Categories
Useful Information
Become A Freelancer
Choosing an umbrella company
Crunch PR by Barry Walker
Distance and Online Learning Courses
Expats freelancing in the UK
Freelancer in Focus
Freelancers' Comments
Home businesses
Kingsbridge Professional Solutions - Insurance for freelancers
National Freelancers Day
The Freelance Forecast!
Types Of Freelancing
What Is A Freelancer ?
Freelance Categories
Freelancers By Area
Freelancers By Name
Freelancers By Skills
Freelance Project Board
Freelance Projects
Freelancers UK
Need A Freelancer?
Want To Join Us ?
Important Information
Sitemap
Terms & Conditions
Website Like This One
Create Your Own Site
Useful Sites
Partner Sites
Resources Directory

From my blog... by Sarah Clark

I've just been to see 'The Heartbreak Kid' and at the same time I saw the trailers for 'Good luck Chuck'

OK, I didn't expect them to be intellectual. But the Farrelly Brothers and their ilk really hate fat people, don't they? And I know 'Good luck Chuck' isn't a Farrelly production but it's following the same boring line.

If anyone's seen 'Shallow Hal' they will know what I mean. Let's all laugh at ugly fat people. Fat woman sits on chair and breaks it. Fat woman eats like a pig. Fat woman jumps in swimming pool and people run for cover. Oh ha-de-hah. That's so, like, ironic, yeah?

Of course it is. Shallow Hal was a crap film anyway, but the whole premise was that the leading man, Hal, no oil painting himself, was in love with a fat woman after being hypnotised into seeing her 'true beauty' - and when she was being beautiful he saw Gwyneth Paltrow without a fat suit - when he saw the REAL woman, he saw a fat pig (Gwynnie in a fat suit, how droll)

Yes, I know, it's a stupid film. But the whole genre just annoys me. In the Heartbreak Kid, there are two stand out 'laugh at the fat person' scenes - one where the new bride introduces the new groom to her mother - and the mother is fat. And the predictable joke is - 'I'm wearing her wedding dress...yes, the very same dress SHE wore.' As we all laugh heartily about the fact that women all turn into their mothers...and he's made a BIG mistake because the mother is fat (shock, horror)

The second is even worse - it's a fat CHILD joke. The woman that Ben Stiller's character falls in love with is enjoying taking Mexican children on fairground rides with her, on her lap. Ben joins in to impress her...and ends up with token fat kid. Oh, how we laughed.

As for the trailers to Good luck Chuck - not that I'm remotely tempted to see it anyway - the story is that Chuck gets jinxed by an ex - and every woman who sleeps with him marries her next boyfriend. So of course news gets out and lots of women want to sleep with him. Because we're all THAT desperate to get married that we'll have sex with a complete loser, aren't we girls?

So far so banal. Then he meets his *true love* and wants to break the curse. So he's got to find somebody that NOBODY will want to marry, huh?

Ohhhhh yes. Cue the appearance of the morbidly obese woman, having a good scratch, in a bikini on a sunlounger so we can all gawp at her true grotesqueness. If that wasn't bad enough, we switch to a shot of the pair out to dinner...and she is shovelling food in her gob like a woman possessed. With plenty of it down her chin, naturally.

Sorry, but are we to assume that if you are fat you automatically have disgusting table manners?

It just makes me angry. It's OK to stereotype fat people because it's plainly their fault, they deserve it, they are just there to be laughed at by crappy film makers who are stuck for anything genuinely funny to say...so they stick in a token fat person and make them disgusting-as-you-like.

Imagine if it were a disabled person we were poking fun at? An ethnic minority? Cue sharp intake of breath and howls of outrage. But if you are fat, you're fair game.

Check it out yourself and let me know what you think: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEg4GQK5k7w

I'm pleased to say it scored highly on the Combustible Celluloid site:

Conspicuously absent from this romantic comedy are any genuine laughs or romance. The unfunny, uninteresting Charlie (Dane Cook) has been hexed: every girl he sleeps with is destined to next meet her true love. When he falls in love with Cam Wexler (Jessica Alba), he tries to break the spell. The makers of this shameful waste of celluloid have padded their work with fat jokes, homophobic jokes, gratuitous nudity and various bodily functions, while harbouring a fundamental hatred for women

Couldn't have put that better myself.

See Sarah's entry at www.freelancersintheuk.co.uk/products.php?productId=1351

Latest news
ONE DAY ON EARTH... be part of it! Thu 29/07/2010 Freelance creatives in all sectors, and at any career stage, are invited to join an unprecedented, 24-hour event that will celebrate the creative... SUMMER HOLIDAYS! Sun 18/07/2010 FLITUK is off to West Wales for some surf, sea and sunshine (please)... normal service resumes on 26 July but emails and queries will be responded to... A NEW BEGINNING... Wed 30/06/2010 On 1 July 2010, Projects & People becomes part of Freelancers In The UK under the original and generic brand. We're delighted to be able to keep... Desks to rent in Bournemouth! Mon 21/06/2010 Stunning newly refurbished offices with desk space to rent. The office is located in Old Christchurch Road above the TK Maxx shopping... FREELANCER IN FOCUS FOR JUNE Sun 06/06/2010 Another month, a new government and some very welcome sunshine! We're delighted to feature Rory Baxter as June's Freelancer In Focus. Rory's...