There is a new Lifetime movie, based on a real story (fairly typical ... so is the fact is sounds like feel good sap), concerning someone who somehow went undercover as a fat person, realizing (shocker) that overweight people are negatively looked at by society, including in clearly prejudicial ways. The movie concerns a teen who uses this as an experiment, hoping to make a documentary of sorts to raise money for college (injured, a chance of an athletic scholarship slipped away).
Her mother (played by Caroline Rhea) as well as a new friend she meets while "undercover" really has weight issues. As a NY Daily News review notes, in effect, the friend is the true subject (or the most interesting one) of the movie, "reducing the real subjects to supporting roles in their own story." The net effect "is coldly ironic at best, and may in the end undermine some of the good the producers clearly went to achieve." We see this in Freedom Writers plus Blood Diamond -- the well off whites are the stars, the others (if in various degrees fairly well represented), supporting characters. Ditto various movies on apartheid in South Africa.
This seems wrong, plus the focus seems often to me on the less interesting people. David Hinckley notes that it might be true that the average viewer might not watch if they do not have a representative of sorts that to whom they can relate. "Maybe." But, there are movies about lovable fat people who are struggling for love or whatnot, and people do enjoy them. The same applies to other subject matter, including a movie like Hotel Rwanda, and having the "other" as the stars truly challenges our viewpoints. It is quite true that we like to have someone to relate to -- the idea is bluntly seen in the "cum" shot of porn movies, after all. [Crude, but applicable.]
Still, it is a good idea to have movies that focus on the woman's point of view, and not just in porn. Talking about less savory media, recently, Married ... with Children repeats have cycled back to early episodes, including from the first season. It is a bit strange, really, to see the children so young, Al looking a little less pathetic, and in one scene -- shocking, I know -- wanting to have sex with his wife (and upset when people interrupt the opportunity!). Talking about vampires (see last entry), Marcy looks particularly young, not too far removed from her Fright Night days. BTW, it seems a bit ironic that "Doogie Howser" has come out as gay -- yet another person who played/plays a "sex hungry" heterosexual (shades of Rock Hudson?) who turns out not to be in real life.
Overcompensation, you know ...