Will They Still Be HUGE?
So I’ve watched a few episodes of this “Huge” show.
I won’t go into details… better bloggers than I have done wonderful recaps and excellent deconstructions of it.
But I have one, big, glaring question I’d like an answer to…
Are they going to make the actors and actresses that play the kids in the show actually lose weight over the course of the season?
Because the lifestyle that is imposed on the campers in the show would result in weight loss. That much exercise with that small amount of food is going to have an impact.
But one assumes the cast of the show is not actually LIVING in the camp… so are they going to be required to starve themselves to make the show “realistic”? OR… is the show just going to pretend they are losing weight? Or are they going to introduce plotlines of “cheating” so there’s no weight lost, but it’s not the fault of the “lifestyle change” itself…
I admit that my research into this was a cursory Google search to try and find the answer, but I came up with nothing but a forum elsewhere asking the same question…
Any bets on what’s going to happen?
Maybe we’re going to learn that they can’t lose weight because they’re genetically predisposed to fatness?
I think you bring up excellent questions to ponder.
I have not seen the show for two reasons;
1. I watch very little network TV, because I’m into cable tv shows and movies. and
2; I don’t think I can bring myself to watch it and be pissed and disappointed should it turn out to be total fat-biased garbage hidden under the veil of “humor” and /or “sharing & caring”.
OK, that being said, I have read several reviews and some blog accounts of the show.
The main character (played by Niki Blonsky) is the camp’s black-market Godmother - keeping candy and treats stashed away to sell to fellow camp members (and I guess eat herself).
I ask WHY?
Why does she have to be “addicted” to candy, to the point she can’t stay in a summer camp without it? Why are most of the camp-mates also addicted, and would do anything for a candy fix? I’m fat. I RARELY eat candy or chocolates. I could easily go for weeks - or even months - without a single candy bar or chocolate. But these kids, you know, being FAT and all… well they are candy and junk-food junkies. EVERYONE knows that!
Eating “healthy” good foods is foreign to them. Hell, that’s why they’re in a fat camp, right??
See? This is why I can’t bring myself to watch this show or others like it.
The fat person is always, ALWAYS to blame… blamed for being fat in the first place, blamed for failing in losing weight, blamed for gaining all the weight lost right back again.
It’s all about blame and this show sounds like that is the under-current of it all. I say F them.
There ARE fat kids, teens and adults who DO eat just as healthy and decently as thin/er people. WE all know that, “they” all know that… but no one wants to admit it. But that just can’t be “right” — because there must be Someone to blame!
One of my Life’s Mantras is: “It is what it is”.
That’s how I feel about being the size I am. It is what it is. Period.
:: off the soapbox for now :::
I actually found that little bit about the candy kind of funny because it reminded me of my camp days. I went every summer when I was a kid (not a fat camp just regular summer camp) and the quantity of candy floating around the cabins was completely out of control! You would trade it and sell it, sort of like having cigarettes in prison or something. I think all kids that are away from their parents for the summer like to indulge in things they would never be allowed to get away with at home, like staying up until 3 am eating candy and gossiping about boys with your bunkmates. What fun!
As a side note, that was only about 5 minutes of one show, and there is a lot more to this show than that. I have related it to watching Army Wives for me (I am myself a military wife). It is a lifetime show, and much of it is completely rediculous and over the top. But every episode seems to have at least one part that I find poignant and completely relatable for me. And that’s what I take from it, not all the other crap that I could spend all day picking apart. I am personally glad that kids have something they can relate to, even if every minute of every show is not the “perfect” FA message.
That is a very good attitude Sleepy… I like where you are coming from about this.
*sigh* I don’t know, maybe, just maybe I’ll watch the show myself a few times and re-evaluate my thoughts on it.
When is it on, anyway, and what channel?
Huge is from ABC Family Network, Mondays. Full episodes are available on the ABC Family website. I think there’s been four so far - I’m behind myself and need to catch up online.
I didn’t really view the candy that way - I’ve watched every ep. They are all kids, away from home, and being forced to workout constantly, and eat what is given to them. Who wouldn’t want something else to eat? Especially when they are being deprived.
I’ve pondered similar questions myself. For example, will there be a Season 2? If so, will it be the same cast? If so, then doesn’t this kind of promote the idea that Weight Loss Camp is a futile, never-ending cycle?
I’m also curious how many of the actors and actresses in it will be interested in losing weight if only to further their own careers. If I had to guess, I’d say that some of them would voluntarily be the weight loss success stories so they can get more mainstream roles. But that’s just a guess.
Great questions!
Peace,
Shannon
Fab@54 you read my mind, so I’ll just ditto you. Thanks!
I LOVE “Huge” and cannot imagine it going down that road, but at the same time was pondering the time line aspect of the show’s plot. I don’t think they ever say specifically how long they are supposed to be at the camp. I have not read the source material and doubt I will after hearing some snippets from the first Fatcast that talks about the show. I’m so against any message regarding wight loss that I don’t know how I would even react. I will admit to being quite invested in these characters and am enjoying every little morsel of the “Will” & “Ian” characters. I find the writing to be quite realistic and hope beyond all reason that they will somehow magically come to an FA/SA conclusion. I don’t know that they could do a season 2. Hmmm…
Thanks for this post. =0)
Well, the name of the show is HUGE, not Fat Camp, so maybe a 2nd season could follow Will to school… who knows?
I have also been enjoying it and agree that it doesn’t have to be 100% FA to entertain me! I’m a Trekkie since 1968 (wow!) and even I acknowledge some episodes are low quality. But even those have little gems in perfect rejoinders or a good subplot.
The short answer to this is that we are scripting the characters losing weight through dialogue, costume, and good old fashioned suspension of disbelief. Hey, if I pretended not to notice when Sarah Jessica Parker was pregnant on Sex and the City, people can do this.
We feel to ask young actors, over whom we as producers are in an extreme position of power, to lose weight would be completely reprehensible and a great way to breed eating disorders. Actors may lose or gain weight on their own during the show, which is not our business; we don’t want to exercise control over someone’s body.
At real life camps people can lose widely varying amounts of weight because of different body chemistries- I actually heard about a guy who spent the summer at a really intense weight loss camp and only lost one pound- and that variation will be reflected on the show.
I think there’s an idea in this culture, because we’re used to seeing (usually in ads) drastic “before” and “after” weight loss, that you come out of a weight loss camp looking like a totally different person. In real life, changes are more subtle. Too-rapid weight loss is neither healthy nor effective in the long term, and my impression is that some of the real life camps are cognizant of that. The amount of weight we suggest campers are losing on Huge may be a smaller amount than what the average camper loses in real life- but the fictional camp need not reflect every reality. Watching the show, you can’t actually see how much they eat, all you know is that it’s healthy. And I actually like the idea of a camp where the focus isn’t on, like, LOSE THIS AMOUNT OF WEIGHT.
PS- I gotta defend the candy-smuggling thing: I have always seen where it’s problematic, but for me that wasn’t a good enough reason not to use it. It’s the biggest cliche in stories about weight loss camp because it really happens. Any place where certain things are forbidden, kids will sneak that thing in. I saw it as a perfect symbol of Will’s rebellion against a place that regulates eating.
xoxo
Savannah Dooley (Huge co-creator)
Holy, Holy, Holy, Savannah Dooley, I bow down before thee.
First of all, thank you so much for commenting. Second of all, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for the gift of “Huge.” The humanity you have bestowed upon the image of fat people is priceless and I know that each and every one of our readers will probably be lining up to thank you for your contribution to Fat Acceptance (whether you realize it or not, you have done more for our movement in the few brief episodes than all of the Fatosphere put together by basically broadcasting the “We are human!” message to the world).
Finally, I know that people are also eager to ask you about the recent fat camp scholarship. Some people feel betrayed, some don’t see the problem. I’m somewhere in the middle. I’m still reading up on Camp Shane because between our preconceived notions of fat camp and our personal experiences with fat camp, many are concerned about what may be getting promoted. Personally, I feel like it makes perfect sense, but I wish there were HAES Camps (Health at Every Size) rather than weight loss camps, where the primary focus is on teaching healthy eating and behaviors, rather than a “transform your child” sort of thing.
Anyway, keep up the great work, and thank you so much for what you have done.
Peace,
Shannon Russell
OMG! I never expected to be worshipped! LOL thank you so much. I’ve been a lurker around the Fatosphere for a few years now and I’m really grateful to the FA blogs that have embraced the show especially because I know a lot of FA folks were understandably turned off by the concept/ads.
My thoughts on the scholarship can be found in the comments here: http://www.fatshionista.com/cms/index.php?option=com_mojo&Itemid=69&p=503
xoxo,
SD
WOW! Well thanks so much for taking the time to answer the question definitively. I think it’s great that the actors will not be required to lose weight. There’s many shows that would require that and not give it a second thought.
I, personally, an enjoying the show quite a lot… I adore that it’s treating the characters just as characters… some good, some bad, some flawed, some “normal” - just like people actually are.
Now… if only someone could do something about the visitors to the message boards at ABC family.com - not your fault, of course. Sigh.
Since you follow the sphere, you know the * impact your creation is having. I think the explosion of Fat Hate in the comments of various main stream blogs around the show are a sad reality about the state of Fat Hatred in our country. Your show has been a wonderful, wonderful step in a direction with a scope never seen before on TV. Thank you so much
* forcing myself not pun with the word Huge