My favorite reference in Fat Shame was the story of Cass Elliot. “Mama Cass” was a successful performer and member of the 1970s folk band The Mamas & The Papas. Famously overweight, she served as a poster child for the fat activism movement. Her band mates, who were not oblivious to the social critique she received, were worried about including her. “They believed her obesity might be considered unattractive”*. With an incredible voice, she was being deferred from pursuing her passion. The band eventually got over it and included her in the group. In a song about their formation, Creeque Alley, the verses close “and no one’s getting fat but Mama Cass”. This play on her size was used to symbolize her rapidly developing career; her voice sky-rocked the band to fame, (which is an interesting connection because it shows fatness as success like in the 1700s! (27-30)).
In 1974, after crash dieting, Mama Cass passed away of a heart attack. Upon hearing this, the public assumed it was because she was fat. The plethora of rumors started when someone said she died from choking on a ham sandwich. In reality, she had died trying to appease those that made the judgments about her weight. The early fat activism movement took on her case as an example to show the public of how great the pressure really is to be thin (144-145). Her “Mama” status was another appeal, showing outward confidence in a curvy and “matronly” body. She was described at a Fat Underground event as a “fat woman who refused to hide her beauty” (144).
What does Mama Cass’s story say about the social pressures on the thin body? She may have been a preview of what was to come with celebrities dying to be thin. Endless are the lists of celebrities who have resorted to eating disorders, drug use, and drastic surgeries in order to lose weight or stay thin. Also, it shows what stands in the way of fat people when they have a talent to show. She got frequent judgment - not on her lovely voice, but on her body. Nowadays, the media almost never shows fat and happy women. The only time overweight people appear is when they want to “improve themselves” and lose weight. Gone are the days when a woman can be confident in her body when placed in the public eye. For example, Mama Cass often wore large mu-mus that made her look larger than she actually was. Her fans accepted her for this, and even learned to love it. Today though, nobody would be caught dead wearing something that made them look even a sliver bigger.
Maybe the days of body confidence will return and fat people who are ok with their size will be seen as beautiful, not unfortunate. I hope someday ladies will accept that they can be like Mama Cass, “beautiful as a fat woman, not despite the fact that she was fat” (145).
*http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/mama-cass.html
These days are closer than you think!
ReplyDeleteAdele is not a standard-sized artist (apparently she's a 14/16 UK size, which translates to a 12/14 US size), and knows it. She has said:
"I don't like going to the gym. I like eating fine foods and drinking nice wine. Even if I had a really good figure, I don't think I'd get my tits and ass out for no one."
She has also said that her music isn't for the eyes, but for the ears, bringing the focus back on music than appearance. Isn't this great?
Kim, I really like your point about Mama Cass. She had an incredible voice, and it's terrible that she had to die while trying to become what people thought that she should be.
ReplyDeleteI wish the standards were as easy to change as what Adele has been saying! If you look at Jennifer Hudson she has lost 80 pounds, and is now endorsing weight watchers. She said in an interview with People that "I didn't even know I was considered plus-sized until I came to Hollywood, I thought I was the perfect size!" It's terrible that this woman who was so comfortable with her body suddenly felt the need to lose that much weight. Social pressures like body size take such a toll on people and their self esteem, and I wish that Hudson hadn't felt that she needed to drop the weight because she was just as beautiful before.
The story of Mama Cass I believe is a perfect example of how social pressures can push you past your limit. I believe it also reflects on how much our confidence depends on the approval of societal perceptions. How we are consciously aware of how society has conjugated the human body and how we then react to that, really determines how much we accept our own bodies. I wish we could get to a place, where we can first accept our own body sizes and types, and that way others might accept it.
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