Big Fat Slenderella (1993)

• 65%
• 1993
• Lorna Boschman

Big Fat Slenderella looks at dieting from the fat person's point of view. In this work, excerpts from documentary interviews with fat people are juxtaposed with fat animals in captivity by the inventive use of wipe effects. Commercials for products like The Poodle Diet Recipe Collection satirize the mainstream obsession with dieting and their fear of gaining weight. Despite the conventional wisdom dished out by medical practitioners, studies have shown that dieting simply does not work for 95% of the population. Why are we still encouraged to diet? Could it be profits and the fact that if someone is dieting, that's all they have energy for? The fat experts in Slenderella are all fat themselves, and tell stories of the many diets and medically administered amphetamine "cures" they have tried over the years.