DJ on Full House

Originally posted at Fatly Yours on Wednesday, June 11, 2008

As usual, I have to start by saying that she wasn't really fat. Even if it's tagged Fictional Fatties - actually, Fat in Fiction might have been better - it's more an example of an average-sized girl going on a diet and how a family show handled that. It'll be more like a recap of one specific episode.

Donna Jo "DJ" Tanner was the oldest daughter on the sappy family show Full House, aired in 1987-1995. She was played by Candace Cameron, the one of the young actors on the show who I think could act, so maybe she was picked for her acting ability rather than her looks. The writers couldn't write small children - they were precocious and irritating, while DJ mostly got pretty realistic (well, compared to the rest of the show) dialogue that required a bit of acting.

So, DJ was chubby. Her best friend Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber) was lanky. I like how they looked like real teenagers, because they were really teenagers, not some 21-year-old actors hired to look flawless on camera. Yet the chubbiness somehow became a problem. The Behind the Scenes documentary notes that the TV industry was becoming more aware of anorexia. So it illogically follows that "everyone was worried that the more heavy-set Candace would go too far in the other direction". Wow. Who is "everyone"? What is the "other direction" as opposed to anorexia? Going too far in self-acceptance? Maybe it's binge eating disorder? But no, apparently it's "getting too chubby", because her parents hired her a personal trainer. To stop her from becoming anorexic, or something. This was when she was 17. I think it's ridiculous that people couldn't see a contradiction between telling a slightly chubby 17-year-old to diet and wanting to save her from anorexia. How is a professional trainer going to save you from developing an eating disorder - especially if s/he was hired only to make the girl thinner?

That's not my actual topic, even if it is pretty angering. Some years before this, in the fourth season, there was a whole episode about DJ's weight. It was called Shape Up. It's a really typical example of how dieting and teen body image issues are often dealt with on family shows. At this point, DJ is about 13-14 years old (Candace Cameron was the same age as her character).

The episode begins with DJ snacking on cookies in her room, because chubby girls eat cookies for breakfast (and by chubby I mean average build and round cheeks). A pretty bad start. She's planning her birthday party and it's going to be a pool party, so she has to get "in shape" for it. She ditches the cookies. Kimmy's there and DJ expresses envy over her figure. Kimmy says she looks that way because "I watch what I eat" - and then she picks up a cookie and says, "That looks good," and eats it. I actually liked this bit - sure, it's just a throaway joke, but I think the "I watch what I eat" of most slim people is based on pretty much that. "I'm slim, and I sometimes skip a snack, so I watch what I eat." I would have preferred if Kimmy also expressed anxiety about her figure and wanted to go on a diet together, because skinny girls feel it too.

DJ goes on a crash diet where she basically doesn't eat at all. Later in the episode, she bumps into Becky in the kitchen (the relationships of the Tanner household are too complex to go into, but suffice it to say that Becky is the only adult female in the house). Apparently DJ has pinned pictures of skinny models on the fridge door - warning sign nr 1 - and Becky asks her if she's trying to lose weight. DJ says she has a pool party coming up, and "I have two weeks to look like you." Warning sign nr 2 that this isn't going anywhere good. Becky, played by ex-model Lori Loughlin, is thin and pretty.

This is what DJ needs to hear: "What? No! You're good enough the way you are! You're too young to go on a diet anyway. You don't have to look like me, because I'm me and you're you. Come on, let's have ice cream together." But what does Becky say? She starts listing foods that you can totally eat when you're on a diet: "lean meat, steamed vegetables..." and acts blissful about it. I'm not saying yay for burgers and yuck for anything light, but it seems like Becky's done a fair bit of dieting in her life. DJ says she's supposed to not eat, and now Becky's got her thinking about food. She storms out. Warning sign nr 3. So, a teenager acts like she should be eating nothing, so she can get skinny. What would you do if you were in Becky's shoes? I know what I'd do - go talk her out of her diet, and if she's not persuaded, go tell her Dad about it. Sure, it might not work, but try at least. If a young girl with low self-esteem wants to diet, you tell her she doesn't need to. That's pretty basic stuff.

Later on, Becky and Jesse (John Stamos) get their wedding cake samples for testing. They're all chocolate, and before anyone else has a chance to try them, Michelle (Mary-Kate and/or Ashley Olsen) jumps in and starts scarfing them down with both hands. Everyone laughs like this is the cutest thing ever. She just ruined the wedding cake samples for everyone else. If I had done that at age three, I would have gotten a huge sermon, but okay. I guess we need a scene about gluttony vs. control, and I'm actually surprised they didn't give it to the "resident fatty", Joey (Dave Coulier), who for a long time was only a bit chubby, but still got relentless teasing from the muscular Jesse especially. And who, of course, was shown eating nothing but junk food all the time. The others ask Michelle which piece of cake she likes the very best, but of course she's had no time to take it in. If you stuff your face, you won't enjoy it! But is that the true lesson of this scene, or is it: the cute youngest child gets away with anything? DJ retires to her room with an icicle, claiming that she likes it better than chocolate cake, even if you can tell she finds it dreadfully dull. Warning sign nr 4. Everyone in the family seems to think this is perfectly normal.

In the evening, DJ weighs herself. Finding out she has only lost a pound, she gets depressed. Jesse randomly shows up. DJ says she's done with the diet, since it doesn't work. "Good for you!" Jesse says. Finally a voice of reason? "Tell you what, we could all use some shaping up - let's go to the gym tomorrow!" Wait, what?! I'm not sure how an insecure teenager is supposed to read that message. Also, Jesse has huge muscles, and Becky is model thin, and yet they need "shaping up"? The family exercising together, for instance by walking, playing games outdoors or swimming, would be something I'd consider positive, but going to the gym to "shape up" comes dangerously close to "fitness vs. fatness for the whole family".

See, I'm not sure what the writers are saying here. This is a family show of a not-so-intellectual variety, and they usually aren't too subtle about stuff. I know DJ's downward spiral of dieting is supposed to continue until the middle or end of the episode, so the grownups can't make her eat before that. I'm just wondering if they're making some kind of commentary on parents and diets/eating disorders. Are they blaming the parents and guardians for not being observant enough? Do they think Becky and Jesse's attitude on DJ's body image problem - which screams for acceptance, not diet foods/gym advice - is the ideal, or do they think these two are being blind to the real problem and accentuating it? It's hard to tell. I'd hate to give the writers of this show too much credit, so I'm guessing they think Jesse and Becky are being responsible and trying to help. Which would make them as misguided as Jesse and Becky.

Before they hit the gym, we learn that DJ gives all of her food to Kimmy somehow. I know she lives next door and is always visiting, but I'm not sure if I buy that she's around that much. Kimmy refuses to eat it, because she's tired of the way Tanners make sandwiches. Specifically, there's too much ham, but I'm not sure if that's really relevant in any way. DJ feeds her sandwich to their dog instead. As he eats, she tells him he's lucky, because dogs don't have to be thin. Awww, neither do you, DJ! Little sister Stephanie sees this and is worried. The first time someone worries about DJ, and it's not one of the adults. DJ is able to make Stephanie promise to keep this a secret, because Stephanie is just a child and doesn't understand how dangerous it is to go without eating.

At the gym, we get some confusing gender politics. Becky takes Stephanie with her to an aerobics class, while DJ works out on her own and Michelle is taken to a children's gym. Stephanie, who is about ten, works out with the grown women and has no problem doing this. I'm not sure if I buy that. I'm also not sure I buy that the guys all go to a women's aerobics class so they can oogle the hot chicks, and then of course fail miserably because they're so out of shape. Har har! Out of shape women = tragic, out of shape men = hilarious. If you take nothing else away from this episode, let it be this.

Meanwhile, DJ is struggling to get in shape at the gym where, apparently, you have to be either a very slim woman or a very buff man to join. As "ideal" bodies walk past her, DJ weighs herself and finds she hasn't lost any weight in the ten or so minutes she's been there. Well, duh, but I can understand that a child would expect to have lost weight. DJ gets on the stairmaster and pedals for her life. Predictably, she soon faints. On any TV show where a girl goes on a crash diet, she will soon faint and alert everyone of the problem.

At home, Stephanie can no longer keep a lid on things, and the family gets to hear about DJ's diet. At this point, the grown ups are suitably worried and tell her to eat something right away. Well, about damn time. DJ gets mad and runs upstairs to her room so that the lesson portion of the show may now begin.

Each Full House episode had a lesson that was given by the girls' father Danny. It's really pretty tedious. I have very few positive things to say about either the lessons themselves or Bob Saget's acting skills. This time, though, DJ's plight seems very real. Danny compassionately tells her about his childhood and how he looked funny to others, but DJ isn't won over. She shows her Dad a fashion magazine - fashion! The great culprit in eating disorders and body image issues! She says no one there looks like her, with her "Charlie Brown cheeks". Somehow I found that line heartbreaking. Charlie Brown is cute, but if you feel you look like him, that can't be a nice feeling. It's probably a nod to Charlie Brown's self esteem issues too, coming to think of it. Danny finally finds the right words as he asks if anyone else DJ knows looks like that, and if she only hangs out with people who look like models. He tells her that people like her for who she is, and they don't care if she's chubby. She should eat healthy, exercise and just be herself. DJ agrees to stop dieting. After this, her weight isn't mentioned again.

I must admit that as a teenager, this episode would have touched me and perhaps made me feel a little better about my body. I would have liked how DJ is accepted as a chubby girl and how I could be too. So I do think this episode, all in all, sends a pretty positive message to young viewers.

However, as an adult, I must cringe at the hypocrisy of it all, especially in light of the later events. The message, as such, is true (although it has its limitations; some people will judge you for not being thin). However, the show writers/producers obviously don't really believe in it, if slightly chubby Candace Cameron had to go on a diet. The constant berating of Joey for his "weight problem" is another instance of hypocrisy, which interestingly wasn't touched upon in this episode at all. I also wonder if chubbiness would be OK for the show's only adult female, Lori Loughlin. And if they had known when casting Cameron that she would get a bit chubby in her teen years, would they have cast someone else?

The show could have redeemed itself by revisiting the topic from time to time, making Kimmy as insecure of her thin body as DJ is of her chubby one, and having Stephanie and Michelle also develop weight-related self esteem issues even if they have a slighter build. Using one episode to focus on something that touches most young girls' lives is a bit of a cop-out, because 20 minutes is simply not long enough to really deal with the issue. You can't fix someone's self esteem with one pep talk, and the pressure DJ feels at 13 might only be a fraction of what she feels later on as she realizes she isn't going to grow up to be skinny like models. That, at least, was my story.