First off for those in the tristate area, I am selling my book at Big Beautiful Bargins at the Knitting Factory. Don't just come to buy my book, check out all the clothing bargains and support the dance troupe Big Moves.
So after ordering the movie on Netflix months ago (it was constantly out of stock) I finally sat down and watched the movie Disfigured. It wasn't as bad as I expected but it wasn't great.
The premise of the movie is anorexic Darcy tries to join a fat acceptance group because she wants to accept she's fat. She is rebuffed by the members except for Lydia. Lydia and Darcy slowly become friends with Lydia eventually asking for anorexia lessons. When Lydia fails, it is Darcy who begins to lose control and Lydia who has to help her.
The good points included: a strong friendship developing between Lydia and Darcy as they both come to terms with their issues; a nicely filmed fat sex scene. (Although almost ruined by it's juxtaposition with another scene), the fact that Lydia the fat girl is much more accepting of her size than Darcy (as Lydia fails miserably at being anorexic) and of course the use of actual fat actors and not thin folks in fat suits.
The bad points included (and they pretty much ruin the movie): a very unaccepting fat acceptance group. In the beginning of the film Lydia announces she wants to have a fat acceptance walk. Her group completely freaks out and continues to freak out in the following session. I can't imagine any group who would do that. It wasn't like Lydia was offering a walk to lose weight you big fatties, she wanted to have a safe spot for people to exercise. Their treatment of Darcy was much worse. I can't imagine any fat acceptance group turning her away, at least not in the mean spirited way it was done. It makes it seem like we hate thin people. If anything someone like Darcy might benefit from it by seeing that fat isn't disguisting.
Bob, Lydia's love interest is probably most the annoying part of the story. Bob is a good looking fat man in a very John Goodman kind of way. (Bob is played by an actor who appeared on the Biggest Loser) Yet he lives with his parents, works for his parents (doing what looks to be an active job) and has to pay for sex. He hooks up with Lydia for casual sex under the pretense there is no place for him just to hook up for sex. All I could think of was where the closest BBW/BHW club in LA was. He later rejects Lydia after he decides to get Gastric Bypass surgery (He stops walking so he can gain weight to qualify).
The finally annoyance comes from a personal source that is the Binge Eating Disorder. Lydia seems to enjoy her binges, even has a binge buddy in high school. In reality she just enjoys food and does the kind of eating you might do in a nice restaurant or a good dinner or delicious food. Binge-eating is the non-stop eating of food with NO enjoyment at all.
Was this a size positive movie? Not really. It's insulting to fat men and fat acceptance activists who want a safe world for people of all sizes including woman like Darcy. It's negatives outweigh (no pun intended) the positives. If the movie was just about Darcy and Lydia coming to terms with weight and cut out the mean fat acceptance group (or at least made them more mellow) and got rid of the annoying love interest, I would have liked it better. I give it a C+.
The good points included: a strong friendship developing between Lydia and Darcy as they both come to terms with their issues; a nicely filmed fat sex scene. (Although almost ruined by it's juxtaposition with another scene), the fact that Lydia the fat girl is much more accepting of her size than Darcy (as Lydia fails miserably at being anorexic) and of course the use of actual fat actors and not thin folks in fat suits.
The bad points included (and they pretty much ruin the movie): a very unaccepting fat acceptance group. In the beginning of the film Lydia announces she wants to have a fat acceptance walk. Her group completely freaks out and continues to freak out in the following session. I can't imagine any group who would do that. It wasn't like Lydia was offering a walk to lose weight you big fatties, she wanted to have a safe spot for people to exercise. Their treatment of Darcy was much worse. I can't imagine any fat acceptance group turning her away, at least not in the mean spirited way it was done. It makes it seem like we hate thin people. If anything someone like Darcy might benefit from it by seeing that fat isn't disguisting.
Bob, Lydia's love interest is probably most the annoying part of the story. Bob is a good looking fat man in a very John Goodman kind of way. (Bob is played by an actor who appeared on the Biggest Loser) Yet he lives with his parents, works for his parents (doing what looks to be an active job) and has to pay for sex. He hooks up with Lydia for casual sex under the pretense there is no place for him just to hook up for sex. All I could think of was where the closest BBW/BHW club in LA was. He later rejects Lydia after he decides to get Gastric Bypass surgery (He stops walking so he can gain weight to qualify).
The finally annoyance comes from a personal source that is the Binge Eating Disorder. Lydia seems to enjoy her binges, even has a binge buddy in high school. In reality she just enjoys food and does the kind of eating you might do in a nice restaurant or a good dinner or delicious food. Binge-eating is the non-stop eating of food with NO enjoyment at all.
Was this a size positive movie? Not really. It's insulting to fat men and fat acceptance activists who want a safe world for people of all sizes including woman like Darcy. It's negatives outweigh (no pun intended) the positives. If the movie was just about Darcy and Lydia coming to terms with weight and cut out the mean fat acceptance group (or at least made them more mellow) and got rid of the annoying love interest, I would have liked it better. I give it a C+.
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