Books/films with obese female protagonist?

[runnerbeany]

Chatting with friend and discussing whether UK society can view obese women as 'heroic' protagonists. We both think that people can be heroic regardless of body shape, but couldn't think of good examples in the media. Can you help?

We want examples of reasonably well known books/films/TV, where the protagonist is an obese woman (not just a wee bit overweight) and where it is not relevant to the story. She just HAPPENS to be obese, but the story isn't ABOUT her weight. She doesn't lose weight by the end. She triumphs in the story, either physically, psychologically, or beats the antagonist, or whatever.

I appreciate that many books don't mention whether the protagonist is obese or not, so you could choose to imagine she is, but that is not the same thing.

Please no fat-shaming! I'm really hoping the answers are plentiful and me and my friend were just unable to think of any.

Hairspray

Muriels Wedding
Misery

Nothing heroic about being obese.

And this is us? Really? Its about a woman who hates who she is cuz she is morbidly obese. That isnt heroic. That is opposite of heroic

Ma Larkin in The Darling Buds of May.

Try things with Danielle Mcdonald, Melissa Mccarthy, Rebel Wilson, although they are often used as the comedy sidekick. There are, though, a few where they are positive lead characters

@Marvellousmadness

Nothing heroic about being obese.

And this is us? Really? Its about a woman who hates who she is cuz she is morbidly obese. That isnt heroic. That is opposite of heroic

Well this wasn't meant to be ythread about whether or not obesity is heroic! The point is, does the media portray characters whose obesity has no impact on their heroism? I think everyone has shown that there are plenty of examples. Though no doubt obese women are still very much underrepresented in the media when compared to the percentage of obese women in society. Hopefully the media is moving in the right direction generally in showing people as they are in reality.

@Neverendingdust

Muriels Wedding Misery

She’s very much the classic antagonist rather than the protagonist in Misery and doesn’t triumph! Epic performance though.

If it's not a big part of the story, then maybe it's partially that you wouldn't pick up on it.
If they never mention their weight/race/political leanings etc how do you imagine them? Think of a story that you know well, but doesn't describe the character much. How do you picture them?
It's something I find interesting. Hermione from Harry Potter, for example. What do we know about her? She has bushy hair, slightly sticky out teeth and her parents are dentists. Do we know anything about her weight? No. Could she be obese? Unlikely because she needs to be reasonably agile. But there's nothing to say she's tall, short, slim, fat or even her race etc.
How many people had pictured her anything other than white and slim, because that's what we expect from our heroines!

Some obese people will obsess about their weight. Some won't. But if they don't obsess about their weight in the book, then you may not realise that the author saw them as obese.

The same is true of disabled characters.
They tend to either be:

1. The side kick to show how wonderful the main character is/the not quite as bad side to the baddy-basically instead of having them rescue a kitten or love a dog.
2. All about the disability. You only see them when they're having problems/going to a medical appointment or moaning about their disability.

There's a also a reasonable chance they'll be killed off by a bad move on the part of the main character so they can be wracked with guilt...

Where are the stories where a character goes on adventures, solves a mystery, is a parent etc and happens to be missing their arm?
My dd is missing her arm and she does complain about this. I wrote some stories for her where the main character was missing her arm, and it is quite difficult. You want to sprinkle the references in enough to make it clear without beating the other person over the head with them.
And some of the references I used, (eg twisting to pick something up, holding it under her arm) probably wouldn't have been picked up by someone who wasn't used to the reality.
In the same way, if I read a book where the character moved seats because they were more comfortable in the bigger one/the seat belt didn't go round them, I don't think I'd necessarily register that meant they were obese. I'd think of the seat being child sized or the seatbelt jammed.

Carry on Matron

Dumplin’
Isn’t it romantic.

Viv in No Offence

Girls the lead character is v overweight and it's never mentioned

Dr Ruth Galloway in the Ruth Galloway mysteries. She’s a fairly big lass but it’s incidental to the stories, imo.

Also the TV series cheaters had more than one fat woman, dressed glamoursly and without anyone making a thing about it.

@MargaretThursday I agree that disabled people are also underrepresented as protagonists. Ditto POC. Ditto many other groups. I also agree that our own personal prejudices dictate how we imagine characters on books, but not so much films. There's very little scope there - we're at the mercy of the filmmakers' prejudices? Or what they think society will pay to see?

Niecy nash as deputy raineesha in reno 911

The series suoerstore has several really funny comedy actresses above average size

Melissa mccarthy in everything

Fortune feimster in everything

Meg in motherland

Retta in Good Girls

Vicar of Dibley

I loved the film I Feel Pretty (Amy Schumer)

Cheesy snd not perfect by any means but it was very feel good

Thank you everyone for all the ideas. My friend is going to be laughing that we didn't think of these! Pair of culturally uneducated muppets

@

Roseanne (???). I don’t know if she’s heroic enough for this thread, but she’s the lynchpin of her family, and the sitcom, and her weight isn’t a “thing”.

Apologies to anyone under 35 who has no idea what I am talking about.

Miss Piggy!

@DonnaHaywood

This Is Us. (One of) the female lead's weight is a plot line in the first season, but isn't a central issue after that, or her only characteristic at all.

I also found The Essex Serpent refreshing in the way it mentions the protagonist's body.

Suki in The Gilmore Girls (although that show is weird about food/weight in some ways).

I’ve never picked up on the Gilmore girls, what did I miss?

The Tourist was excellent