Why ‘Fat Friends’ still has something to say about body image

The 2000 show ‘Fat Friends’ was recently added to Netflix but, over 20 years on, have attitudes towards body image really changed or have they gotten worse? 

First of all, the title. ‘Fat Friends’ probably wouldn’t be top of the list if someone were to make a show about a group of friends from a slimming club today. At first thought, the title may come across as mocking or insensitive but this show was actually anything but. The early 2000s were a time of diets, tiny waists and trying to convince people that Martine McCutcheon was ‘chubby’ in ‘Love Actually’. So, to see a show from this time that didn’t villainise fat people was refreshing.

This show, whilst remaining somewhat of a comedy, managed to delve deep into the lives of these characters. It explored how body image affects every aspect of their lives and the strain low self-esteem has on relationships. This show didn’t take the route of ‘they’re unhappy because they’re fat’ which I was worried it might. It explored how (whether we’re a healthy weight or not) how we view ourselves affects our happiness. Lauren (a member of the group) is idolised by the other members because she’s ‘slim’. She was barely at the minimum weight she needed to be to join the group in the first place and, despite being the ‘ideal’ weight, she is one of the most insecure on the show.

Ruth Jones’ character Kelly was depicted as one of the most confident but was subject to pressure from people around her that led her to join the group in the lead up to her wedding. A tiff with her fiancé on what was supposed to be the ‘happiest day of her life’ was heavily influenced by the stress she was experiencing in her desperation to lose weight and the dodgy diet pills she was subjecting herself too. I think therefore the title is fitting, because all these individuals are connected because they’re fat (even if they’re not, as in Lauren’s case). Being ‘fat’ affects their everyday life, not physically but psychologically. It’s the only thing they see themselves as, it dominates their thoughts – discarding any positive traits that they may also possess which makes them likeable, which all the characters in the show are.

“I do feel good about myself, it’s everybody else that makes me feel bad going on and on about me being fat.”

The show was somewhat ‘progressive’ for its time and included some of the female characters posing for a magazine as the ‘real people of Super Slimmers’, following upset as previous ads had included models and fake weight loss stories. The feature did well in the show, with people feeling ‘seen’ or ‘related to’ and seemed to propose the need for plus size models. The modelling world has diversified since the show’s premiere in 2000, as we see not only different body types nowadays but also models with skin conditions and stomas. But have general attitudes towards body image changed that much? While yes (because the ‘heroin-chic’ of the 90s seemed to get traded in somewhere in the 2010s for BBL bodies) also no. It seems it doesn’t really matter what the ‘ideal’ body type is depicted to be, whether it’s having a big bum or no bum at all, because there being an ‘ideal’ body type in the first place is the problem – and as it’s constantly changing anyway, why should we bother keeping up with it?

I think ‘Fat Friends’ was eye-opening and still relevant.

Recently, a drug called ‘Ozempic’ has surfaced and is rumoured to be being used by celebrities to help them lose weight. The drug was created for people struggling with Type 2 diabetes. However, it appears to be in other people’s pockets and you can tell whose by their giveaway ‘Ozempic face’. When Sharon Osbourne entered the Celebrity Big Brother house just a few weeks ago people couldn’t help but tell she looked a bit ‘off’. Kelly Osbourne responded to people accusing her of using the drug by saying it’s “amazing” and why not lose weight by doing something that “isn’t as boring as working out”. So, if her daughter has been using it, it’s safe to guess Sharon has too, and if she’s still that worried about her weight at 71 years old, well… does it ever end?  

In conclusion, I think ‘Fat Friends’ was eye-opening and still relevant over 20 years later and the issues it raises around self-esteem are just as important now as they were then. In the end it doesn’t matter whether you reach your ‘goal weight’ or not, because if you aren’t happy on the inside, it’s hard to ever be happy with the outside.