Have you ever wanted one of those “just-eat-less-and-you’ll-lose-weight” skinny women to walk a mile in your shoes? Well the TV channel Lifetime is about to bring your fantasy to television with it’s new comedy Drop Dead Diva. According to a statement released by lifetimetv.com “Drop Dead Diva tells the story of a shallow model-in-training who dies in a sudden accident only to find her soul resurfacing in the body of a brilliant, thoughtful and plus-size attorney.” The assistant to the protagonist is former fat girl Margaret Cho.
I can’t wait to see not only how the characters will be portrayed but how viewers will respond to the show. I mean just how fat is she going to be? Are we talking about skinny girl fat (size 10/12) or Fat Girl fat? Any woman who’s been overweight longer than 5 minutes clearly knows and understands the distinction between the two.
One of the first things that leaped off the page to me was that they gave the the fat girl a career that is perceived as having a lot of value in our society, an attorney, to offset her fatness no doubt. The star of the show couldn’t have been the plus-size housewife or plus-size fast food cashier. People are scared of fat. Of course there are plus-size attorneys, which is great, but making her an attorney seems like the media’s way of giving viewers a pair sunglasses because the glare from the everyday fat girl life is just too strong. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
The show is set to premiere on Lifetime this summer. Stay tuned.
