B Movies Blog

Hello, Movie Mavens! Welcome back to the B Movies Blog. Today, we’re popping a critique of 90s/00s beauty standards into the ol’ VCR. 

CW/TW: EDs and fatphobia 

Also, there won’t be any pictures in this one because it doesn’t feel appropriate. 

Now, friends, I know I glamorize bits of the 90s and 00s. I write pieces about the pop culture I grew up in because there’s a lot I love about it. However, there are also a lot of things I don’t; it wasn’t all peace signs and smiley faces. 

As a point of reference, I was born in ‘92, so I grew up from 1992-2010. I survived chunky highlights, the harcore iteration of Hot Topic, and body glitter. Unfortunately, I also grew up in a time that praised “heroin chic” and the size 00, and made plus-size people the butt of every joke. 

From Van Wilder to Dodgeball, plus-size people and fat jokes were used as a cheap comedy ploy. Sure, there was commentary about EDs from shows like Degrassi: The Next Generation and even Daria, and movies like Shallow Hal that tried (and in my opinion, failed) to prove the idea of inner beauty being more important than outer beauty. Also, shoutout to Christina for “Beautiful.” 

But, with the culture of the 90s and 00s (and honestly, still into today) comes a tone of nastiness around being plus-size, as though being over a certain size automatically gives the general public the right to make fun of your body. And, I’ve been on both sides. 

I’m going to be very honest with all of you for a moment. I had severe anorexia and workout bulimia from the summer before the 9th grade through college with some relapses in my 20s. 

I’ve smoked cigarettes to keep from eating, worked out for hours a day, counted all of my calories, starved myself, you name it. 

You never fully rid yourself of eating disorders; I’ve been in recovery for years. However, it’s worth noting I still have lingering effects like having to monitor my exercise to avoid relapsing back into workout bulimia where I binge on exercise. Or, there are times when I’m bloated or look at a photo where I think my body looks weird, I have to be kind to myself. I love myself, and I’m comfortable in my own skin, but it’s just the unfortunate reality of having had some form of EDs for as long as I can remember. 

Growing up with the likes of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Lindsay Lohan, and Hilary Duff didn’t help. I’m obviously not here to blame these ladies for my EDs, but rather the media and culture shifts that surrounded them. We’ve heard from actresses over the years about the pressures placed on them to stay a certain size and look a certain way because it was what was deemed as “acceptable.” 

There’s also this strange phenomenon I like to call the Mandela Effect of Plus-Size Girls where you remember certain actresses being praised for being in movies, only to rewatch them and find that they’re a size 8 or 10, and, sometimes, they weren’t even plus-size at all. 

Don’t think I’m letting shows like Awkward. and Gilmore Girls off the hook either. I love these shows, but they both make multiple fat jokes throughout their runs. And, Awkward. goes so far as to make Sadie’s entire identity revolve around her weight for a good chunk of the series. I think the episode where Jenna and Tamara find her food journal does give us a good break from the jokes and humanizes Sadie, but again, it still isn’t perfect. 

I was extremely fortunate to have a mother who instilled healthy habits in me but never pressured me to look a specific way. KP always told my sister and me that we were beautiful, and there was a heavy emphasis on inner beauty in our home. I know a lot of people didn’t have that, and I’m so sorry to all of those who didn’t. 

But, it was still hard growing up surrounded by teen magazines and shows and movies that emphasized the importance of being thin, especially when many popular clothing stores of the time didn’t carry extended sizes. If you think I’m being hyperbolic or don’t think this was intentional, check out White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch. Because it very much was. 

At 31-years-old, I’m very comfortable in my own skin. As I mentioned earlier, I have intrusive thoughts that are a residual effect of my eating disorders, but I know they aren’t true; I’m happy and healthy. But, I do think it’s important to talk about the dark side of pop culture as well as the positives. 

I do think we’re heading in the right direction by adding more inclusivity in media, but we still have a long way to go. A future where plus-size people are fairly and accurately represented in media? Now, that’s hot.