Talk about contradictions... She has to be a deep enough character that she is engaging and lovable, but a lot of the first few episodes revolved around her distress at being a different size.
A character so shallow that is still engaging? They needed to lose that crap pronto, or lose their audience.
Something that was overlooked initially when she was focused on the weight thing was the fact that this new body comes with perks – a brain upgrade!
She now has all the knowledge of the education her body had in the past. She is getting the Porsche of bodies with a life to match, and yet they still bothered dwelling on the weight thing.
As more realistic negatives go the family and relationship issues would have been more credible.
Or even trying to navigate the intricacies of business without the cut-throat attitude (boy could I contribute to that script!)
Her old gorgeous fiancée is cast aside, and no work is done in the pursuit of him. At first I thought she was being respectful of his grief, but then she starts dating, so there goes that! Her new boyfriend (who is wonderfully sweet and charismatic) is portrayed as this uber catch that she is supposed to leap into the arms of because she couldn’t possibly go back to her ex-fiancée. And yet he is a bigger sized guy.
So she is bigger which is bad. He is bigger, but that is still ok?
Just bizarre.
But nice to see realistic double standards of expectations of appearance in men and women accurately portrayed in the media I guess. *sigh*
There is a lot to frustrate me about Drop Dead Diva.
But I watch it every week.
And I enjoy it.
Not because a bigger woman is beautiful on TV. Not because she is glamorous and has several sexy men interested in her.
In fact, as a character she needs to prove herself the same as any other and I’m not going to get all Rah rah yay for her, just because she isn’t a size 0.
(And I object to feeling like I have to give shows extra kudos because having a “fat” actress is SO out there –it is tragic that it is.)
I watch it because of the fact she is living a brand new life. This means she has a really strong appreciation for it.
Driving a flash car – she is doing it with a gleeful smile and the radio cranked up, rather than worrying about the price of petrol.
I’m in a job that matters and can change lives? WOW
A regular pay check – Fantastic!!
New wonderful people by my side, in life? – awesome!
New challenges? New experiences? New meetings? – bring it.
Every day brings new opportunities for a wide eyed innocent look at living the corporate life.
Things that seem mundane by the time you have worked yourself to the bone to get there are all magical and wonderful to her, and I LOVE it.
Tonight I am tired and burnt out.
Tomorrow I am going to enjoy waking up in a strange bed, in a strange town, and enjoy the uniqueness of my job, rather than just missing my man and familiar shower.
Bring it.
Hey, I just started watching this show on my Netflix even though it's not brand new.
ReplyDeleteYour assessment was spot on! Thanks for this post!
I do enjoy seeing a big woman portrayed as sexy. They don't dodge her sexuality! YES! KUDOS!
I do, however, hate the dichotomy presented in the show: Smart fat girl. Stupid shallow skinny girl. That bummed me out. These stereotypes represent no one accurately.
I think Grayson's character is particularly interesting. The show automatically makes it absurd that he'd want to date Jane, though he seems to sleep with any skinny woman he crosses paths with for longer than five minutes a la Kim, and his fiance (whose names escapes me).
THe show sets you up to want Grayson and Jane to be together, but if you analyze who he really is: he falls for a lot of women quickly, his type is model-looking skinny chicks, he flakes around a lot ... I kept thinking, wait, WHY are we rooting for this guy? Why doesn't Jane just get with one of the men who DOES see how beautiful she is? That wouldn't make good TV, but it sure would make be nice to see.
Thanks for the post on this show, SO interesting and made me think a lot.