I may be, with this post, reaching the nadir of lame blogging. Because I’m actually writing about a TV show that has been off the air for years. When it was on the air, I didn’t have a blog. So now I’m trying very hard to think of a reason to write about a rerun. I guess since Lindsey wrote about Roseanne the other day I don’t feel so bad about a brief discussion of Friends.
I’ve seen every episode of Friends that ever aired. It was one of those shows that was uniquely timed with my life–much like A Different World. The sextet on Friends was the same age as me, facing the same life choices and circumstances. I related to them on one level and fantasized about their life, about the way TV has of blunting the rough edges of reality. So I like the show, and I don’t mean to be too harsh.
But I could honestly do without the “Fat Monica” episodes. Each and every last one of them are horrible. Watching Courtney Cox Arquette prance around in blackface a fat suit makes me cringe. The one-note jokes are bad in their own right. Watch the fat girl dig a semi-crushed candy bar out of her pocket. Watch the fat girl eat in every scene. Laugh at the fact that the fat girl can’t find a man to sleep with her.
I can’t honestly say if I’m more bothered by the fact that Fat Monica is such a one note character or the fact that I’ve secretly feared for many years that “Fat Monica” was how all skim people view a fat woman like me. I spent a lot of years not going to parties because I didn’t want people to see me eating and jump to the conclusion that eating was all I did. I’ve largely gotten over that. I eat at parties now (as all those at Ivy’s can attest. I no longer care if someone sees me checking out at the supermarket with two pints of ice cream in my cart.
But whenever Fat Monica shows up on TNT or Fox or TBS I get a little bit skinked all over again.
Just Another Pretty Farce 
I never like Fat Monica, either.
I think some people do have that twisted point of view, but I think that most of them work in the entertainment industry in either Hollywood or NYC. Most normal people either have their own battles with weight or have close friends and family who do, and know through experience that fat can sometimes find its way to hips, thighs and bellies if you even look at food wrong, or can hang on for dear life quite effectively even in the face of careful diet adjustments and sincere attempts at exercise.
Dang, I thought this was going to be a Clinton-bashing post . . .
But I agree with your assessment of the Fat Monica episodes of Friends; they were quite possibly in the “jumping the shark” genre, and were over-the-top caricatures.
I’ve seen your very hot and devoted hubby.
I’d say you got the last laugh.
Loonytick, I think you hit the nail on the head.
Ned, I’m sorry to disappoint. And yes, “caricatures” is the right word–even though I can’t spell it.
Sharon, between you and B. and Ivy I’m never going to be able to hold on to that hot and devoted dude. All y’all scopin’ him out all the time!
Admittedly, your hubby is easy on the eyes. But you are equally beautiful, Kat! I should be the very last person to judge someone on their looks, but in an uncanny act of freakdom, I told Ivy YESTERDAY how pretty I thought you were.
I know I’m digging up an old post of yours but I wanted to comment. I watched a “Fat Monica” rerun last night on Nick at Nite and it dawned on me that Fat Monica isn’t really all that fat. I googled Fat Monica and found that lots of people seem to agree. She looks like a pretty average woman to me. I can’t understand why it’s still okay to laugh at people because of their weight.
I’m with you. Like you I saw an old Fat Monica episode not too long ago and almost cried when I realised that “Fat” Monica was thinner than many of the women I know and they still act like she’s a circus freak. It isn’t okay and I wish more people wouldve been upfront with the show’s creators back during its first-run.
Fat Monica is fat, but the women you talk about is OBESE.
As someone that’s larger than overweight Monica, it’s a pretty big bummer that she’s viewed as such a disgusting, one-note thing. It’s like, okay, I’m a fat. That’s all I am, that’s all I’m expected to be.
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Yeah it made me feel unconfortable too. Im gay and weigh 230 at 5 11 and other gays give me the fat guy look. I hardly go to buffets because of pressure of other eaters. If I do go I eat two small plates. Its crazy how stuff effects us. Have a good day.