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.
Did you know that the Natalie character was also the first representation of a Jewish person on television? She sat Shiva when someone in her family died (let me tell you, when I was a kid and the show was on this was a major big deal).
ReplyDeleteWow, I didn't know that! Was she really the very first one? That's kinda cool. So they had a black girl and a Jewish girl, and a white girl from the Bronx. Maybe it's not altogether as stereotypical as I thought.
ReplyDeleteNatalie was also the first one to lose her virginity. I remember when that happened because it was a big deal back in the mid-80's on a primetime network show. That would never happen on a TV show for teens these days---everyone has to be thin and exceptionally good-looking, while the fat characters are miserable overeaters with no love lives.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's pretty cool. It makes me sad that we've gone backwards in this aspect, as a culture. :( Maybe Natalie could be a good role model for today's young girls?
ReplyDeleteOh, I loved "Facts of Life" as a teenager. I especially loved that episode with Natalie, and was so happy that the boyfriend was cute, too. I remember thinking if she can find a man, I can, too! She was a positive character.
ReplyDeleteActually, there is a teen show now that has a "fat girl" character that is featured regularly-on "Good Luck Charlie" the main character has a friend who is overweight, (not just Hollywood plump, she is true plus size)African-American, who goes on dates and it seems like her weight is not an issue. Characters like that are hard to find, though.
I loved the show growing up. I think the fact that it was about girls appealed the most. There were a lot of short hand characterizations and "very special episodes" but I loved all of it.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Jo. She too was special. I cannot tell you how many of my friends (gay and straight) had a crush on her.
Lisa W was lucky in some ways. Think how Tracy Gould was bullied into loosing weight. When she refused to comply, the writers scripted all kinds of "jokes" about her fat to get her to diet. She went on to develop anorexia.
Jo is pretty awesome, a tomboyish character on a show like that is always good. I think the tomboys tend to be popular because they're more realistic than the pretty girl characters. No one's as confident as Blair was on the show, for instance. Also, a tomboy is a better role model in terms of defying the stereotypes. So yes, Jo was special.
ReplyDeleteI think that, instead of saying Lisa was lucky, we should say that Tracy's writers and producers were complete assholes and no one should have to go through that. I see what you mean, but I just feel like NO ONE should get ANY comments about their weight. (Impossible in the culture we live in today?)
Also, I can see on my Statcounter that I've gotten lots of "blair facts of life fat" etc. searches. Sighhh.. that's the bad side of having an FA blog, you see what people search for to find it.
..Another good tomboy character is Bridgette on Medium. I wrote about her weight in another post, but she's also good for tomboyish/being yourself influence, while Ariel on the same show is much more "princessy". I think it's a good sign if a show has different girls in the same family.
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