The Let Down of The Whale

The Whale Review
A-24's 'The Whale' is the most difficult movie I have ever written about. At its premiere, it received a six-minute standing ovation, which excited me along with the fact that I am a vast Brendan Fraser supporter, and I was so excited for his comeback. I had seen reviews touting that the movie was empathetic, hauntingly beautiful, and emotional. Being a plus-sized person myself, I could not curb the excitement of finding a film that humanizes the experience of a “fat person”, as I often feel we are misrepresented and objectified, but when I finished the movie, all I could feel was a pit in my stomach. I felt embarrassed and ashamed. I had sat there for two hours and got fat-shamed. Yes, the movie is incredibly well-acted. Fraser did a phenomenal job, and he truly is as brilliant as people give him credit for, as well as the acting skills of Sadie Sink and Hong Chau. But putting that fact aside, the rest of the movie is highly problematic and offensive, and, to me, it betrays every cause it claims to support.
The movie portrays Charlie, a gay man who recently lost his partner to suicide, trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter as he experiences deadly health issues. Charlie is highly obese and has been diagnosed with a binge eating disorder. He is essentially bedridden as his mobility slowly deteriorates throughout the film, and he essentially refuses to let anyone from the outside world see him, which includes seeking medical treatment. He works as an English teacher but only does classes over video with his camera turned off. He receives food by having the delivery man leave the food at his door and collect his payment from the mailbox. The only people who can see him are his nurse and only friend, Liz, a Christian missionary, and his daughter. Eventually, Charlie reveals himself to the delivery man and his students, who essentially react to him as if he were a monster. The delivery guy catches a glimpse of Charlie and is so appalled that he runs away in what seems like fear. The way his students reacted can only be described as pure, unadulterated horror. Despite this blatant overreaction, Charlie is highly understanding and refuses to see anything but the good in these people. So here we have it: Charlie is an apologetic and broken-down man who essentially sees himself as a monster and believes he deserves the abuse he receives.
This has a thousand problems, but let's break it down into a few key components. Starting with the question, "Did any overweight or fat person work on this film?" The basic answer is no, and there is a massive problem with that. There is a severe lack of plus-sized representation in the movie industry, and we have all acknowledged it. The director of the film, Darren Aronofsky, stated, "I considered everyone -- all types of different actors, every single movie star on the planet. But none of them ever really clicked. It just didn't move me or feel right,". He also claimed that someone close to the character's size couldn't handle the role as it would be too taxing on their health. I'm going to come out and say it, that's bull shit. Were you saying that there were no qualified fat people to play this role? Not only that, but Charlie is gay, were there no queer actors that were able to do the job as well? Fraser did a great job. I won't dispute that, but there are so few roles for fat actors. You are saying that none of those actors were overlooked or undervalued and that the best option was to pick a guy and put him in a fat suit. I don't buy that for a second.
Second is the fact that the director and the writer claim that this project "is the diametric opposite of the way obesity has traditionally been portrayed and dealt with in cinema, " To verify that we have to look at the fat characters we already have portrayed in the media. Throughout history fat actors have specifically been designated for comedic relief, think Jonah Hill or Rebel Wilson. Often being heralded as a side character to be made as a punching bag. If the fat character gets a partner that is seen as shocking or funny, as if that is the least likely scenario. If the fat character is kicked around, rips their pants, embarasses themselves in public, that's fine because their size means they are basically asking for it. In that sense being fat dehumanizes someone to a point where all they are good for is making the main character look better. While the writers are correct in saying they did not take this path, making a fat character the dramatic lead, they did not necessarily flip the idea on its head. Charlie’s fatness is treated as a beastly characteristic. It is a common stereotype to associate fatness with an almost primal nature. Charlie’s hunger is portrayed as essentially an animal in nature. He does not just eat food, he stuffs himself with it. His peers witness his state and are horrified at the inhumane nature of his being. The fact that he is fat correlates to him not having the will to stop, like a monster who continues to devour prey without satisfaction. Through this it is made brazenly clear that in the minds of the writers being fat is the worst thing that can happen to a person and I question why the choice was made to have Charlie's peers so disgusted by his appearance. Their lack of composure is genuinely shocking and rather than feeling like I was watching a modern empathetic drama I felt more like I was watching a sci-fi monster movie from the 60’s. In that sense the only real difference from previous depictions is that you feel bad for the fat person rather than having them be the punchline.
Finally, I want to talk about the gay representation in this film. The writer of this film, Samuel D. Hunter, actually wrote it to be reflective of his experience and the adversity he faced as a gay man. In his words, "The story at the heart of 'The Whale' and character of Charlie draws from some deep and difficult personal truths for me…I grew up as a gay kid in a town in North Idaho, closeted and attending a religious high school, which taught that people like me shouldn't exist." Now some people may be confused because the main discussion of this film has nothing to do with being queer. There is an extremely convoluted side plot about being gay. Charlie left his wife and his child to be with a new partner, but the partner ended up killing himself over religious guilt. The theme of religious guilt is carried out through the film as Charlie is constantly visited by a missionary named Thomas, who believes it is his mission to save him. Thomas himself is in no position to preach since it turns out that he actually stole money from his church and ran away from home, but that is beside the point. I found it hard to focus on this aspect of the movie, and I was surprised to find out it mattered so much to the writer. It wasn't until I read an interview in PRIDE magazine that I realized what Hunter was trying to do. 'Bros' actor Guy Branum says, "I think that it's trying to use extreme fatness as a metaphor for gay pain. As an actual fat gay person, I feel like my life doesn't need to be a metaphor for somebody else's pain." I couldn't have said it better. I am fat, and I am gay, and my life is not a literary metaphor for someone else. My life is my life; it is not a spectacle or some weird coping mechanism for you. If you want to talk about how hard it is to be gay when everyone around you is against it, then make a movie about that. Obviously, you have experience in it, so there was no need to make this about weight.
So why do people like this movie so much? I can't say for sure; I can only speak from my experiences, but I have an idea. I don't know any plus-size person who liked this movie. They all felt extremely offended by it. But this is not a movie for us; it's a movie to make skinny people feel something. Skinny people watch this movie and say, "Oh my God, I can't believe people live like this. This is truly terrible." And then they cry and say how bad they feel. Then they lay in bed at night and feel good about themselves because they did a good deed and felt bad for a fat person today, and then they silently pat themselves on the back that they will never look like that. I could imagine if I were a skinny person and watched this movie, I would have a better look at it because I wasn't made the object of an entire universe's disgust for two hours. But I was. Skinny people feel so good about themselves after they watch it because they think that they truly did something heroic that they need to defend it. Even though the people criticizing it are the people the movie is about! So if you watch 'The Whale,' which I don't suggest, but if you do, I want you to take a look at yourself. Is Charlie a person to you? Or is he just an unfathomable object of your entertainment?