(Since nobody else is talking about it,) The Fat Mockery in Resident Evil 8 Extremely Sucks

So it’s been about a week since the Resident Evil Village Showcase. We got to see more of the new creepy atmosphere, learn a little bit about who (and what) new series protagonist Ethan Winters is up against in the game, and of course, be extremely hype on Lady Dimitrescu, the Tall Thicc Vampire Woman the internet fell in love with leading up to the event, and her three bug-teleporting vampire daughters.

But one thing that was extremely not fun to reckon with was the reveal of a NPC, The Duke, whose seemingly entire essence of monstrosity is his extreme size. I tweeted my feelings about the character at the time, but it seems like everyone else kind of just overlooked the character. So, in agreement with Dr. Todd Harper…

…we’re going to fucking talk about this.

Let’s start with the science. Research has shown that stereotypical depictions of fatness in media – images and video of fat people eating junk food or laying on the couch watching television, for example – increases people’s explicit anti-fat bias^[1]Pearl, R. L., Puhl, R. M., & Brownell, K. D. (2012). Positive media portrayals of obese persons: Impact on attitudes and image preferences. Health Psychology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0027189 as opposed to positive depictions of fatness, or “stereotype-incongruent” images of fat people buying produce and being active. But this doesn’t happen in a vacuum, as “Implicit attitudes are influenced by repeated exposure to messages that are prevalent in the environment.”^[2]Hinman, N. G., Burmeister, J. M., Kiefner, A. E., Borushok, J., & Carels, R. A. (2015). Stereotypical portrayals of obesity and the expression of implicit weight bias. Body Image, 12, … Continue reading^[3]Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. (1995). Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological Review, 102, 4–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.102.1.4

When fat characters are included in video games at all, they’re either pitiable comic relief or their evil is accentuated by their fatness. Have you ever laughed at a fat supporting character’s clumsiness or ineptitude? Can you think of a single depiction of the sin “Gluttony” that isn’t fat? Do Danganronpa character Hifumi Yamada’s perversions gross you out because of the perversions themselves or because of his weight? When you see the great sloping grey belly of The Duke emerge from inside his covered wagon in the Resident Evil Village trailer, does it evoke good, safe feelings or feelings of revulsion?

Look, it’s well-documented that the Resident Evil franchise hasn’t exactly been great when it comes to dealing with sensitive subjects. Resident Evil 5 exists as a fucking video game, after all. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard saw the Bakers turn into immortal, shambling Deliverance stereotypes thanks to E-001’s psychotropic mold. The series’ first canonically gay character goes by the call sign of “DEE-AY,” or “DON’T ASK,” after DON’T ASK DON’T TELL. I wish I didn’t know about any of this shit. And so, I get why people might not find The Duke particularly upsetting. Besides, who cares? Lady Dimitrescu might show up at any (scripted) moment to snap our thirsty necks, right?

Sure, man, whatever. Anyway the problem with just simply letting The Duke go without a challenge is that over time the problem just gets worse, not better. Bias against fatness increases steadily over time, and the prevalence of this bias is effected by the amount of stereotypically negative depictions of fatness out there.^[4]Ravary, A., Baldwin, M. W., & Bartz, J. A. (2019). Shaping the Body Politic: Mass Media Fat-Shaming Affects Implicit Anti-Fat Attitudes. Personality and Social Psychology … Continue reading

It was less than three weeks ago that Variety announced the Darren Aronofsky-directed, A24-produced film adaptation of the 2012 Off-Broadway play, The Whale, with Brendan Fraser set to star as the protagonist, Charlie. It’s not a nautical thriller vaguely based on Moby Dick, but instead a sparse production featuring few supporting characters whose entire premise is that Charlie is a 600-pound man with resulting mobility issues who is slowly eating himself to death because he’s depressed about being gay. Here’s how the New York Times reviewer, Charles Isherwood, described his experience seeing the play: “It is rare enough to see even mildly overweight characters depicted in new plays. Never before have I encountered anyone resembling Charlie, portrayed with easygoing humanity and grace by [actor Schuler Hensley].”

Isherwood wrote further into the piece: “As Charlie, Mr. Hensley is marooned inside what must be one of the biggest fat suits ever constructed for the theater. And yet while it’s impossible to ignore the disturbing aspects of his corpulence — from which neither Mr. Hunter nor Mr. Hensley shy away — we never lose sight of Charlie’s agile if troubled mind and the compassionate heart beating so laboriously beneath the layers of flesh.”

Fatness as a mode of being – whether in literature, television, movies, games or the stage – is only ever reduced to spectacle. Rather than an existence to explore, as rich and varied as any thin person’s possibility space is, fatness becomes a trope to be used for cheap laughs, or cheap tears, or cheap terrors. I can only conclude this: