August 6, 2001
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Tying Up Loose Ends
1. For those that asked, Alex (the Red Cross poster boy below) is doing very well now. Thanks for the wonderful thoughts.
2. About the Xanga dessert item on the menu: I have never dipped a Xangan in chocolate and had them after dinner, but I could probably be persuaded, depending on the Xangan.
3. About Shrek - if the message was about not being
prejudiced, that'd be dandy. But why, then, when the princess changed from "beautiful" to "ugly," the only thing that changed was her height/weight? Why did everyone refer to the short/fat version as "ugly"? In order to make her ugly, why not put leeches on her, make her snaggle-toothed, poke an eye out, or SOMEthing other than just a few extra pounds? FUrther - I looked EVERYWHERE on the web for a picture of the heavier princess... but nope, you can't buy an action figure of her, find a video clip of her, or even find one single danged image. Imagine that.
Fat people are ugly. The movie says this over and over. ("They lived ugly ever after" - that's the exact quote at the end.) Sure, maybe it says "Don't hate them for that, though... get to know them, maybe they're wonderful underneath!", but the message that fat people are ugly is blatant.
I hope Spielberg marries a 350 pound woman, and she rolls over on him in bed.
Comments (8)
Wow! I haven't seen this yet, but that sounds like a terrible message for kids and young women, alike. Yuck.
I hadn't seen Shreck yet... I don't think I will bother now...
Well said. I recently went on a class trip with my daughter. We took in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. There was a statue of a woman. I believe it was called "The Bather". She had large hips and there were rolls on her belly as she stooped over. I looked at the kids I was "guiding" and told them..."I look like this! Remember when things start to shift and sag that in the past someone thought this was beautiful!" All the girls smiled and the boy with us just nodded his head!
Spielberg's not to blame. He owns part of the company. He doesn't make or write every movie they produce. I seriously doubt he even greenlights or possibly even KNOWS everything that Dreamworks SKG is doing at any particular time. Blame the writer or the director if you have to blame someone.
I *did* find some discussion of this though. Check out:
http://www.sptimes.com/News/053101/Floridian/Fat_Fiona_a_model_of_.shtml
http://www.sptimes.com/News/053101/Floridian/Weighing_in_on__Shrek.shtml
http://sptimes.com/News/052801/Floridian/Who_is_the_foulest_of.shtml
ooh, very good points! thank you so much!
Yup.
The Duchess
I had similiar thoughts about Shrek. I laughed through the movie and then came home and started thinking . . . As a barely 5'0" person who is currently on a diet . . . I certainly got the ugly message!