[HPforGrownups] Re: Fat Rant

[catherine higgins]

No: HPFGUIDX 150611

  Ginger:

(snipped a lot of a really good post)
JKR's bad'n'fat characters are not just fat, they are overindulgent 
or overindulged in other areas.  
In all these cases, it is not the weight that is the problem, but 
rather, that the weight is a byproduct of the problem, and JKR uses 
the physical description to convey that.

  Catherine:
   
  And to add another point. JKR doesn't describe all the weightier characters as lazy and underproductive slobs, as is our stereotype in the RW. In fact, Dudley is very well-groomed despite his size, it's Harry who is viewed as the slob. 
   
  The large characters in the books aren't fat because JKR protrays "fat people" a certain way. In my opinion, the characters are very much the weight of their personailties. Aunt Petunia is so filled with nervous energy and so uptight, the by-product of her personality is how skinny she is. Molly on the otherhand, is very much like my italian grandmother who demonstrates her love with food. The by-product of her personaily is that she'a a little plump. 
   
  Dudley is fat because his parents always overindulged him with food, not so much as Molly does to demonstrate love, I see it more as a substitute for nurturing. 
   
  I actually think that JKR has really thought about every aspect of her characters personalities and their outward consequences, that it very much rings true to me. I'm not saying that it's not possible for a skinny mother to be nurturing or a fat mother to be "pinched" (a word I like to use to describe Petunia). But that one's lifestyle does sometimes have quite the influence on your weight/physique, as does genetics and many other factors as well. 
   
  catherine
  Whose father taught her to never trust a skinny chef. He being a rather round cook himself ;-) 

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