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Huge is advance for fat acceptance in Hollywood

If there is one thing that fat people hate seeing on television, it’s shows where large people get screamed at to lose weight.

Another is the predominance of waif-like actresses in a nation where some two-thirds of US adults are considered overweight.

Huge, a new drama series (on ABC Family) about a group of teens sent to a fat camp, suggests that the “fat acceptance” movement may finally be making some headway in Hollywood.

“A screen full of actors with rolls of fat who aren’t there to be frowned-upon as freaks,” said Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker, describing the new show as taking a tricky premise and turning it into a clever, well-written hour of TV.

Later this year a new romantic comedy series, Mike & Molly, about two people who meet at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting, will debut on CBS.

Huge features seven male and female teens and their emotional journeys at the fictional weight loss Camp Victory. Hairspray actress Nikki Blonsky — whose swimsuit-clad curves promote the show on billboards around the country — leads a largely unknown plus-size cast. Blonsky, 21, plays a sarcastic rebel who is quite happy with her size (as is the actress in real life) and mad at her parents for sending her to fat camp.

BIG HIT WITH VIEWERS

The new series made a splash with audiences, drawing 2.5 million viewers and becoming ABC Family’s biggest ever series debut among 18-49 year-old women, according to ratings data.

While groups fighting discrimination against fat people lamented the fact that the main premise of Huge was, once again, about weight loss, there were signs of hope.

“So far, we don’t see people being pushed and abused like we do on reality shows, which is nice,” commented Peggy Howell, public relations director for the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA). “And it was nice to see so many fat people have an (acting) job!,” Howell told Reuters.

NAAFA, which encourages healthy eating and active lifestyles but without focusing on weight loss, says discrimination toward fat people in the 
US workplace, in schools and 
in the healthcare system is growing rapidly.

The brightest spot in Huge was seen as Blonsky’s character Willamina, and her rejection of the notion that weight is a problem.

“Fat people are supposed to be ashamed, supposed to want to change, supposed to want to look like ‘thinspiration’ pictures. 
So when someone like Willamina says they are not buying into 
that, no one knows how to handle it. That to me is a good thing,” said Deb Lemire, president of 
the Association for Size Diversity and Health.