"As Crazy As It Sounds"
Since I haven’t had time to craft a perfect gem of a blog post quite yet (I’ll tell you why in my next post, which will indeed be a perfect gem) I’m just going to quote from a couple of Hairspray-related e-mails I recieved recently:
From Eliza, comes this story:
Zac Efron & NIkki Blonksy are allegedly a couple — the “source” says that Zac is completely taken with Nikki — “as crazy as it sounds.” Oh, SO CRAZY!
If they’re a couple, swell. They both seem like nice and adorable kids. But it HIGHLY ANNOYS me that it’s framed like the fact the he likes her even though she is not a size two is part of the big news of the story.
The article is called Hairspray Hotties in Love, though, so maybe it’s not altogether awful.
I also found this link, which claims that Zac “doesn’t even notice” she’s overweight. Sure. “And what color eyes does she have? I have no idea! I just love her! What does she look like again? Wait, who are we talking about?”
This is also a good opportunity to pass along this link (a CNN article about the movie’s large characters) from La Wade, who says:
I primarily think [the article is] interesting for the use of multiple adjectives to describe Nikki Blonsky et al., including “corpulent” (which I think of as a highly negative word), “people of ample proportions,” “outright portly,” “hefty,” “plump,” “chunky,” “beefy,” and “fat.” All this in an article which is putatively positive about the fact that there are several large women among the cast of characters. I think you may have discussed this in the past, but I do think the terminology involved in describing heavier people is a pretty interesting subject. Can the fat positive movement reclaim “corpulent?”
Ever since Wade sent me that, I’ve been attuned to how Blonsky is described in articles. There’s always a fat euphemism in there somewhere! So, enjoy the gossip and the issue of fat-positive terminology. My corpulent self will be back soon. Thanks Eliza and La Wade!
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Celebrities, Gossip, Hairspray, Movies, Nikki Blonsky, Zac Efron
Email us
Wow.
I think I like Zac Efron a lot more now. He always seemed the shallow type.
Plus, Nikki Blonksy is adorable.
Yeah, I like these stories because Zac Effron is GAAAAAAAY!!!
So rather than focusing on him liking her despite her being fat, let’s focus on her liking him despite his being gay.
Just to clarify – I AM GAY, and therefore not knocking him because of being gay.
I just think this whole “couple” thing is ridiculous for both of them. Can’t they both just get REAL boyfriends?
:)
Yeah, I’ve heard that rumor too. And sadly, him dating Nikki just makes me believe it more. Because what fat girl hasn’t had a gay boyfriend? Haven’t we all?
Mo, you’re not saying fat girls have gay boyfriends because no straight guys will date them, are you?
Obviously I don’t think that; I was just making a joke. I was totally a fat chick with a gay boyfriend in high school, though. (He is now my wedding planner.)
I think the reason so many synonyms for “fat” turn up in articles is because it’s boring writing to keep using the same word over and over again, so they start using the thesaurus. I’ve noticed I do this to some extent in my own writing and it’s not because I hate fat people, I just hate repetition and boring writing.
So.. Zac Effron is gay huh?
Well this changes things.
Nikki is still adorable though.
But why do they have to keep pointing out that she’s fat? Can you imagine the outcry if every reference to Queen Latifah referred to her as “African-American”, “Black”, “Nubian”, “Melatoninally Gifted”, etc.?
As for choosing a better word for “fat”, I personally love the English term “plumptious”. Doesn’t “plumptious beauty” just conjure up the image of a wonderfully curvaceous, sensuous woman?
Well, that’s the gossip, anyway! Who knows?
I thought they were super cute together if they are really a couple. I saw him on the view this morning and when they asked him if he had a girlfriend and he kind of shyed around the question so I think at least half of that rumor is true ( the half about him not being with Vanessa).
Okay, Mo, I figured that. My brain is just taking everything too literally today!
Zac Effron is totally gay. My gaydar hasn’t pinged this loud since, like, ever.
Plumptious is a fantastic word. The one that always sets my teeth on edge, though, is ZAFTIG. Drives me nuts, that word does.
the article is ABOUT fat people in hollywood, or lack thereof, because it is in fact an anomaly. and as pastaqueen pointed out you can only same the world so many times. furthermore, i felt it had a fat positive message, in how the author was lamenting the fact that there is no, and probably wont be, an onslaught of large, or even average sized starlets and reminiscing about voluptuous stars of the past. and i am particularly perplexed that the word “fat” was used as an example of problematic language since the person who said it was Mr. Waters himself and he said it in the context of his joy that hes played such a part in the careers of three big girls…
on a related note, i am reading liz wurtzel’s “bitch” where she talks at length about the shift from female stars being the focus of hollywood films to male stars. it is not a coincidence that as women moved to secondary positions in films, their size dwindled and their curves shrank. i think.
I am driven crazy by euphemism for fat. Just say it.
When pointing me out in a crowd, I am the fat one with shoulder length brown hair & glasses. DOn’t try to talk around it.
To clarify, I wasn’t saying that “fat” was problematic language. The article just seemed gratuitous to me in its overly cute attempts to never use the same adjective twice in referring to the fat stars of this film (see, I used it there myself!). “Corpulent” was the only term I found really troubling in and of itself, but I know this is a subject on which people differ, so I thought it might be an interesting topic for discussion!
Anyone calls me “plumptious” will get a hard smack… (Don’t ask me why, but I really hate the word “plump”.)
Btw, it is possible to be in love with someone and not know what colour their eyes are. My mother once challenged my father on this (when they were teenagers) and he got it wrong. She married him anyway.
Those are the most irritating words. “Beefy.” “Corpulent.” If they are really trying to be positive about the issue they could say “plus-sized,” “curvy,” “ample,” “larger” etc. if they didn’t want to keep saying “fat.” (I realize there could be some argument about those words too but I really don’t think any of them rise to the condescendingly amused level of “beefy”).
PastaQueen, of course only you know your own motives but I think there is something else that plays into it in general… a lot of weight loss bloggers seem to have sort of “taken back” these types of words and use them a lot to describe themselves in their writing.
I have mixed feelings about this because although some people are able to convey statements of fact, or a lighthearted tone, using words like “lard” or “fat,” there is a thinly veiled self-hatred that comes through many others’ writing. Like they are “owning” not only the fact that they are fat but also that fat is bad and ugly, and being a “straight shooter” in this manner almost seems like a form of penance. Or like the authors need to be hyper-aware of their fatness lest fat women be accused of getting too high and mighty and delusional enough to actually like ourselves–the old idea that nobody’s words can hurt you if you insult yourself first. “You’re not hurting my feelings, I know perfectly well I’m unhealthy and disgusting to look at.” JMO and I’m not talking about your own writing, just in general.
with this particular article, i dont see much use in scrutinizing it for deep meaning. in all honesty, its a fluff piece where the author relied too heavily on his(her?) thesaurus, that gushes about queen latifah, and in its attempt to be innocuous shows some glaring flaws about the relationship between the media and womens boides. and corpulent just means really fat, but i understand the fact that simply having that word there takes the article in a questionable direction.
as far as what spacedcowgirl is saying, the self hate is a symptom of a group of people that are marginalized and viewed as “different”. Part of having a voice in society as a member of that group can be a self-deprecating approach to your position. The problem is whether you are fat, gay, black, or even a woman of any type, your damned if you do and damned if you’re dont – some people will accuse you of ignoring the obvious while others of putting too fine a point on it. so just write what you feel.
Zac and Nikki have a thing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1UUC8ejbGw