As I write this article, the release of Bridgerton season three is not far off. I don’t know what it is about the show – the fashion, the romance, or the depiction of the 19th-century social sphere – but I cannot wait. For those who haven’t seen it, Bridgerton is about the children of the esteemed Bridgerton family as they try to find love in the Regency era. Season three is set to follow the love story of Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), with an emphasis on the friends-to-lovers trope. And, as season three is set to be the only depiction of a plus-size woman as a romantic lead in my recent memory, I have decided to take a look at female plus-size representation in TV and film.
The definition of ‘plus-size’ is blurry and probably different for everyone. An actress that is ‘plus-size’ to one may be “not that fat” to someone else, or vice versa. For the sake of this analysis, I’m going to be referencing women who have a larger size than women typically represented in the media.
Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington from Bridgerton (Entertainment Weekly)
Before hitting the web, I picked my brain to see if I could remember any plus-size romantic leads. Regrettably, I couldn’t. The fact that I had to do deep research on plus-size characters really says something about representation. One of the more prominent examples of plus-size women in film and television is Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) from Pitch Perfect. Her name alone hints at the fact her entire character is centred around the fact that she has a larger weight. Another popular plus-size character is Megan (Melissa McCarthy) in Bridesmaids. Both of these characters provide comedic relief to their respective films, falling back on remarks about their laziness, crude comments that positioned their sexual desires as ‘outrageous’ because of their weight, or putting them in unflattering situations. The question is, would these jokes be landing if they weren’t plus-size? These characters force us to walk along the border of whether we are laughing with plus-size people, or at them.
Fat Amy from Pitch Perfect (Refinery29)
I was particularly disappointed in McCarthy’s depiction of a plus-size woman in Bridesmaids after her fabulous portrayal of Sookie in Gilmore Girls. While Sookie was a side character, not once was a joke made at her expense based on her weight. She didn’t find happiness despite her weight, she found it simply because she was a person.
This more subtle representation of plus-size women can also be seen in the character Hannah (Lena Dunham) from Girls. Her character experiences happiness and connection, but also failure and loneliness – something that doesn’t rely on whether or not you’re plus-size, but whether or not you’re human. I think the most groundbreaking thing about Girls was Hannah’s sexuality. There were many times where she’d appear on screen fully naked, and she wasn’t made fun of. Admittedly, this was a shock for me; I’d never seen a body like hers depicted like that in television. It was refreshing to see that someone of her size could be desired and have sex, instead of just being the punchline.
Bridgerton’s Penelope is another complex character with complex feelings. Sometimes she’s a downright bitch (I’m thinking of the Marina storyline) and honestly, I love her for it. Her character wasn’t a sacrificial lamb to the gods of comedic relief. Her story and dialogue didn’t revolve around her weight, but her feelings and actions. While I didn’t completely agree with Penelope’s actions, her character was a raw and realistic portrait of how jealousy affects us. And I didn’t agree with the actions of many other characters, either.
I recently came across a TikTok that talked about how actors can be shown to be plus-size in a respectful way. Stylistic choices like adding volume to hair or creating certain silhouettes in costumes can accentuate an actor’s features as plus-size without being unflattering or a joke.
