Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky has found himself havg to fend his new movie "The Whale," starrg Brendan Fraser, agast accatns that is fatphobic and anti-fat, wh crics cludg the New York Tim' Roxane Gay claimg the movie is "exploative" and "sometim cel" s portrayal of a massively obe person.
Contents:
- ROXANE GAY CRIED WHILE WATCHG "THE WHALE"BEE SHE FOUND SENSIVE AND -HUMANIZG
- THE WHALE DIRECTOR DARREN ARONOFSKY: FATPHOBIA CRICISM “MAK NO SENSE”THE OSR-NOMATED FILMMAKER IS ADDRSG THE NTROVERSY SURROUNDG STAR BRENDAN FRASER’S FAT SU AND HOW HIS CHARACTER’S OBY IS PORTRAYED ONSCREEN. BY SAVANNAH WALSHDECEMBER 13, 2022BRENDAN FRASER AS CHARLIE THE WHALE. COURTY OF A24.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVETHE WHALE, AN AWARDS-SEASON NTENR STARRG BRENDAN FRASER AS A MORBIDLY OBE MAN MAKG AMENDS WHILE LIVG OUT HIS FAL DAYS, IS BEG LLED AN “EXERCISE EMPATHY” BY S DIRECTOR, DARREN ARONOFSKY. BUT SPE THAT BILLG, THE FILM HAS BEEN MET WH CRICISM—FOR FRASER WEARG A FAT SU THE ROLE OF CHARLIE AND HOW THE CHARACTER’S EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN PICTED ONSCREEN.FOLLOWG THE MOVIE’S VENICE FILM FTIVAL PREMIERE, VANY FAIR’S RICHARD LAWSON WROTE HIS REVIEW THAT CHARLIE’S CURRENT EXISTENCE IS TOLD WH “A KD OF LEERG HORROR, A PORTRA OF A MAN GONE TO TASTROPHIC SO THAT WE, THE DIENCE, MAY TAP TO OUR NOBLER, HIGHER MDS AND SEE THE WORTHY HUMAN BEG BENEATH THE IGHTFUL EXTERR,” ADDG, “THAT DON’T FEEL ANYTHG LIKE EMPATHY.” MORE RECENTLY, ROXANE GAY WROTE A NEW YORK TIM OPN PIECE WHICH SHE REFERRED TO THE WHALE AS “AN HUMANE FILM ABOUT A VERY HUMAN BEG.”WHEN ASKED ABOUT CRICISM OF THE PROJECT, WHICH IS ADAPTED BY SAMUEL D. HUNTER OM HIS 2012 PLAY, ARONOFSKY TOLD YAHOO ENTERTAMENT THAT “MAK NO SENSE” TO HIM. THE DIRECTOR ARGUED THAT “ACTORS HAVE BEEN G MAKP SCE THE BEGNG OF ACTG—THAT’S ONE OF THEIR TOOLS. AND THE LENGTHS WE WENT TO PORTRAY THE REALISM OF THE MAKP HAS NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE. ONE OF MY FIRST LLS AFTER STG BRENDAN WAS TO MY MAKP ARTIST, ADRIEN MOROT. I ASKED HIM, ‘CAN WE DO SOMETHG THAT’S REALISTIC?’ BEE IF ’S GOG TO LOOK LIKE A JOKE, THEN WE SHOULDN’T DO .”ARONOFSKY THEN ACKNOWLEDGED THAT “PEOPLE WH OBY ARE GENERALLY WRTEN AS BAD GUYS OR AS PUNCH L,” ADDG, “WE WANTED TO CREATE A FULLY WORKED-OUT CHARACTER WHO HAS BAD PARTS ABOUT HIM AND GOOD PARTS ABOUT HIM; CHARLIE IS VERY SELFISH, BUT HE’S ALSO FULL OF LOVE AND IS SEEKG FIVENS. SO [THE NTROVERSY] MAK NO SENSE TO ME.”HE REERATED THIS STANCE AN TERVIEW ON THE LOS ANGEL TIM’ THE ENVELOPE PODST, EMPHASIZG HIS LLABORATN WH THE OBY ACTN COALN (OAC). “THEY REALLY FEEL THIS IS GOG TO OPEN UP PEOPLE’S EY,” ARONOFSKY SAID. “YOU GOTTA REMEMBER, PEOPLE THIS MUNY, THEY GET JUDGED BY DOCTORS WHEN THEY GO TO GET MEDIL HELP. THEY GET JUDGED EVERYWHERE THEY GO ON THE PLA, BY MOST PEOPLE. THIS FILM SHOWS THAT, LIKE EVERYONE, WE ARE ALL HUMAN AND THAT WE ARE ALL GOOD AND BAD AND FLAWED AND HOPEFUL AND JOYFUL AND SORROWFUL, AND THERE’S ALL DIFFERENT LORS SI OF .”(L-R) DARREN ARONOFSKY, BRENDAN FRASER, AND TY SIMPKS ON SET OF ‘THE WHALE.’BY NIKO TAVERNISE/ COURTY OF A24.IN HIS FIRST TERVIEW ABOUT THE WHALE, FRASER TOLD VANY FAIR ABOUT LLABORATG WH THE OAC, SPEAKG WH MANY WHO’VE UNRGONE BARIATRIC SURGERI, AND WATCHG NTENT ABOUT PEOPLE LIVG HIGHER-WEIGHT BODI. “I LEARNED QUICKLY THAT TAK AN CREDIBLY STRONG PERSON SI THAT BODY TO BE THAT PERSON,” FRASER SAID. “THAT SEEMED FTG AND POETIC AND PRACTIL TO ME, ALL AT ONCE.”ARONOFSKY TOLD VF THAT CHARLIE’S PHYSIL BODY WAS JT ONE FACET OF WHO HE IS THE MOVIE. “UNFORTUNATELY, SO MANY CHARACTERS PORTRAYED THE MEDIA WHO ARE LIVG WH OBY ARE TREATED AWFULLY—EHER THEY’RE HUIATED, MA FUN OF, OR JT LIVG SQUALOR,” ARONOFSKY SAID. “THAT WAS NEVER CHARLIE. OBY IS JT PART OF WHAT CHARLIE IS. AFTER 10 MUT OF SPENDG TIME WH CHARLIE, THAT’S THE BREAKTHROUGH THAT WE HOPE THE FILM HAS [FOR VIEWERS].”MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIRHOW FOUR BILLNAIRE TECHNO-OLIGARCHS ARE CREATG AN ALTERNATE REALYEXCLIVE NEW DETAILS ABOUT MEGHAN MARKLE’S WEDDG DRSA BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF EVERYTHG HAPPENG AT THIS FALL’S FILM FTIVALS—WHOUT THE STARSA SER SETBACK FOR TMP’S PLAN TO GET REELECTED AND PARDON HIMSELFMEET KYLE DCHANEL, THE PRETEND PLAYBOY WHO SEEMS TO HAVE FOOLED HALF OF MANHATTANTHE ULTIMATE GUI TO FALL MOVIFROM THE ARCHIVE: A FATHER’S ACUNT OF THE TRIAL OF HIS DGHTER’S KILLEREND-OF-SUMMER SALE! TAKE 25% OFF AT THE VF SHOPMOST POPULARAND JT LIKE THAT: MICHAEL PATRICK KG KNOWS WHEN THE AUDIENCE TURNED ON CHE DIAZBY CHRIS MURPHYHOW MADONNA TURNED THE LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN SET INTO A THREE-RG CIRCBY ER CARLSONTHE 25 BT SHOWS ON NETFLIX TO WATCH RIGHT NOWBY TARA ARIANOSAVANNAH WALSH
ROXANE GAY CRIED WHILE WATCHG "THE WHALE"BEE SHE FOUND SENSIVE AND -HUMANIZG
In the New York Tim, wrer Roxane Gay lled The Whale’s wrg and directg “utterly rels” and cricized the film for treatg fatns as “the ultimate human failure, somethg spible, to be avoid at all sts. The Whale is the strongt piece of evince that this approach do not movie opens wh a ut shot that slowly reveals that Charlie is masturbatg to gay porn, before quickly sets up the stak: jt seekg this personal private pleasure might lerally kill him.
But before the film even premiered, there was already lead character is gay, and Fraser is not.
"Hunger thor Roxane Gay lled the project "an humane film about a very human beg" as well as "exploative and at tim cel, " ncludg that turned the character of Charlie to a "rnival sishow. Roxanne Gay, a novelist, an sayist and a woman of unniable size, is no fan of Darren Aronofsky‘s The Whale (A24, limed).
THE WHALE DIRECTOR DARREN ARONOFSKY: FATPHOBIA CRICISM “MAK NO SENSE”THE OSR-NOMATED FILMMAKER IS ADDRSG THE NTROVERSY SURROUNDG STAR BRENDAN FRASER’S FAT SU AND HOW HIS CHARACTER’S OBY IS PORTRAYED ONSCREEN. BY SAVANNAH WALSHDECEMBER 13, 2022BRENDAN FRASER AS CHARLIE THE WHALE. COURTY OF A24.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVETHE WHALE, AN AWARDS-SEASON NTENR STARRG BRENDAN FRASER AS A MORBIDLY OBE MAN MAKG AMENDS WHILE LIVG OUT HIS FAL DAYS, IS BEG LLED AN “EXERCISE EMPATHY” BY S DIRECTOR, DARREN ARONOFSKY. BUT SPE THAT BILLG, THE FILM HAS BEEN MET WH CRICISM—FOR FRASER WEARG A FAT SU THE ROLE OF CHARLIE AND HOW THE CHARACTER’S EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN PICTED ONSCREEN.FOLLOWG THE MOVIE’S VENICE FILM FTIVAL PREMIERE, VANY FAIR’S RICHARD LAWSON WROTE HIS REVIEW THAT CHARLIE’S CURRENT EXISTENCE IS TOLD WH “A KD OF LEERG HORROR, A PORTRA OF A MAN GONE TO TASTROPHIC SO THAT WE, THE DIENCE, MAY TAP TO OUR NOBLER, HIGHER MDS AND SEE THE WORTHY HUMAN BEG BENEATH THE IGHTFUL EXTERR,” ADDG, “THAT DON’T FEEL ANYTHG LIKE EMPATHY.” MORE RECENTLY, ROXANE GAY WROTE A NEW YORK TIM OPN PIECE WHICH SHE REFERRED TO THE WHALE AS “AN HUMANE FILM ABOUT A VERY HUMAN BEG.”WHEN ASKED ABOUT CRICISM OF THE PROJECT, WHICH IS ADAPTED BY SAMUEL D. HUNTER OM HIS 2012 PLAY, ARONOFSKY TOLD YAHOO ENTERTAMENT THAT “MAK NO SENSE” TO HIM. THE DIRECTOR ARGUED THAT “ACTORS HAVE BEEN G MAKP SCE THE BEGNG OF ACTG—THAT’S ONE OF THEIR TOOLS. AND THE LENGTHS WE WENT TO PORTRAY THE REALISM OF THE MAKP HAS NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE. ONE OF MY FIRST LLS AFTER STG BRENDAN WAS TO MY MAKP ARTIST, ADRIEN MOROT. I ASKED HIM, ‘CAN WE DO SOMETHG THAT’S REALISTIC?’ BEE IF ’S GOG TO LOOK LIKE A JOKE, THEN WE SHOULDN’T DO .”ARONOFSKY THEN ACKNOWLEDGED THAT “PEOPLE WH OBY ARE GENERALLY WRTEN AS BAD GUYS OR AS PUNCH L,” ADDG, “WE WANTED TO CREATE A FULLY WORKED-OUT CHARACTER WHO HAS BAD PARTS ABOUT HIM AND GOOD PARTS ABOUT HIM; CHARLIE IS VERY SELFISH, BUT HE’S ALSO FULL OF LOVE AND IS SEEKG FIVENS. SO [THE NTROVERSY] MAK NO SENSE TO ME.”HE REERATED THIS STANCE AN TERVIEW ON THE LOS ANGEL TIM’ THE ENVELOPE PODST, EMPHASIZG HIS LLABORATN WH THE OBY ACTN COALN (OAC). “THEY REALLY FEEL THIS IS GOG TO OPEN UP PEOPLE’S EY,” ARONOFSKY SAID. “YOU GOTTA REMEMBER, PEOPLE THIS MUNY, THEY GET JUDGED BY DOCTORS WHEN THEY GO TO GET MEDIL HELP. THEY GET JUDGED EVERYWHERE THEY GO ON THE PLA, BY MOST PEOPLE. THIS FILM SHOWS THAT, LIKE EVERYONE, WE ARE ALL HUMAN AND THAT WE ARE ALL GOOD AND BAD AND FLAWED AND HOPEFUL AND JOYFUL AND SORROWFUL, AND THERE’S ALL DIFFERENT LORS SI OF .”(L-R) DARREN ARONOFSKY, BRENDAN FRASER, AND TY SIMPKS ON SET OF ‘THE WHALE.’BY NIKO TAVERNISE/ COURTY OF A24.IN HIS FIRST TERVIEW ABOUT THE WHALE, FRASER TOLD VANY FAIR ABOUT LLABORATG WH THE OAC, SPEAKG WH MANY WHO’VE UNRGONE BARIATRIC SURGERI, AND WATCHG NTENT ABOUT PEOPLE LIVG HIGHER-WEIGHT BODI. “I LEARNED QUICKLY THAT TAK AN CREDIBLY STRONG PERSON SI THAT BODY TO BE THAT PERSON,” FRASER SAID. “THAT SEEMED FTG AND POETIC AND PRACTIL TO ME, ALL AT ONCE.”ARONOFSKY TOLD VF THAT CHARLIE’S PHYSIL BODY WAS JT ONE FACET OF WHO HE IS THE MOVIE. “UNFORTUNATELY, SO MANY CHARACTERS PORTRAYED THE MEDIA WHO ARE LIVG WH OBY ARE TREATED AWFULLY—EHER THEY’RE HUIATED, MA FUN OF, OR JT LIVG SQUALOR,” ARONOFSKY SAID. “THAT WAS NEVER CHARLIE. OBY IS JT PART OF WHAT CHARLIE IS. AFTER 10 MUT OF SPENDG TIME WH CHARLIE, THAT’S THE BREAKTHROUGH THAT WE HOPE THE FILM HAS [FOR VIEWERS].”MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIRHOW FOUR BILLNAIRE TECHNO-OLIGARCHS ARE CREATG AN ALTERNATE REALYEXCLIVE NEW DETAILS ABOUT MEGHAN MARKLE’S WEDDG DRSA BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF EVERYTHG HAPPENG AT THIS FALL’S FILM FTIVALS—WHOUT THE STARSA SER SETBACK FOR TMP’S PLAN TO GET REELECTED AND PARDON HIMSELFMEET KYLE DCHANEL, THE PRETEND PLAYBOY WHO SEEMS TO HAVE FOOLED HALF OF MANHATTANTHE ULTIMATE GUI TO FALL MOVIFROM THE ARCHIVE: A FATHER’S ACUNT OF THE TRIAL OF HIS DGHTER’S KILLEREND-OF-SUMMER SALE! TAKE 25% OFF AT THE VF SHOPMOST POPULARAND JT LIKE THAT: MICHAEL PATRICK KG KNOWS WHEN THE AUDIENCE TURNED ON CHE DIAZBY CHRIS MURPHYHOW MADONNA TURNED THE LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN SET INTO A THREE-RG CIRCBY ER CARLSONTHE 25 BT SHOWS ON NETFLIX TO WATCH RIGHT NOWBY TARA ARIANOSAVANNAH WALSH
Gay: “Most dienc will see the spectacle of a 600-pound man unwillg to re for himself, grievg the loss of his partner who died by suici, eager to die himself, and g food as the means to that end. I’m naturally prumg that Aronofsky disagre wh Gay’s asssment, and that he’ll probably take issue wh some way. Roxane Gay on The Whale.
Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky has found himself havg to fend his new movie The Whale, starrg Brendan Fraser, agast accatns that is fatphobic and anti-fat, wh crics cludg the New York Tim‘ Roxane Gay claimg the movie is “exploative” and “sometim cel” s portrayal of a massively obe person.
Others have cricized Aronofsky for not stg an thentilly obse gay man the lead role. The Whale, which is currently limed release, tells the story of a massively obe shut- (Fraser) who spends his time teachg English class via Zoom, gg himself on food, and masturbatg to gay porn. Aronofsky has also faced cricism for not stg an thentilly obe, gay actor the lead role.