Introduction
“The male gaze “is a concept proposed by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey. This concept refers to the portrayal and presentation of women from a male perspective in movies and media. In these stories, women are often portrayed as sexy and attractive from a male perspective. These women often exist as mothers, wives, or objects, without their own independent personality traits. This blog will present and discuss two classic and popular movie to showcase the portrayal of chubby girls in movies from different director perspectives.
Differences In The Portrayal Of Chubby Girls In Different Lenses
The first movie to be discussed is the representative work “Tiny Times” by an excellent Chinese director, writer, and screenwriter. This writer was listed on the Forbes China Celebrity List for ten consecutive years from 2004 to 2014.
This is a movie with a very obvious male perspective, which tells the story of four girls, Lin Xiao, Gu Li, Nan Xiang, and Tang Wangru, who experience the crisis of love and friendship in their lives in Shanghai and strive to resolve it as they grow up. In terms of character design, Lin Xiao is the narrator of the story with a gentle personality. Nanxiang is a beautiful painter full of artistic atmosphere. Tang Wangru is a straightforward and humorous atmosphere creator. And Gu Li is a wealthy second-generation with millions of assets, smart and witty. In terms of character design, Tang Wangru is the only “clown” among these four girls. She is the only one with a relatively chubby figure and a humorous personality, and has had many embarrassing incidents in movies. This movie fully reflects the stereotype of overweight girls in society and the discrimination against them for obesity. Obese individuals seem to lack of independent thinking, poor personal hygiene, and personal uncleanliness(Larkin, 1979), as if they are inherently ridiculed in society. In a scene from the movie, Tang Wangru had a crush on a boy for a long time and dared not confess his feelings. Finally, one day she gathered the courage to confess her feelings, but the boy ignored her directly in front of his girlfriend. The idea conveyed throughout the movie is that overweight girls are not worth being loved. In daily life, we can always see girls with larger body sizes. But they don’t neglect their appearance, nor do they have a natural humorous temperament. On the contrary, obese girls are down-to-earth, easy-going, fond of making friends, give people a sense of security, patient, considerate of others’ emotions, energetic, strong in ability, and good at learning(Li, 1972).
Let’s take a look at another film and television work’s portrayal of a chubby girl. The portrayal of the chubby girl Kat in the film and television work “Euphoria” is bright and bold, confident and flamboyant. In this film, Kat is an ordinary high school girl who wants to be equal and harmonious with every girl. As a chubby girl, she is not obsessed with a mediocre boy, nor is she anxious about her figure or love, but busy with self-awareness. Her charm lies in her intelligence, rationality, and strong self-awareness. In this film and television work, the chubby girl is portrayed as equal to other girls, full of confidence and courage, with their own ideas and independent personalities, no different from other girls.
Conclusion
The portrayal of chubby girls varies greatly among different directors’ works. As a girl, whether she is fat or thin, beautiful or ugly, she should not be portrayed from a male perspective as an object without personality in film and television works. They should be vibrant, bold, independent thinking, autonomous consciousness and ideas, and female characters who do not sacrifice for anyone. They are not just mothers, wives, or sexual partners, they are themselves.
Reference
Mulvey, L. (1975). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. Screen, 16(3), 6-18.
Larkin JC, Pines HA. No fat persons need apply: Experimental studies of the overweight stereotype and hiring preference. Soc Work Occupational, 1979, 6:312-327
Li Yanping, Ren Hao, Xu Yongjun, etc The views and attitudes of high school students with normal weight and overweight towards obese adolescents [J] Chinese School Health, 2005, 26 (7): 531-532
Euphoria (2019) Directed by Sam Levinson [Television series]. America: A24, HBO.
Tiny times (2013) Directed by Guo Jingming [Movie]. Shanghai: Li Chenguang, LeVision Pictures.
Jingming Guo. (2023). Jingming Guo. Wikipedia. https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%83%AD%E6%95%AC%E6%98%8E
YouTube. (2019). [euphoria ｜kat’s new look (season 1 episode 3 clip) | HBO]. Retrieved from:https://youtu.be/pRPM2_SVKc4?si=KPnNhBcw-R7taZGC
YouTube. (2014). [Tiny Times 1.0（小时代1.0折纸时代）- OFFICIAL HD TRAILER – 2013 Chinese Box Office Hit]. Retrieved from:https://youtu.be/lAh_qwRKfqg?si=lv72UTG8QsuV494S
I agree with that the blog effectively critiques how “the male gaze” shapes the portrayal of women in media, particularly chubby girls. By contrasting Tiny Times and Euphoria, it highlights the stark difference between reductive stereotypes and empowering representations. In Tiny Times, Tang Wangru is reduced to a comedic, undesirable figure, perpetuating harmful societal biases about weight and worthiness. In contrast, Kat from Euphoria is portrayed as bold, self-aware, and multidimensional, challenging traditional beauty norms and showcasing the power of authentic representation.
Hi Zhaoning,You’ve provided a very good example of the male gaze. I have to admit that in some films directed by male directors, plus-sized girls are portrayed as a group that is not appreciated by mainstream beauty standards, but in fact, they haven’t done anything wrong. The problem was never with them, but they still cannot appear on screen as brightly as the main characters. This is actually a form of prejudice and discrimination. Aesthetic taste is inherently personal; everyone has different preferences, and there is no hierarchy in beauty. Plus-sized girls also deserve to have a flourishing life and should not be relegated to the role of merely supporting the male and female protagonists in films.
Hi Zhaoning, reading your article gave me some though. It perfectly interprets the “male gaze” perspective by comparing the images of slightly overweight women in various cultures and media. It also discusses the diversified depiction of slightly overweight female images in different media with novel viewpoints, which can challenge traditional aesthetic standards and physical prejudices. But the analysis is a little more superficial and could go a step further to explore how these depictions affect social perceptions or shape body confidence. In addition, more positive media practice cases can be added to enhance the enthusiasm and guidance of the article. On the whole, the article has made an outstanding contribution to advancing the aesthetic discussion of body diversity.
Hi Zhaoning! Your article helped me understand how fat girls are often given fixed stereotypes in films, reflecting society’s deep-seated biases against appearances. It also made me think about why different directors portray the same type of character so differently. I believe this could be influenced by cultural backgrounds and the gender of the directors. Film and television should avoid one-dimensional characterizations and aim to truly showcase the diversity and depth of individuals.