I discovered Facts of Life a few nights ago on Youtube whilst looking for cheesy family show theme songs. It's cheesy, but not the worst of the lot; I'd say much better than the annoying Full House that seems to be more about the grown ups than the kids. Anyhow, I'm hooked. It makes me feel joyful to watch it. I also enjoy the fact that the show is over and I can check out any season I like, seeing their changes over the years.
I came upon this video where three of the main actors discuss the show briefly, years later. They mention weight, and it makes me sad.
Lisa Whelchel, who played the "pretty girl", was pressured to stay thin, and she seems to accept this as a fact of the job:
"That was their job. They hired me to play a certain role, and I was outgrowing that role. They tried to provide me with a nutritionist and trainer, things I would LOOVE now, but I was sixteen and didn't quite appreciate it."
I'm not liking what she says here. Maybe I'm jumping into conclusions, but isn't she saying that they had every right to ask her to lose weight, and that she was silly and stubborn enough to be against it? It's like she realizes now how important skinniness is and wishes someone would give her a free nutritionist and trainer. If that's what she means, I feel bad for her. Not surprised, really, if this is the pressure she grew up with, but sad that she has discovered the "truth" of skinniness instead of the joy of self-acceptance.
It's kind of tragic that she had to fit in the mold of "Blair" growing up, instead of being Lisa. I question the need for Blair's character to stay the same. If she was outgrowing the role, maybe they should have realized the show needs to end or the character could actually change and grow. Wasn't the show all about growing up and learning about life? I find Blair pretty annoying, watching the clips, and feel like a lot more could have been done with her. Apparently the writers had no such ambitions. People want pretty rich bitch, they should get pretty rich bitch.
Interestingly, the "fat" girl Mindy Cohn was told to gain weight one year when she had been "getting active". That's almost as bad as what they did with Whelchel. If she was growing up and getting leaner, naturally and of her own accord, couldn't they let her do that? Some fat girls grow up to be slim girls and vice versa. Maybe it would have been positive to show that to teenage girls watching the show? Not to mention what it must do to a girl's self esteem to be "the fat girl" in a show. Granted, judging by the clips I saw, Natalie was fairly positively depicted and her weight wasn't much of an issue. But the underlying idea of being "the fat one" - plus the comments she must have gotten from viewers - might easily be harmful. If I had had that over my head as a kid, I would have hated myself.
But then - I did hate myself. I wasn't shown in millions of homes, but I wasn't free. I wasn't allowed to have my baby fat, my teenage chubbiness, or later my grown-up fatness in peace. Nor was anyone else. There were mothers, gym teachers and school nurses; there were magazine doctors giving out diet advice. I remember us worrying about being "overweight". Someone was always on a diet, and there was much jiggling and tummy-flattening in front of the mirrors. The "I'm fat" - "No, you're thin, I'm the one who's fat!" conversations were constant. It would have been a bit weird and unacceptable to NOT hate our body.
In fact, you know what I find unrealistic about teen girl shows? That they talk so little about dieting. There may be a very special episode about eating disorders, where everyone's secret self-loathing is revealed, but the rest of the time, they're preoccupied by other things entirely. I wish it really were like that: weight being one of life's issues, but not the major one that looms behind everything else.
