Would You Disguise Yourself…As Thin?
I don’t watch Heroes, and I hadn’t heard anything about this, but the awesome Laurie does, and she sends in this report. (Spoilers from the October 8 episode, entitled “Kindred,” are included.)
I’m not sure how many of you out there watch “Heroes” but I’ve become a fan – both because I love a good superpower and because they have the most evilly fantastic villain – Sylar (Zachary Quinto). This episode was the first time we glimpsed Sylar this season. He was in the company of Michelle who is a shapeshifter. Our first glimpse of them is in a tropical locale. Then this happens:
“Sylar is trying to use his powers but he can’t even move a cup. He asks Michelle/Candice what the hell is going on. Michelle gives him a taste of what he can have as she morphs into a few different people. Sylar pretends he’s into her but crashes a coffee mug into her head and proceeds to take her powers. We see the dead Michelle in her true form – the “rubenesque” woman. ”
Upon seeing Michelle in her “true” form Sylar quips “so that’s what you really look like.” (note: Sylar is notorious for killing people and eating their brains in order to gain their powers)
This scene disturbed me as prior to Sylar’s attack what Michelle is giving him “a taste of” are the shapes (bodies) that she can assume – she states “whatever he desires”. All of the forms she assumes are beautiful and thin women – including a pair of identical blonde twins.
Link to the actress that guest stars as Michelle/Candice (Rachel Kimsey) – unfortunately I wasn’t able to find a screen shot or a credit (imagine) for the actress/extra(?) that appeared as her “true” form.
While I do appreciate that most reviews I read of the episode referred to the “true” form of Michelle as the rubenesque woman – I do question why “real” Michelle/Candice had to be a fat girl. The only message that seemed to send is that if a fat person had the chance (or hero ability) they would choose to disguise their true selves. I thought this was an interesting question to ponder : If I had the ability/choice would I appear as a “normal” thin person or would I stay the way I am now. To be honest I don’t have a clear answer and I’m sure I’ll be criticized as a result.
What do you think? What would be the pros of becoming the “normal” girl? Shopping? Social acceptance? What would be the cons? not being your true self? Contributing to stigmas against fat people by “blending”?
You have your topic – discuss it amongst yourselves!
As a P.S., Laurie also sent in this Wiki, adding:
(note: this seems to explain why the true self is an “obese” girl – however, it still begs the question about changing into a skinny/normal person)
Thanks for the report, Laurie!
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Fatism, Guest Post, Meta, Question, TV
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Maybe my answer is indicative of how far I still need to go in accepting myself, but if I could change into any form I wanted, I would definitely present myself as a thinner person. For me, the big pro would be social acceptance (with the added benefit of being able to wear whatever I want). The big con is that it would be like living a lie. To be perfectly honest with myself, though, I’d probably do it anyway.
If I had the ability to appear as thinner, I don’t think I would. My fat is part of who I am, it is one of the things that has contributed to the experiences that make me who I am today, and I like that person. Yes, it would make life easier in some ways, but I would eventually have to revert back to my true self, and the reactions of others if they happened to see me as my true self after having seen the illusion of a smaller me………..well, I don’t even want to think about that. I don’t think people would believe that I am the same person, with all my faults and talents, whether I am thin or fat. Their view is so skewed by the fat-phobia that they probably would think I was a better person when they perceived me as thin, even though nothing about me had really changed (I would still have no patience with stupidity, I would still be Helga the Bitch Goddess over certain things, I would still be willing to help people out if I was in a position to do so, and on and on). Basically, if people don’t want to get to really know me just because I’m fat, then I don’t have time for them in my life, even if I could magically get thin.
I have a question: in this superpower, does whatever you do during one morph stay only with that morph? For instance, in one morph getting falling down drunk and then changing to the true self and being completely sober, or morphing into a more muscular version of yourself so that it’s much much easier to work out… Or being the same outside with a shrunken stomach, like having a gastric bypass stomach. Would you then have to go back to your ‘true’ self and have all that work undone? I hate sweating. I could look the same, sans my sweat glands. Would that be an unacceptable change?
I think my point is that this power has the potential for good. It can’t all be the question of would you change your appearance if you had the choice. Plastic surgery does that anyway, right?
If i could change my body at will, i’d be more inclined to fix the stuff under the hood before i made any alterations to the frame.
Honestly, I would change how I looked to be much, much thinner. And to lift up my boobs and airbrush out my zits. But beyond that, I think I’d keep me. I’m used to my face, and I like it just fine. It’s my ass, my thighs, my stomach, my shape that I’d want to correct.
Maybe it’s just my bad mood (currently caused by lack of sleep and general owies), but the more i think about this, the more it really bothers me. And i know it’s totally a Me thing, so i’m not mad at anyone in particular, just generally venting and being pissy.
As someone with fibromyalgia, i would trade anything/everything physically beautiful about me for a body that didn’t hurt. Zits? Fine. 50 more pounds? Pack ’em on. Facial warts? All bout it. Boobs that hang down to my knees? Okay. Crossed eyes, mangy hair, crooked nose, missing teeth? BRING IT ON.
Just make it stop hurting.
Molly: She doesn’t morph really, I’d describe it as being able to feed others’ minds whatever she wants them to see. She can not only change herself, but she can change the environment as well. Last season she was able to show off as Niki/Jessica, then was knocked unconscious, but the illusion stayed. So once it’s in the person’s mind, she has to turn it off herself, or the illusion has to be forcibly removed.
Everyone in the Heroes comm I’m watching guessed she was fat right after an episode where she was taking care of Micah in season 1 and she refused to show what she really looked like. Another scene they showed her eating a small bag of fries and everyone automatically jumped on it like that’s all she ever ate (even though that’s the first and last time they ever showed her eating ANYTHING).
And honestly, I’d hide too. Most women would. Thin women also. Very few women are secure with what they look like, no matter if they have an actual reason or not. Hell, some of the guys in the comm wanted that power. :p
They were hinting at this all last season… they had her angrily eating french fries and making little side comments about how if they only knew what she really looked like. I wasn’t surprised when it turned out that she was *gasp* really fat.
And while, as a fat woman, I find it obviously offensive (and 10x more offensive because she was fat *and* face down–what was up with that?) it does speak to the current culture–women have a really hard time accepting who they are. I bet there were tons of women out there whose imaginations ran wild at the thought of being able to look any way they wanted and I bet that’s what the super power was speaking to in part. We were all talking about what super power we’d want if we could have one*, and what a power! What a temptation! Even though we’re all trying to be on the love our fat selfs train (which I totally am by the way) I bet it would be hard to resist trying on new looks. Ultimately, I hope that my desire to be authentic and who I really am would win out and I’d only use my power so I could trick or treat or have comfortable plane rides (or, you know, to save the world), but it would take a lot of pain to get to that I imagine.
(*Personally, I want the ability to transport anywhere. That beats out morphing reality any day in my book.)
Yes, at least for work, I’d probably change my appearance to blend in better. Under some circumstances, I might want to be less ethnic-looking as well as thinner. I worry about discrimination at work, and how I appear to clients.
I’m not sure whether or not I’d do it socially, though, and I wouldn’t do it as part of my personal life at all. For example, I wouldn’t date with a false appearance. I’m married, so I don’t have to worry about it, but I find the idea of being someone fake for the people I’m close to really unappealing.
They actually implied that character was obese last season. I posted about it and there was an interesting discussion about it.
I think I’d choose to appear male over thin. Most of the crap I catch in life relates directly to gender, including the crap about being fat. It would be kind of cool to experience the winning side of the patriarchy for once.
I thought her vanity was part of her being a “bad guy” – that she used her powers to further her own aims, and that her aims were so shallow as to just want to be thin, indicated that she couldn’t see the effect her powers could have on making the world a better place. She was so wrapped up in her own head, and her own pain, that she didn’t care about anyone else’s. Discompassionate narcissism as a sin – I quite liked the thought, but maybe I’m overthinking things.
And I’d just keep my hair red without all the trouble of dyeing it. That’s my one vanity, and the only thing I dislike about myself for no reason (unlike being short, which is difficult in a tall world, or having huge jugs, which is expensive and hard on my back.).
If I could simply wish myself into a thinner person, I’d do it ina heartbeat.
After years of dieting and exercise (to little avail), I would take any shortcut that does not require surgery or medication.
Of course, big comic book geek that I am, I recognized that this reveal was lifted (deliberately or not) directly from the last chapter of the Squadron Supreme comic book series (which dates from the mid-80s), although in that case the character’s name was Moonglow.
(The really stupid thing about the episode where Candace is killed is that she’d been careful in the past to use her powers to hoodwink anyone who might be dangerous to her – even Micah, Niki/Jessica’s son – so the fact that Sylar got the drop on her like he did is just plain dumb. But I digress.)
I don’t know if I would change my looks too much. I might mess around to see how I looked different ways though( really short, really tall, pink hair, stuff like that),that would be fun!
I think part of the reason real Candice was shown face down when she died was product placement. She was wearing Lane Bryant jeans and wanted people to see it. They even had a banner for right fit jeans next to all the other sponors on the website.
Wait I just thought of something! You could save a lot of money with this power. You’d never have to buy clothes again!You could just walk around naked all day and let people think you had clothes on. You would also never have to pay to get your hair done either. LOL
I would definitely disguise myself as thinner if I could, but would be interested to see if it made any real difference. Sometimes I do that thing Joy Nash talked about in her first video–invent fat prejudice where there is none, to keep from having to work on some part of my life.
Judging from the number of articles that tell a woman how to dress to look “ten pounds thinner” in clothes that “give the illusion of a waist”, “skim the thighs”, “de-emphasize the fanny”, I’d say most women are already trying to disguise themselves.
The discussion reminds me of a dialogue in the second X-Men movies.
Nightcrawler, a blue mutant, asks another mutant who has the ability to morph (Mystique) “Why not stay in disguise all the time? You know, look like everyone else” (for those who haven’t seen the movie, her mutant form is very eye-catching – blue skin, bright red hair and yellow eyes). She answers “Because we shouldn’t have to”.
I feel the same way. Naturally I have days when I wish I could morph myself thinner. Mostly out of curiosity – there are some days when I’m told so often that it’s such a “benefit” to be thin that I’d like to give it a whirl (for a few hours) But on the other hand I really think that we shouldn’t have to. And as it was pointed out above, it’s only about changing the outside; on the inside you’re still the same, with all your insecurities, memories of past injuries and discrimination.
I don’t watch the show but I think it’s really cool that it is at least putting something out there for us to think and talk about.
I would want my superpower to be the ability to change other people’s perception of me in my natural form, rather than changing my form to fit their perception of “acceptable.” Wouldn’t that be awesome?
I would rather have Hiro’s power of time and space travel.
I saw this episode (love me some “Heroes”) and was totally pissed by the way they did this. It felt like yet another stereotypical villainization of a fat person. If there was a positive portrayal to balance it out, it wouldn’t bother me so much, because then I would buy that it was just a character choice and not based on body type – but without a positive fat character, it just seems like yet another chance to bash a fat girl. Very disappointing.
I echo DivaJean. Bump shape-shifting. It’s for people who want to hide their true selves anyway. Growing up I never liked the shape-shifting characters because they often are liars and are afraid of something. Hide my fat? Puh-leese!
Dee- Appear less ethnic looking? Be proud of your body and who you are. Society loves to shame everyone, so shame society back by just being you.
Eh. I’m not ashamed of who I am. But, I think it would be convenient to look different sometimes. whyme63 has the best idea, though. I wonder what it would be like to appear to be male, too. That would be an interesting thing to experience.
Y’know, I think I would want to try it out, to see for sure what thinner people have been telling me for years: that my problems wouldn’t all go away. As much as I accept myself, who I am, where I’ve been…I’m not completely convinced that I wouldn’t have things easier if I were thin. I’d want to spend a little time like that just to know for sure.
What Karin said–I too thought of the splendid Mystique (Romijin-Stamos) and her sense that we shouldn’t have to disguise ourselves (but this is also the Mystique whose own morph, in the third movie, into Woman Scorned absolutely SUCKED.)
What Lindsay says, too: there’s nothing like a good stomach flu or bout of Lyme-induced arthritis to give you a real sense of priorities. I’m always amazed at how badly I handle actual pain.
And, thirdly, what Deirdre said: I love to dress, I love trying to look more like my (best) self, and this year I quit dyeing my hair, in an effort to fly my own colors…but, yes, there’s generally something I’m trying to disguise. I can’t imagine what it would be like not to feel that. Just can’t imagine.
Sylar doesn’t eat brains. His power is understanding how things work just by looking at them, so he cuts open their heads and looks at their brains.
To be honest, when I saw this, I was just happy that he didn’t say something like, “I should’ve known you were a fatty.” Or perhaps, “Ew, gross.” I actually considered his generic “so that’s what you really look like” to be a step in the right direction.
If I had the ability to snap my fingers and look any way I wanted, my body would definitely change. Everything would. I don’t think it’s about being comfortable with what we look like, but rather, if you had the sole power to look 100% like what you consider to be perfect, why not? People that ooze confidence out of their pretty pores do so because they accept that they aren’t perfect, not because they think they are. So why not make yourself perfect?
In this context, however, I probably wouldn’t use the power in this way. It would always feel as though I was hiding.
I thought Sylar’s response was actually releivingly neutral. But I wasn’t wild about the comments with her last season, especially since I got the impression that because people only saw what she wanted them to see, she didn’t need to take care of herself – which is a big stereotype/assumption that isn’t really true about larger people.
I think she was changing into a thin girl to become what Sylar desired, not necessarily what she desired.
Oh noes I have been spoiled! (Well, actually I haven’t even seen this character yet, that’s how far behind I am, and I’ll probably have forgotten about it by the time she appears. I did read PQ’s original entry about her.)
Would I change myself?
Well, probably not strikingly, but I can totally imagine making slight edits. You know. Slightly cleaner hair (when necessary), slightly straighter nose… yes, maybe a little bit thinner. I would definitely change my upper arms. But on the whole, I think I’d still want to look like me. (And wouldn’t it be hard for friends to recognise me, if I didn’t? Most of the Heroes seem to have developed their powers as adults.)
I suppose the danger would then be – like those women who repeatedly get plastic surgery – that the slight edits might become larger edits. And larger.
Wouldn’t it be great, though, to be able to be a redhead just for a day? I’ve been wanting to do that ever since I read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix…
I agree with the previous posters who mentioned that part of her villainy was the fact that she used her powers for her own personal gain. She gave out the illusion that she was thin, hiding her true appearance out of vanity and because she felt if she was thin she could get what she wanted.
I admit I was a little peeved to see that her true form was fat, I had missed the hidden comments when she was talking with Mikah last season that were meant to reveal that she still wasn’t giving off her true form.
I’m not sure what I’d do if I had her power. I think for starters I’d make my clothes look a lot better…I totally hate shopping and spending money on clothes.
I’m with Pattie on the clothing thing. I would make all of my jeans fit perfectly. I wouldn’t change myself to look thin but I would love to be able to change my hair just by touching it. That would save me tons of money on hair products and trips to the salon.
I would make myself look just like my boyfriend and stare at myself in the mirror all day long.