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[Dusk Soldier]

I don't think anyone is legitimately claiming being overweight is just as healthy as being "fit". But any time someone who is fat is portrayed positively there are a number of people who act not like it is just undesirable, but that it is some moral failing that the overweight person should be held accountable for. And it verges on bullying sometimes.

People go out of their way to tell people they should change lifestyles, like it is any of their business whatsoever. And there is no way I buy it being because its "unhealthy" or some sense of altruism for other people.

There is a difference between shaming someone for being overweight, and promoting a healthy lifestyle. And for a lot of people, they don't know the difference. I like being chubby, I like other guys that are chubby. I'm confident in my body. And it would be really nice if the world stopped trying to shame me out of that.

I think what your missing is the values dissonance from people growing up in different regions of the world. So you and your friends might look at those reimagined heroes and describe them as chubby. But someone who grew up in China or Japan would definitely use the word fat or obese.

There's also the issue of them describing being fat as being "realistic." A lot of super heroes do have unrealistically shredded bodies. Especially once the 90s hit and the comics industry decided that having a super power meant being shredded as well. But that doesn't mean it would be more realistic for them to be overweight or fat.

 

[The Albatross]

Superman should be more out of shape. Think about it, the guy can effortlessly fly (At least, it doesn't seem to exert any energy for him to do so), so all that muscle wasting... he'd never burn calories. It'd be like being in space.

 

[hirokazu]

Superheroes shouldn't look totally ripped, ever. Strongmen bodies have a lot of bulk, which is what these images are.

People saying they just fat are wrong.

But the source literally says they’ve been modified to make them just fat like regular folk.

 

[cromofo]

Man they have to be the best pecs I've seen.

 

[LordRaptor]

Superman should be more out of shape. Think about it, the guy can effortlessly fly (At least, it doesn't seem to exert any energy for him to do so), so all that muscle wasting... he'd never burn calories. It'd be like being in space.

Superman basically photosynthesises his energy requirements.
Whens the last time you saw a fat plant?

e: because that's the fundamental problem with trying to apply "real world" calorific usage to characters that aren't even human.
Cyborg is mostly robot, why the fuck would 'fatter robot' be more 'realistic'? Wonder Woman is literally sculpted from clay, Superman absorbs sunlight. even 'humanish' characters are shown to have regular intensive workout regimes as part of their daily activities - not 'an hour at the gym on my before work' workouts, hand to hand military combat training with people that vastly outclass them in speed and strength level workouts

 

[DyslexicAlucard]

Black Panther got screwed. At least Supes got a dad bod.

This is what I was thinking, haha.

Black Panther isn't American, neither is Superman for that matter

Superman was co-created by a Canadian, but part of the collaboration on him was American, no?

Either way, I laugh that we had Heritage Minutes up here about how the prototypical American superhero was (partly) a Canadian creation.

 

[Snowybreak]

I prefer a cushion over hot dog skin.

 

[Zaventem]

Yeah I do, it superheroing 101. Most heroes don't do enough to get the bodies they have. The super strength ones especially should actually have problems getting ripped since what works for normal people shouldn't work for them. Wtf is a sit up gonna do for superman, is no workout from that for him.

So he should gain fat super fast according to your logic.

 

[El Daniel]

I prefer a cushion over hot dog skin.

Muscle is pretty soft though

 

[Snowybreak]

Muscle is pretty soft though

Chest hair dude.

 

[Astral]

I don't know how saying "look now your favorite heroes are as fat as you" is gonna help.

 

[ViviOggi]

Topics GAF sees eye to eye on:

1. Porn discussion
2. Fat shaming

 

[RedSwirl]

On the subject of portraying overweight and obese people in media in general, I don't think it's meant to normalize the condition, it's just meant to acknowledge that in a realistic setting, fat and overweight people exist. It's the same as not ignoring the fact that people smoke and drink. If you create a book or whatever other kind of visual medium where every, single, person is slim or in perfect shape, even every day people, that would seem unrealistic to me.

 

[LordRaptor]

Its not fat shaming though.

If you really want to have a conversation about body shapes and expectations, ask how come Amanda Waller changed (and for bonus points there's the de-aging and 'whitening' of her features too)

Not just photoshopping a beer gut onto T'Challa

 

[TTOOLL]

Its not fat shaming though.

If you really want to have a conversation about body shapes and expectations, ask how come Amanda Waller changed (and for bonus points there's the de-aging and 'whitening' of her features too)

Not just photoshopping a beer gut onto T'Challa

That's a good point. I vastly prefer the old one.

 

[Inuhanyou]

This is stupid. Doesn't MCU automatically disprove this by showing actual actors who just have trained just a bit for the role? What about actual heroes who have to do this all the time? Of course they would be lean, toned and muscular beyond the normal person

I mean, i'd expect more realistic bodies to be filled with scars, bulletholes and such, not fat, otherwise they could not even do the job they are realistically supposed to do.

Its not fat shaming though.

If you really want to have a conversation about body shapes and expectations, ask how come Amanda Waller changed (and for bonus points there's the de-aging and 'whitening' of her features too)

Not just photoshopping a beer gut onto T'Challa

Aren't those two pictures written by two completely different writers and different authors across two completely different time periods? What exactly stays the same in comics? So why would you expect that?

Furthermore, Black people are more than just stereotypical features and skin tones identified with them. My entire family is black, yet according to you, my family would be not black.

I always get annoyed when people come at 'blackness' with an air that there is only one kind, and anything otherwise is just 'whiteness'.

No, black people have more settings than 'big nose, thick afro hair, bigger lips, extremely dark skin"

 

[goldenpp72]

Why does being fat have to be the 'realistic', are most people fat/obese in the world? And why would people doing acts of great ability be fat?

 

[Face it Tiger..]

Its not fat shaming though.

If you really want to have a conversation about body shapes and expectations, ask how come Amanda Waller changed (and for bonus points there's the de-aging and 'whitening' of her features too)

Not just photoshopping a beer gut onto T'Challa

pretty sure they wrote it as the thinner one being the the older obese one's daughter

 

[Van Bur3n]

They're superheroes. They don't need to be fat for insecure Americans.

 

[LordRaptor]

Aren't those two pictures written by two completely different writers and different authors across two completely different time periods? What exactly stays the same in comics? So why would you expect that?

The first image invented the character.
She is a lifelong career politician, who works behind the scenes and not in front of a camera.
She looks like a lifelong career politician - with kids - realistically might look like.

Furthermore, Black people are more than just stereotypical features and skin tones identified with them.

I put it in air quotes because thats not the argument I'm making.
Having said that, that second image - outside of colouring - could be basically anyone of almost any ethnicity. There is an element of homogeneity at work.

pretty sure they wrote it as the thinner one being the the older obese one's daughter

AFAIK they are supposed to be the same character.

 

[spons]

Now we only need to circumcise Superman to make him the REAL American superhero.

 

[norm9]

Now we only need to circumcise Superman to make him the REAL American superhero.

Bahahaha

 

[LordOfLore]

The first image invented the character.
She is a lifelong career politician, who works behind the scenes and not in front of a camera.
She looks like a lifelong career politician - with kids - realistically might look like.



I put it in air quotes because thats not the argument I'm making.
Having said that, that second image - outside of colouring - could be basically anyone of almost any ethnicity. There is an element of homogeneity at work.



AFAIK they are supposed to be the same character.

One's from another Earth. This is the current one:

 

[Inuhanyou]

The first image invented the character.
She is a lifelong career politician, who works behind the scenes and not in front of a camera.
She looks like a lifelong career politician - with kids - realistically might look like.

And what in context is the new one supposed to be? 50+ with children and a lifelong politician? Or a younger interpretation of the character?

I put it in air quotes because thats not the argument I'm making.
Having said that, that second image - outside of colouring - could be basically anyone of almost any ethnicity. There is an element of homogeneity at work.

Don't ignore what i said. Black people don't have stereotypical features in that way for you to decide that. Anyone who does that is themselves throwing out stereotypes.

 

[Relentless 757]

Topics GAF sees eye to eye on:

1. Porn discussion
2. Fat shaming

As someone currently working on losing extra weight, after being borderline obese for most of my life, I'm puzzled why as a society we shouldn't discourage being fat. As a kid, I could've reallllly used that discouragement lol. Though I'm much happier with my weight now.

It's not shaming when someone's acknowledges that realities of being fat. Why can we criticize a chronic cig smoker, but feel the need to coddle someone shoving big macs down their throat? Sure, don't shit on their being, but don't pretend like it is healthy. It isn't.

Edit: If someone has a medical condition that keeps them from being unable to lose weight that is a different scenario entirely, of course. I am referring people who could clearly make a change but choose not too.

 

[Lifeline]

What. Why.

 

[LordRaptor]

One's from another Earth. This is the current one:

I stand corrected, but she has been drawn thinner and thinner over the years since her original inception.

Don't ignore what i said. Black people don't have stereotypical features in that way for you to decide that. Anyone who does that is themselves throwing out stereotypes.

I'm not ignoring what you said, I'm saying that mass media has a tendency to homogenise ethnicity into "ethnic, but not too ethnic" that is just as big a problem as tending to portray people as better looking and in better shape than many of the consumers of that media are themselves.

 

[FF Seraphim]

As someone currently working on losing extra weight, after being borderline obese for most of my life, I'm puzzled why as a society we shouldn't discourage being fat. As a kid, I could've reallllly used that discouragement lol. Though I'm much happier with my weight now.

It's not shaming when someone's acknowledges that realities of being fat. Why can we criticize a chronic cig smoker, but feel the need to coddle someone shoving big macs down their throat? Sure, don't shit on their being, but don't pretend like it is healthy. It isn't.

Edit: If someone has a medical condition that keeps them from being unable to lose weight that is a different scenario entirely, of course. I am referring people who could clearly make a change but choose not too.

The problem is that people are sometimes not so nice with their discouragement. Also a random person just telling another that they should stop being fat doesn't help all that much. Honestly nutritional education should be taught in schools. A lot of people do not understand the fundamentals on how food works when being digested in their body.

 

[Relentless 757]

The problem is that people are sometimes not so nice with their discouragement. Also a random person just telling another that they should stop being fat doesn't help all that much. Honestly nutritional education should be taught in schools. A lot of people do not understand the fundamentals on how food works when being digested in their body.

I agree, education would go far in terms of improving health. Honestly, I didn't really know how to EAT healthy until I taught myself. That's not a good thing I'd say.

However, people need to willing to lose weight first, which is why I think treating being overweight as the norm is publicly dangerous.

 

[Blader]

That Superman looks like George Reeves.

 

[Adam_Vania]

That Superman looks like George Reeves.

bloated face Supes on page 1 looks like John McCain

 

[davepoobond]

They just made them fatter?

Super heroes, if they were real, are fat.

Very realistic

 

[Pandy]

I specifically said super strength in my example.

As for others, what are they doing exactly that gives them perfectly ripped bodies, why are the athletic or gymnastic type ones often built like they trying to be bodybuilders? You don't get ripped being generally athletic, that's hour down the gym everyday working specific things, running about saving people doesn't do that. Why do those with a super suit that does all the work still end up the same?

Gotta put in that gym time if you want your super suit to fit. Getting them adjusted is a pain, especially at short notice when the planet is about to explode.

 

[ElectricKaibutsu]

Seriously, and those Olympians on TV? Totally unrealistic that they would be so fit.

 

[Ronin]

The only thing weird about comic book bodies are these super fit women with balloon tits.

 

[Zoe]

The only thing weird about comic book bodies are these super fit women with balloon tits.

I see those at the gym every day. People with fake boobs aren't real?

 

[autumnleaf]

I see those at the gym every day. People with fake boobs aren't real?

Do you think Wonder Woman has fake boobs?

 

[Unbounded]

Isn't Spiderman essentially a gymnast/rock climber? His build there makes zero sense considering.

 

[A.J.]

As someone who worked down to overweight after being obese, all this does is encourage me to keep a tight gym schedule and lose even more. The last thing I would want to is to feel good from this.

 

[DrBo42]

Do you think Wonder Woman has fake boobs?

Everyone knows Themyscira has the best breast augmentation.

 

[caliph95]

The only thing weird about comic book bodies are these super fit women with balloon tits.

Or when some artist draw them as sticks with melons

 

[Squire]

Maybe if they're modelled after the average obese american...but even then. Whats a realistic body these days? All they did was make them look overweight.

Their whole arguments is flawed because of exactly that. Most of America is obese. It's nothing to aspire to.

 

[.JayZii]

Isn't Spiderman essentially a gymnast/rock climber? His build there makes zero sense considering.

Maintaining his powers require at least two gallons of ice cream a day, though.

 

[SolidusDave]

SUPERhumans aside...

I can say that maybe the hearts of these people at Recovery.org is in the right place

no, fuck them. They could have used actual average/natural bodies but chose to normalize being overweight, the number one cause of the majority of non-infectious health issues. And it's marketed at kids.

 

[TheChuggernaut]

As someone currently working on losing extra weight, after being borderline obese for most of my life, I'm puzzled why as a society we shouldn't discourage being fat. As a kid, I could've reallllly used that discouragement lol. Though I'm much happier with my weight now.

It's not shaming when someone's acknowledges that realities of being fat. Why can we criticize a chronic cig smoker, but feel the need to coddle someone shoving big macs down their throat? Sure, don't shit on their being, but don't pretend like it is healthy. It isn't.

Edit: If someone has a medical condition that keeps them from being unable to lose weight that is a different scenario entirely, of course. I am referring people who could clearly make a change but choose not too.

We shouldn't encourage it at all. We as a society need to do a better job at teaching healthy eating habits at a young age.

Being fat sucks. It's bad for your health, and it screws you energy wise, but pretending fat people don't exist isn't going to make the problem suddenly go away. If someone wants to argue that superheros wouldn't look like this, fine. That's a pretty good point actually, but that doesn't explain the straight up anger some people in this thread have at the idea of a character being fat. This just makes it more clear that most of the people who pretend to care about the health of a fat person really mean "Go away fatty, no one wants to see that." The shit people are spewing in this thread is why I go jogging at night when no one is around. Sorry the weight isn't going to fall off overnight.

You want to actually encourage people to lose weight with a character? Give me an obese character that is actually making an effort to get in shape. Like an actual long term story of a character struggling an succeeding at getting weight off and keeping it off

 

[Curt Baboon]

"Hey we turned your favorite superheroes into fat slobs, just like you! You're welcome!"

 

[ChronotriggerJM]

These are so stupid. Take a profession thats ridiculously demanding physically, and just make them slightly more overweight :/

They should do what UFC fighters should actually look like, or what boxers should actually look like. How about what body builders should actually look like.

That said, Spiderman is amazing lol.

 

[Bam Bam Baklava]

The Spiderman one is especially stupid considering Spiderman is typically depicted as some skinny kid, what the hell is unrealistic about that?

 

[A Link to the Past]

This is making people disproportionately angry lol

It's ineffectual and a bit dumb, but it's ultimately nothing

 

[Apoleptica]

I never understood why realistic meant fat. Like are you calling people who are in shape unrealistic? That just seems like faulty logic.

Agreed. Is being fit unrealistic? Sure it takes a lot more effort and self control than being fat but it's not anything that's impossible to achieve for a human with ambition and perseverance.