Fat Hatred and Disability on The Cleveland Show

[ccharles000]

The above image is Kendra from McFarlanes new series, The Cleveland Show. In the segment in question, her husband Lester is offering her a meal of dog, which he refers to as Chinese Food. Her response is that he read her stomach. This was one moment of racism in a show that had many offensive incidents.

From the moment I saw this episode, I kept returning to this very brief scene. I know that it triggered me and caught my attention, because like me, Kendra is fat and in a scooter. Seeing someone with a visible disability is a very rare occurrence on prime time television. When people with disabilities are visible, they are often props for a comedic routine. There is an assumption on the part of many, that if fat people would just get the hell up out of their scooters and walk, that weight would no longer be an issue. It never occurs to people that weight is the not the illness but simply an outward manifestation of other problems. People don’t use scooter because they are lazy but because they have no other choice. Think about the simple pleasure of strolling along a beach, or a walk in the fall and hearing the leaves crunch under your feet; those small pleasures are lost. Even the ability to run and feel the strength of your own body as your legs propel you forward, is a pleasure not fully understood until it is lost.

Riding in a scooter is not the easy way out, that it seems to those who have never been forced to use one. Stores that able bodied people access without a problem often have steps that bar access. Even those that have a nice flat access, sometimes don’t have an automatic door opener. To enter my favourite market, I have to wait outside and wave my arms until someone inside notices that I need assistance.

http://www.womanist-musings.com/2009/10/fat-hatred-and-disability-on-cleveland.html

[FlaGranny]

1. I'm sure that in some cases

the scooter comes before the fat. Disabled people aren't able to get much exercise to burn calories. As a person who has had a lifelong struggle with my weight (I've always had sedentary jobs), I understand that excess weight puts a horrible burden on your body. My back, my feet, my knees all scream at me loudly when I weigh too much, as do my lungs when I try to walk up steps or I'm in a hurry. The body is continually in real physical pain when you're obese. When I lost 80 pounds, I felt rejuvenated. The pain went away and I had energy to do things I wanted to do. My BP normalized, my blood sugar normalized, my cholesterol normalized. I'm still struggling to lose more and I'm very determined to do it, but it gets harder and harder as you go. I have empathy for those obese people in scooters because I understand the physical problems they face. The lifestyle in this country is not good for those of us who have a predisposition to put on fat. It makes everything worse when you are stereotyped and ridiculed.

[Philosoraptor]

2. There are LOTS of 'disabled' jokes on McFarland toons, I don't care for it frankly

They regularly make fun of the disabled, people with birth defects, etc. These attempts at humor really piss me off, cause I use a manual and a motor chair. I've been disabled since birth, and though I do find some humor in these Sunday night toons, much of it is in my opinion, cruel. Try 'living' in a wheelchair Mr. McFarland, and see for yourself how funny it all is.

REC'd.

[dysfunctional press]

21. then don't watch them.

it's just amazing how easy the solution to some of life's 'problems' really are.

[seabeyond]

3. trash. we are living in a world and media of trash. nt

[ThatsMyBarack]

14. Shame on FOX!

FullOfXcrement!

[xultar]

16. So the fat hate on DU is o.k. IT isn't just faux. I see it here also.

[vi5]

4. Oh brother.....

It's a Seth McFarlane show. It's intended to push buttons and push the limit. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's painfully not funny. But it is what it is. Nobody watches any of his shows thinking they're going to get some sort of accurate and compassionate insight into the human condition, and if they do they are idiotic. It's like watching Law and Order and complaining that it's not funny enough or watching the Food Network and complaining that there is not enough violence.

And as for the subject at hand, I know plenty of people who are actually para and quadraplegic and who use motorized chairs/etc. because they literally do not have the capability to walk. And I also know plenty of people who use scooters not because they can't walk, but simply because they get winded because they are too heavy. I don't mock the latter group or get mad at it, but I'm also not going to put them on the same level of disability as the former who don't even have that option. So unless this episode (which I didn't see) got into full detail about the degree and level of the character in questions medical ailments and reasoning behind using a scooter (which I doubt they did) it seems like it might be a case of reading too much into it.

[southernyankeebelle]

5. A person like MacFarlene has no idea what an obese person goes through, it is easy to make obese

people the joke. Unless you are that person they have no idea what it feels like. This group seems to be the target of everyone and it is exceptable. I can't tell you how many pounds I have lost and gained in my life. I hit the age of 50 and medical problems started happening to me. I was about 180 pds. I thought that was good for me because I was active but I ended up getting a bone disease and many other problems. I have picked up more weight because I can't stand or sit to long. But I don't want to use those electric chairs. I already get stares. But you know I finally realized that am part of this world and I have nothing to be ashamed of and I don't let anyone stare to long without saying whats the matter? They usually are embrassed they were staring. Sometimes I tell them to take a picture it last longer. It hurts but I hold my head up. I have just as much of a right to be here then anyone else.

[DaveinJapan]

7. You are not the person they are making light of, though. nt

[seabeyond]

10. making lite of? insulting. call it what it is. nt

[DaveinJapan]

20. It's comedy. Insulting would be how the right wing treats people. nt

[DaveinJapan]

6. Oh brother, indeed. k&U

[Curtland1015]

8. Not to defend McFarlane really, but I don't think he writes the show.

He just came up with the main character the show is based on. It has its own stable of writers.

Not that Family Guy itself doesn't take stabs at obese people all the time...

[shadowknows69]

9. I love Family Guy and other McFarlane mischief, but I stopped watching

And have never watch this new one because occasionally he does jump over a few of my personal lines of bad taste, and I don't have many. One in particular was Family Guy ep where Peter and a barbershop quartet are dancing and singing around an AIDS patient that they're mocking. I just really don't get where that is funny on any level at all?

[spoony]

23. That was exactly what put me over the edge.

I so looked forward to the show coming back after cancellation. I was one of those people petitioning and buying merch and all that, and then I'm watching that scene thinking, "holy shit--these people are just JERKS." It was very disappointing. I wish they'd left it canceled.

[Rebubula]

11. Quick Note...

...if you look hard enough...there will ALWAYS be something out there to offend you.

Some are offended by nipples in the Super Bowl, others by blacks dating whites, certain people get pissed off when you make fun of Allah or Muslims, another sect is in a tizzy about Jesus jokes, I know people that are mad about gays getting married....

Life is hard...ignore the assholes.

[MidwestRick]

12. You don't need a scooter

to change the channel if you don't like the program.

[MNDemNY]

13. Some might.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. LOL

[xultar]

17. Whenever the discussion on DU turns to fat people, I've seen people here spew

the most amazing hatred.

Just sayin...

[Romulox]

18. As always, the only real crime in comedy is not being funny.

J'accuse!, Cleveland Show!

[Initech]

19. McFarlane is an equal opportunity offender. I'm suprised people haven't caught onto it yet.

[dysfunctional press]

22. "To enter my favourite market, I have to wait outside and wave my arms..."

then why in the world is that her favourite market? they have chosen to make it difficult for her- she should tell the owners of the store that if the situation isn't resoled, that she'll take her business elsewhere- it's their decision to make.