, but the ridiculous idealized body types in anime are detrimental to the tranfem community as well. Anime is very popular among a lot of transfeminine people and too many of us look at these impossibly curvaceous and beautiful 2d figures and compare ourselves to them rather than actual flesh and blood women.
Yes! Transmascs also feel it, with massive chiseled skinny tall men or tiny teenage looking boys. Like some of us are more androgynous or chubby or shorter. Basically, trans people get the short end of the representation stick lol.
@@tinnedteainsyrup8943 Realized I literally had two transmasc OC ideas in mind where one of them was just a straight up gigachad (thought also effectively a centuries-old demi-god lore-wise) and the other was an effeminate/GNC guy (my mentality was that too many GNC male characters are or are assumed to be cisgender men or AMAB so I wanted to shake things up with an AFAB example who also has a twin sister).
I'll definitely admit that I indeed mostly want to draw things that appeal to myself but thanks for the insight.
if anyone is willing to help, i'd like some opinions on an OC design: is it problematic to have a character that is the most "shut-in" of the group also be the chubbiest one? she spends most of her time at home and doesn't really like to go outside. she's also somewhat socially inept due to her weird interests and way of speaking but she's also charismatic and a go-getter of sorts. her entire personality isn't defined by that, but i'm worried (especially at the beginning of the story when the viewers know barely anything about her) that it'll come off as "fat, nerd, socially inept" stereotype.
I don't see a problem with it, and I'm fat. I could see it potentially being a problem ONLY IF there were other red flags accompanying it, like being slobbish/dumb/etc where skinny characters aren't, but you're coming at it from a good place and I think people will be able to tell that. I really appreciate you asking! It shows a lot of care :)
Depends on how you're framing it. I'd figure a recluse would undoubtedly be a bit out of shape, but again, I don't see the inherent problem with it as long as their character traits are positive.
I think it’s ok as long as she isn’t the only fat/average character. Just make sure her character has a lot of depth. Awesome of you to ask btw.
As long as she's a proper well-rounded character with more depth than just "fat socially-inept shut-in" I think it's fine. Just because certain traits put together might superficially resemble a stereotype doesn't mean you can't write a non-stereotypical character with those traits. Hell you might even use that to deconstruct the stereotype, which could be pretty cool if done right
Don't'chu worry, you're not the one needing to burden yourself with the need to balance the tropes, the fact that you're considering the place your art has as a representation of the group is well enough. Have fun, and make your character as you please, the baseline is not using the body-type to shame them for having it.
That's why i love sword girl from Danganronpa eden garden. Even tho she is chubby and she is fast as wind. Plus she's very adorable looking innocent girl.
You mean Eloise yes she's freaking adorable
I’ve been trying to learn how to draw different body types, I still think I’m not all that great at it, but at least I don’t draw fat characters as offensively as the Danganronpa team would 😬 They knock it out of the park with the Muscular characters though
A big issue i had with learning character design was how dependant so many designers were on skinny bodies with bulky clothing and hair to make interesting silhouettes, but ive found since then that plus size bodies have way more potential for stylisation via shape language. Thick thighs save lives but also are very visually interesting and can be soft and curved, squarish with muscular calves, or sharp and angular. Though bulky clothing may look odd, I'd advise designing clothing alongside the body shape rather than trying to make it bigger. Big stylised hair still works a treat, but I'd recommend adding more visual intrigue with the angles at which the clothing item's relate to eachother (eg: seam lines over the body, tight vs loose articles, layering, etc).
Dont fight against plus size bodies! They arent an obstacle, they're a guide! And they're really fun to draw!
Okay but I don't agree with putting ursula in the thumbnail.
I think she's beautiful, and I don't think her being a villain has anything to do with her weight - a fat person
I agree but at the same time I understand why she’d be there, she’s one of the first examples a lot of kiddos see of a plus sized woman on the screen in an animated film, so the reaction to her from their adults or guardians, who most likely already have preconceived bias, would matter a lot for a kiddo.
I honestly have a hard time seeing Ursula as a villain given her actual lore from the little mermaid book about her put out by Disney. What I love about Ursula is that she CHOSE her form, she looked at herself and knew that she felt the most beautiful as a fluid, exaggerated, multi-limbed fat kraken, and that was what she chose. Triton, as revealed in the book, is Ursula’s brother. And he took one look at the form she chose, curled his nose up at her, and told her that in order to be welcomed into the kingdom she’d need to change to a ‘superior’ mermaid form, when she refused, he banished her from the kingdom completely, leaving us with the rightfully jaded, and arguably not that evil Ursula. The merfolk that come to see her for spells are using her magic for vain reasons and vanity, we can assume that not all of the shriveled merfolk were seeking her help for vanity, but she never actually ever LIES to Ariel, not once, she tricks her absolutely but if she was really listening to what Ursula was singing in poor unfortunate souls, she’d never have signed the dotted line. Personally, I like to think that Ursula really only does trick those that come to her seeking vanity or selfish gain, given the reason that she was banished (Simply for choosing a form that she found the most beautiful for her), it makes a lot of sense that the merfolk she tricks, like those she mentions in the song, only sought her out for selfish reasons
YES! Yes to all of this! Thank you so much for delving into this topic - as an artist who draws fat characters all the time, we need to normalize that any character of any weight can play ANY role, no matter their weight. Good, bad, smart, dumb, straightlaced, sexy - it's all about variety and not reducing them to tropes and stereotypes. Thank you for your input! ☺💖
On the topic of fat characters being main characters. Would a story where there was a main character who was overweight due to a eating disorder that was developed, But was consider quite attractive inside and out to the point where he gets the girl over the "Prince charming" who is a support to him in conquering the disorder as in what is causing it be interesting? I want to write a story but don't want to people offended anyone. The character does get over the disorder and loses some weight, but they never become a thin guy.
This sounds like a fantastic story!
As someone who's overweight, and has been actively making healthier choices since late 2021. I have a few things that I wanna say (sorry for the essay btw) :
I feel like people leaving more recent comments should know a few things before automatically assuming that people who *look* overweight are automatically unhealthy. Or trying to tell people to lose weight because it's unhealthy to be fat. There exist people who have dieted & exercised for months and even years, without their appearances ever changing. People with actual allergies to vegetables. Those who have an intolerance to exercise, due to health issues need treatment from a doctor, which makes it difficult to start exercising. I could probably keep going.
Even if someone actually is obese, overweight, or just unhealthy in general. They could have a food addiction, I.E. binge eating disorder. Which isn't that easy to get rid of since it's an addiction/ disorder. One that could stem from things like stress and using food (often in large quantities) as a coping mechanism.
Either way. And again as a fat person, I have personally never felt motivated when anyone told me to lose weight, exercise, or diet. I only ever started feeling motivated when someone told me to try to become the inspiration that I've never had. And it worked. I went from around 310 Ibs (141 Kg) to 285 Ibs (129 Kg) within the first year of starting. So needless to say. I feel like we should try to at least be a bit considerate when telling people those things. Who knows. Maybe a gentle nudge in the right direction to inspire them, could work far better than just saying that being fat is unhealthy.
I guess that it just bothers me when I see people putting fat people down, all for the sake of health. Without even knowing anything about them (especially on the internet because of anonymity). I'd much rather see people not just give nonchalant answers or opinions. And instead. Try to uplift people and motivate them to get healthier. Because we're all going through a lot on this planet no matter where we are. And the last thing we need to do to each other is rip each other apart whether intentionally or not.
And just a quick side note. It's not out of touch to say that a country has a lot of work to do in a social sense. Just because different types of people are treated differently in other places. Things like culture or societal norms do not excuse the mistreatment of those people. And if it is culture at hand. Cultures can always be redefined, not completely changed, but changed enough to avoid further hostility & ill-treatment towards others.
P.S. Just some tips for anyone who wants to lose weight. Try to practice some forms of self love as well. Self respect is important. I tried to be easier on myself and go with the flow. Slowly starting up a yoga routine daily. Monitoring how much sugar that I'd consume in a day and count calories (but eat a little bit more if I felt starved or malnourished). If I felt like eating a snack, I'd just drink water unless I was hungry for a full meal. Starting off slowly and making it a life routine/ change has made it easier for me to keep going. Adding healthy eating habits, some form of exercise, and self-respect will help you not only feel healthier, but also feel happier with yourself. Best of luck, I believe in you! ❤
Actually, Willow from the owl house is definetly a positive.
thank you for talking about how underweight people also can be affected by this, they seem to get not as much recognition and attention as people who are overweight from what i've seen (but idk that's just me, maybe i'm wrong)
the world is full of different body types too, and it sometimes seems like the really "cool", curvy/muscular, slender and "attractive" character vs. the really "lame", overly fat/skinny, lazy/incompetent, weak, "unattractive" character thing is doing almost as much if not more harm than good, even if the big media makers are doing it to appeal to a certain demographic and be more successful, it will offend a lot more and if they just did a cast of characters which had a variety of body types in "good" and "bad" characters each it would appeal to everyone
I clicked immediately when I saw Hifumi- Anyways time to draw an oc to this
I thought I was the only one.
I wonder if there's also a discussion to be had on the inverse case regarding fetishization. I am saying this as someone who does actually find somewhat pudgier people attractive.
the message at 11:50 is all the more prevalent in the infamous kids' book Maggie Goes on a Diet, in which the title character Maggie is scorned and looked down on for being overweight, but once she loses weight, she's treated with great respect and becomes popular. This is the exact type of toxic thinking writers need to get away from.
And this video is why ZeeFixesArt is harmful
If you want to see a positively portrayed and complex fat lead character in animation that already exists I’d highly recommend Dead End Paranormal Park. The lead is a fat trans man who is complex as well as depicted as deserving of love, he has a love interest who reciprocates to. Just in general that show is pretty great. A lot of interesting characters and a diverse cast. Really recommend it in general.
Since when did we stop teaching the lesson to not judge a book by its cover? Because as corny as it may sound, beauty on the inside is what counts.