When Netflix released a trailer for their new show called Insatiable a few months ago many people were not happy. An overweight teen, played by Debby Ryan, gets punched in the face by a homeless man at her local 24 hour supermarket and then has her mouth wired shut. Without the ability to chew, Debby's character is forced on a liquid diet for three months and results in her whopping seventy pound weight loss. Talk about a crash diet. Once she is released from the hospital, she realizes she is now skinny and pretty, and decides to seek revenge on anyone who had wrongfully hurt her when she was fat.
Many people began protesting the release of this show because it portrayed people that were overweight as being individuals who are unhappy with their bodies and want nothing more than to be skinny so that they can carry out revenge plots against anyone who has wronged them. Not only is this a misrepresentation of anyone who does not fit the 'skinny' mold, but it is condescending to demonize fat people as pathological and calculating. Although fat-shaming can leave a psychological impact on people, that does not mean anyone who has struggled with their weight has a diabolical plan to take out their bullies. It would be crazy to think that. Imagine living in a world where someone loses weight and then they become homicidal. Let's not forget that Khloe Kardashian is also to blame for coining the 'revenge body' as a way to motivate overweight people to reach their weightloss goals. You should seek to improve your health so that you can live your best life, not so that you can avenge your ego.
Viewers of the trailer took to the internet to say that this show might put bad ideas into the mind of some of its more impressionable onlookers. This concern was raised because of another Netflix series called 13 Reasons Why which romanticized suicide as many teens began to take their life as the lead Hannah Baker did. Even though our society is raising awareness for positive body image and accepting ourselves, an insecure teen watching might see that he or she can lose seventy pounds in three months by following a similar liquid diet. Protesters also argued that actress Debby Ryan might not have been the best call to portray someone that suffers from body dysmorphia, as seen later in the show she calls herself fat even though she has a killer body.
Regardless of the shows shortcomings and gross misrepresentations in the first season, creators now have the power to right their wrong and hopefully put out a new season that sends a positive body image.