Overweight child actors

[Sunshinenrain]

Am I the only one who gets really uncomfortable when seeing overweight child actors in a negative way?

I know they’re only films/TV shows but I would absolutely never put my child in a position where they’re laughed at for being fat.

Some that come to mind:

On Afterlife - where the boy calls out peado and the man says “if I was a peado you’d be safe you ginger, tubby cunt” - I laughed at this so hard but then I felt really sorry for the kid!

Friends - where the girl dances on Ross’s feet

Harry potter - when they’re getting ready for the dance and one of them says what about X and they laugh.

Charlie and chocolate factory - Augustus Gloop

Matilda - the boy that eats the chocolate cake

There’s loads more.

AIBU?
YABU - stop being so sensitive, it’s funny and the kids are fine.
YANBU - it’s mean and the parents are wrong.

I did wonder about the scene in Afterlife, but I think that in some scenes with children, the children say their lines and then when it cuts to the adult actor the child has been removed from the scene, if that makes sense. Also quite often actors who are late teens who look young play the part of children.

Yes nowadays they absolutely film certain scenes and lines without the child actors present. Then edit it to make them look like they are.

I went to a dance show, part of which was the 7 sins which is bizarre as is. One very overweight child came on as gluttony. I thought this was so cruel. I would have been fuming if that was my child. My DD is very slim, if it was The 4 Horseman and she came on as famine I'd have been really upset. So yeah I think it's shit I would let my child partake.

Surely the child is going to see it afterwards though. It can't be a pleasant surprise.

They will see it afterwards as will people they know.

No, the child won’t necessarily see it afterwards. It depends on the parents and how suitable the film is.

YADNBU OP - I've often wondered this as well

I think the bigger issue is turning OW children into a joke in the first place really, rather than the impact on individual actors, who you would imagine have achieved a level of comfort with their weight in order to have the confidence to play these roles. The examples you give are largely older productions, so perhaps it would be less likely that newer ones feature comedy fat kids. I hope so. As a former fat kid my life was made very miserable whenever a new fat character entered public consciousness, as it invariably heralded my latest nickname.

The girl who played Juanita Solis in Desperate Housewives has talked about this. I couldn't put my child forward for a role where I thought they would be made fun of.

YANBU. Also always really upsets me when a baby is screaming crying and looking distraught in a programme/film… they are clearly not acting!

Oh has she!
That’s interesting.

I’m so sorry to hear that.

That’s a really good point.
I was thinking about the individual actors but actually anyone watching it, especially overweight children, are going to feel that it’s ok to be taken the mick out of and other children think it’s ok to do.

Apart from Afterlife, most of these examples are about 20 years old

They'll see it one day. I can't imagine a child starring in Matilda then a parent saying no you can't see it. They are old enough to query why. The answer is 'because you were cast because you are fat'. If the parents want to hide this then clearly them being in it isn't the right choice. Also their peers will likely watch it. It's humiliating.

Yes it can be cruel but sometimes they also need a reality check with who they cast, in Corrie there is a girl who we are supposed to believe has got a football scholarship that is cruel in its self

That's such a good example. Having a character as ridiculously glamorous and shallow as Gaby Solis and then giving her an overweight and average-looking child (it turns out the babies were switched at birth) is a brilliant soap storyline on paper but it's got to be tough for the child actor. It's not like the Afterlife example where the kid might not know what's going on - she was in that show for years.

It's tricky in something like Matilda.

There are films which have scenes alluding to child abuse and they are usually filmed cleverly so that nothing actually inappropriate is happening on set but it's edited to make it look like the adult and child are in shot together. The same with the derogatory lines. I don't think these are a problem. Apparently the kids are just told they'll be able to watch it when they are older.

I'm guessing that child actors typically are quite good at telling reality from fiction given that that's their job, and I think most children would be able to understand the concept of portraying a situation which is very unfair or cruel without actually personally taking on that unfairness or cruelty. I don't think you'd put your child forward for a role if it was centred on some personal feature that they felt self conscious about. OTOH there has been some appalling treatment of child stars historically so it would be naive to assume that all parents of child actors are wonderfully supportive and sensitive. Maybe some of them are just in it for the money and are exploitative.

Apparently when a baby or toddler needs to cry on camera, they do something like let them have a toy, take it away from them, quickly film the scene and then ASAP give the toy back and RL mum or nanny is usually on hand for plenty of cuddles and cheering up. Or for little tiny babies that wouldn't react to a toy, they splash them with water which I think is a bit mean! But tbh for babies of that age actually the more difficult thing is getting them to not cry when they're being held by a stranger. That's why babies in soaps etc are mysteriously silent or invisible 99% of the time.

It's also possible with clever editing to play a pre recorded sound of a baby or young child crying and show the child actor from the back so you can't see it's not really them.

Those scenes are not filmed at the child FFS.
Anyway the finger should point at stage school/drama club parents, exploiting their kid.

Bruce bogtrotter in the film version of Matilda is wearing a fat suit.

Completely agree. Why perpetuate bullying of any kind? Can’t imagine it’s healthy for a developing brain either.

I personally hate it when v young babies (any baby really) is covered in stage makeup so it looks like they’ve just been born. No way would I allow this with my DC (whether mumsnet thinks I’m PFB or not)

He is now a doctor and looks nothing like the character he played
https://www.her.ie/entertainment/matildas-bruce-bogtrotter-is-a-doctor-now-and-he-doesnt-even-like-chocolate-518797

@Lunde I was talking about in the recent musical film version.

I was wondering about child actors when I watched The Sound of Freedom. It centres on child abuse and I was left with the impression that allowing a child to act in such films is a form of abuse in itself. I just can't see how it can be justified, tbh. I know the scenes were very cleverly shot to give impressions rather than being overtly abusive, but I can't see how even imagining being so scared can be good for a child.