The Office And Fatness
The Bitch magazine blog has a post up by Rachel McCarthy James examining fatness on my favorite show (at least the first few seasons), The Office.
It’s an interesting read focusing on three main characters: Phyllis, Kevin, and Stanley. (As well as an excuse for me to link to this picture of me on the Office set. I considered linking the vending machine one but it’s less recognizable, no?)
Quotes ahoy!
Phyllis (who we did a post about in 2006):
At the intersection of sizeism and sexism exists Phyllis Vance. Phyllis is active and healthy–she was a cheerleader and plays basketball and runs with the rest of The Office… Phyllis is framed as attractive, happily married to Bob Vance (Vance Refrigeration). She is sexual and seems to like her body a great deal; in season six, she refers to her breasts proudly, has a quickie with Bob in a bathroom, and brags about flirting with men in bars…
Phyllis does not reflect any of the stereotypes ascribed to older fat women. Phyllis is coquettish, not matronly. She is bossy and ambitious, not jolly. She is self-satisfied, not ashamed of herself. She is Phyllis Vance, and she’s happy to be that.
Kevin:
[H]e’s constantly shown to have cartoonish eating habits, sometimes forcing him into caricature and buffoonery. In one episode, the staff makes bets on the abilities and tendencies of other characters. Whereas talkative Kelly tells about her Netflix queue in infinitesimal detail, fat Kevin stuff M&Ms in his mouth. It’s not explicitly “haha look at the fatty”, and it’s somewhat absurd. But, it’s associating fatness with gluttony in a problematic way.
Stanley:
But unlike the other two fat series regulars, he is visibly unhealthy, having repeatedly voiced health concerns and experiencing coronary arrest, and avoiding activity (though he is sometimes physical). However, the show does not make a rhetorical point of connecting his fatness to his health problem beyond Michael being an ass about it, and showing him focusing on stress reduction rather than drastic changes in eating habits. Again, it’s important that while Stanley is unhealthy, two other fat characters have few to no health issues.
Overall:
The Office is not a radical critique of dieting and weight-loss culture. It centralizes size-privileged people, and reinforces some problematic norms. But The Office does exist within the context of a media culture that frequently erases and usually stereotypes folks of size. By having a variety of well-developed, individual fat characters who do not conform to harmful norms and stereotypes, and by portraying weight-loss culture as harmful and problematic, The Office is sending a valuable and subversive message to its viewing audience.
That’s what she said!
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: The Office, TV
Email us
1) Awesome pic :)
2) Do you think The Office is framing Phyllis as a joke, though? Like a fat woman who is ambitious, unashamed, and sexually confident is funny and we’re supposed to be laughing at her bc it’s like she doesn’t know she’s fat?
Just another reason to love the Office!
@Forestroad: I’ve been watching the show since the first season, and I don’t think so at all. In fact, the show serves to make Michael and Dwight seem like even bigger asses because of the way they sometimes belittle her.
As for Kevin, sometimes I think he does just serve to be the lazy, fat guy. But I do recall from the first season the basketball episode where Michael deliberately didn’t pick him for the team, but then after the game he [Kevin] was standing and making free throws. Proof that Michael shouldn’t have been so judgmental.
The Office is NOT framing Phyllis as a joke. Her weight gives Michael the chance to make bad jokes, but obviously Bob Vance LOVES Phyllis (as is); so I think the overall tone for the Flonkerton Champ has more to do with the IRONY of her (Phyllis) finding true love, while the others search (and screw-up!) in their love lives. And in the end, it still comes down to how THE ACTOR plays the part physically and Phyllis Smith is not ashamed of who she is!
We were in make-up one morning during season three and she suddenly asked me: “Why does Bob love Phyllis?” I replied: “If you can’t love Phyllis, who can you love?”
Sincerely,
Bobby Ray Shafer
Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration
Lauren, yeah, totally I get the impression that the jokes is that Michael is such an idiot for seeing fat people as gross/funny/etc…the show doesn’t frame it as “fat people funny haha”, we just get to see Michael’s (incorrect IMO) worldview as funny. In fact on a broad scale, Phyllis has all the things that Michael wants…great sex, a loving spouse, and a satisfied happy life–and it’s not *in spite* of her fatness, it’s because she is wholly in tune w/ who she is and doesn’t apologize for a single thing about herself.
/office geek off
crap, forgot about the second thing I wanted to say–not enough coffee!
About Kevin-I agree that sometimes he is set up as the joke about fatness, but there seems to be balance there too–in Fun Run, Michael assumes Kevin doesn’t want to run because he doesn’t want anyone to “see his fat legs in shorts” when actually Kevin doesn’t have a change of clothes and doesn’t want to run in his suit. And later there’s a shot of Kevin running in his suit, all sweaty but running and finishing at the pace of everyone else. And it’s a quick shot and not a “focus on Kevin” thing, it’s just one of many views of people running the race, but I paid attention because it WASN’T the setup of a “look at fatty run” joke. <3
I was really nervous when the weight loss competition episode aired but I thought that for the most part, they handled it really well, especially pointing out how unhealthy Kelly’s action were and Michael’s ridiculousness about weight gain/loss (Jim saying he wants to lose 165 pounds and Angela’s doctor wanting her to gain weight – “You can’t gain weight because then you’ll die” [Michael's response]).
The treatment of Kevin’s character, or the existence of Kevin, I’m not really sure how to phrase it – irks me from time to time. He is portrayed as a buffoon in just about every situation and it can get kind of extreme.
Yay, Bobby Ray Shafer! You’re awesome. And I still love the story about the Valentine’s Day flowers. For those who haven’t heard it:
http://www.lifeintheoffice.com/2006/05/28/lito-interviews-bobby-ray-shafer-bob-vance/
When I saw The Valentine’s Day show, I realized that I needed to send Phyllis flowers for Valentine’s Day in real life. So I did, and I used a quote from e.e. cummings and I signed the card, BOB VANCE, VANCE REFRIGERATION. So it was a big mystery for Phyllis and all the girls on the set until I showed up a few days later to shoot ‘Casino Night” and it was early morning and all the girls were in the makeup trailer and I came in and Phyllis said, “Did you send those roses?” And I quoted the e.e. cummings: ‘though love be a day and life be nothing, it shall not stop kissing.’ And all the girls went “aaaahhhhh.” And cupid (and Bob Vance) got it done again.
I L-O-V-E this show. Phyllis is my hero!
My twin sister and me are a carbon copy of Phyllis! And the funny thing is … my twin’s name is Phyllis! So we are double the fun! We are addicted to this show.