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05/05/2016
FAT PIG
A reviewer , Dave Logghe, argued that. “I love plays about damaged personalities. I think they give great insight into pieces of ourselves that we struggle with, and its easier to look at them through a microscope focused on another person. The main character of the story isn't really a great person but he's got a believable flaw that inspires self examination, and I think that's a good achievement for any play.” Truly, this book somehow inspires self examination— whether what we will do when it comes to the situation, Tom’s dilemma. Most people finishes their self examination by concluding Tom is just total idiot who does not have his own standard, and they will not be the person like Tom. However, is not it too harsh and unfair to just ascribe all these problems to Tom’s damaged personality? Moreover, is Helen only a victim and everyone else like Jeannie and Carter are just mean people? In fact, they, Tom,Helen, Jeannie and Carter, are all victims. The society that educates them and push them this way is the cause of these all unfortunate happenings. Thus, it is significant that not only reflecting ourselves about this , but also do a self-examination on the society that makes all characters in this book somehow victims.
The standard of beauty is the prejudice that the society educates and push people to believe it. In this play, fatness is exactly represented as the opposite of standard beauty. The main character is described as plus sized woman and sometimes just ‘fat pig.’ It seems that she acts in an indifferent way about the her outfit but, deep in her heart, she is afraid of it and just trying to rationalize herself.She has inferiority complex which she is trying to hide by her direct humor about her fatness. Before other people make fun of her fatness, she just make fun of herself at first to prevent other people’s ridicule. Needless to say, other people, Jeannie, Carter and Tom, think fatness is wrong and disgusting. Especially, Carter has extreme bias on the fatness as he blames his own mom for being fat.. As this phrase —“ I’ve got this fucking sumo wrestler in a housecoat trailing around behind me. That’s about as bad as it can get!”— proves, he thinks his mom is wrong and disgusting.
It is no surprising that he always make fun of Helen as his thoughts on the fatness can be summarized as, “ Don’t look at the package, take a look in the fucking mirror, you cow!! PUT’ EM DOWN!” Moreover, Jeannie just believes and follows what society assign to her, standard of beauty. She is obsessed with being slim and glamourous. She cries out, “ She’s fat, so does that mean that Tom secretly digs fat chicks, does it mean that I’m fat?! Huh?!! Is that what all this shit is about, getting back at me?!!” It seems that she is brainwashed by the society and blindly follows it. Although Tom tries to understand and act in an indifferent way like Helen does, deep in his heart, however, he is also just doing self-justification. Tom is kind of better person than Jeannie and Carter. He tries to understand fatness and even thinks it does not matter that much. However, unfortunately, he also thinks fatness is somewhatflaw.He does not admit in front of others like Carter but he definitely embarrassed with his girlfriend being fat. If he were confident with her, he would not lie to Carter at first time that she is just business partner. () Carter, Jeannie and Tom all are slave owners. Carter is one who always whipand abuse slaves, meanwhile Tom is one who being kind to his slaves. However, he is still slave owner; good slave owner does not make anything better. Likewise, they all think fatness as flaw. Tom just considers as less flaw than other people.
All the people in this play, by extension, most of the people in the society, think fatness is ugliness. This social norm that has lasted for hundreds of years makes monsters like Carter or Jeannie. Why is it so? What makes people to believe that fatness is ugliness ? “ Ugliness is not an absolute condition but a socially sanctioned attribute.” The modern definitions of beauty takes root in Botticelli’s painting of The Birth of Venus, which has established a standard of features. Since then, this standard of beauty — voluptuous figure, flawless skin, golden locks — has ceaselessly reproduced by artists, illustrators, marketers, members of the media, which became a basis for idealbeauty. Although there was slight change— glamor to slender, blonde to brunette, pale white skin to tanned skin— in this standard beauty, fatness has always considered as ugliness. Nowadays all media is showing slim, glamorous woman and makes fun of fat woman. Parents, friends, teachers, and even anonymous people criticize fat people for being fat.This prejudice is so deep rooted into people, so it seems like it is human nature to hate and disgust fatness. It becomes one of social norm that put the blame on the fat people.
It seems that Carter, Tom , Jeannie and other people who blames and make fun of fat people are vile and merciless people. In fact, theyneed reflectionandintrospection about their behavior toward fat people and obsession with looking. However, ascribing all responsibilities to them and blaming them seems too harsh. These people are just victims who are just educated and became tamed to social custom. It is inevitable to become a person who is obsessed with looking when they are surrounded by all things that shows fatness is ugliness and wrong thing.Tom, at first time no matter how he truly believes or not, tries to fight to other people’s mean statement toward his fat girlfriend. He maintains that looking is not important thing and the most important thing is one’s inner side. He tries his best to keep relationship with his girlfriend, but the society — the pressure and ridicule that they do not fit each other — makes him so weary and frustrated. His endless tear at the very end of this play proves that his frustration and anger towards the society that makes him to end the relationship and shame that he is just that weak and vulnerable person who has to abandon his girlfriend because of what other people’s saying.
It is true that Tom is coward, but it is also true he does his best. Carter, Tom , Jeannie and other people are just living in this kind of society. They are neither good people or bad people. Actually, they are victims of this eccentric and unjust social system.
For example, Carter is also a victim ofthis improper and unjust social structure. He is the victim of lookism which his friends, his father, all media and education push and educates him this way. The reason that he felt ashamed of his mother in the grocery store was because there were stocks boys — bunch of guys that he knows. Of course, his behavior is not right, but it has at least some kind of excuse for him. Because his father always work late and golf on weekends and makes him feel like his father does not love his mother, he guess it’s because of her mother being fat. If his father told him when he was just a kid that it’s not because of fatness, he would not be become like this. Moreover, all media and books stereotype of fat women: stupid, lazy, ugly but active and humorous. Nowadays, in most of movies, fat women are specialized in supporting roles who makes main character, slim and pretty girl, remarkable.
It seems reasonable that Carter becomes like this since he was just surrounded by all these push and pressure. Not only Carter but also Jeannie is also the victim under this social structure. She is obsessed with her appearance like weight, looking, clothes. However, what make her like this is her friends, parents and all media. She is living in the society that one guy, Carter, cares about her ass becoming little bit flabby . The guys like Carter says, “ I seriously think her arms have gotten chunkier or whatever, The past few months” as it is natural things to talk about. Needless to say, all the magazine, movies,Tv shows show slim and glamor girls and brainwash that this is the best. She would also want to eat things without worrying and do not care about her belly when she wears bikini. However, this society makes her to care and think about it. She is mean to Helen, because she envies her. She hates Tom because even though she put a huge effort to maintain slim, Tom choose Helen over her. Can we blame her for being obsessed with looking? She is just poor victim of this cruel society. Thus, it is unfair that just ascribing all these problems to individuals’ problem.
Surely, itwill be satisfactory if all people can have courageand uprightness. Tom should have been a hero who does not care about what other people talk about and keep his relationship with Helen. However, is it easy? It is not. People cannot blame for not having such courage that can endure whatever other people say to them. Tom, Jeannie, Carter and Helen is just normal person like everyone else. They are vulnerable to peer pressure, social norms and cultures. Tom argues at the end of the play, “ Listen… If we were in some other time or a land that nobody else was around on…. like that island from the movie, the Sinatra film —None but the Brave — then everything might be okay, I wouldn’t be so fucking paranoid about what the people around me were saying.”As Tom saying, we are living in society with other people, not isolated island. It is too cruel if we just ascribe this problem to Tom’s vulnerable personality.
The society never has been utopia yet. Just three hundred years ago, people believe that there is hierarchy within people. They took slavery for granted at that time, and they had no senseof guilt. However, nowadays slavery is no longer exist. People realized the problem of slavery and question its legitimacy. One by one, people changed their thought and each of them contributed to change this unjust. As a result, all people can enjoy same rights these days. Likewise, people can also change the social norm on fatness. Because our aesthetic standards are arbitrary, our definitions of beauty have shifted slightly, over time, to encompass, for example, anorexic-appearing fashion models with little resemblance to the shapeliness of Botticelli’s Goddess of Beauty.There is one vital point in that dynamic: the arbitrary—including our ideas of what is beautiful, ugly, visually acceptable, or socially stigmatizing—can change. And each of us can contribute to that change. The cause is from society, therefore, the solution is also in society. Most of people think fat people become fat because they are lazy and do not stop eating. In the book, Carter argues that, “You don’t like being fat, there’s pretty easy remedy, most times. Do-not-jam-so-much-food-in-your-fucking-gullet. It’s no that that hard.”, and Tom responds, “Right. I guess that’s true.” However, it is hard unlike how Carter think. As some experts claim that it is mainly caused by environment of prevalence of fast food and their genes. They maintain that, “We need to challenge the myth that sloth and sedentary behavior are largely responsible for obesity. We need to stop arguing that individuals and parents are solely responsible.” This society needs to save Carter or Tom who believes that the cause of fatness is due to their laziness by telling and showing that it is not largely responsible for it. By changing this kind of social norm one by one, people will change their thought on that fatness is ugliness and symbol of laziness.
In conclusion,in microscopic perspective, people like Jeannie, Helen, Carter and Tom needs self-examination thatreflect on their behavior that may hurt other people’s feelings. However, in macroscopic perspective, beyond individual’s self examination, society as itself needs self examination. As society whole, Tom,Helen, Jeannie and Carter, are all victims. The society that educates and push them caused these problems. Thus, this society that educates and pressures like this should change and reeducates and push them to new way — that fatness is not opposite to the standard beauty, they are not wrong, they are just different.
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