{"id":1777615,"date":"2022-12-16T06:30:12","date_gmt":"2022-12-16T11:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1777615"},"modified":"2022-12-16T10:03:27","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T15:03:27","slug":"darren-aronofsky-dismisses-accusations-his-new-film-the-whale-is-fatphobic-and-anti-fat-makes-no-sense-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/darren-aronofsky-dismisses-accusations-his-new-film-the-whale-is-fatphobic-and-anti-fat-makes-no-sense-to-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Darren Aronofsky Dismisses Accusations His New Film \u201cThe Whale\u201d Is Fatphobic and Anti-fat: \u201cMakes No Sense to Me\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdarren-aronofsky-dismisses-accusations-his-new-film-the-whale-is-fatphobic-and-anti-fat-makes-no-sense-to-me%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1777615&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/brendan-fraser-the-whale-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\"   style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky has found himself having to defend his new movie <em>The Whale<\/em>, starring Brendan Fraser, against accusations that it is fatphobic and anti-fat, with critics including the <em>New York Times<\/em>\u2018 Roxane Gay claiming the movie is\u00a0\u201cexploitative\u201d and \u201csometimes cruel\u201d in its portrayal of a massively obese person.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a8d-pre\">Others have criticized Aronofsky for not casting an authentically obsese gay man in the lead role.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Darren Aronofsky said the accusations make no sense because the movie\u2019s protagonist, played by Fraser under mounds of prosthetics, is a complex character who is never just a joke.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople with obesity are generally written as bad guys or as punchlines,\u201d Aronofsky <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/entertainment\/brendan-fraser-says-that-his-kids-inspired-his-transformative-performance-in-the-whale-181128097.html\">told<\/a> Yahoo! Entertainment. \u201cWe wanted to create a fully worked-out character who has bad parts about him and good parts about him; Charlie is very selfish, but he\u2019s also full of love and is seeking forgiveness. So [the controversy] makes no sense to me. Brendan Fraser is the right actor to play this role, and the film is an exercise in empathy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"a8d-pre\">[embedded content]\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p><em>The Whale,\u00a0<\/em>which is currently in limited release, tells the story of a massively obese shut-in (Fraser) who spends his time teaching English classes via Zoom, gorging himself on food, and masturbating to gay porn. The movie has been hailed as a career comeback for Fraser \u2014 a phenomenon dubbed the \u201cBrenaissance\u201d \u2014 following his years spent wandering in the Hollywood wilderness.<\/p>\n<p>But <em>The Whale<\/em> has also faced accusations that it is fatphobic and anti-fat because it engages in stereotypes about fat people, implying that they are all chronically depressed binge-eaters. Aronofsky has also faced criticism for not casting an authentically obese, gay actor in the lead role.<\/p>\n<p><em>New York Times<\/em> contributor Roxane Gay called the movie\u00a0\u201cexploitative\u201d and \u201csometimes cruel\u201d in a recent op-ed.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">For <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nytimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@nytimes<\/a> I wrote about The Whale and its inhumanity. This movie is not the profound achievement its creators say it is. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/c7bYYRJHGF\">https:\/\/t.co\/c7bYYRJHGF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 roxane gay (@rgay) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rgay\/status\/1601620603655495681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 10, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"a8d-pre\"><em>Mean Girls<\/em> actor\u00a0Daniel Franzese has publicly questioned why the movie cast Fraser \u2014 a straight actor who isn\u2019t obese \u2014 when there are actors like himself who fit the bill.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cSo when they go time and time again and cast someone like Brendan Fraser, me and the other big queer guys, we\u2019re like, \u2018What the\u2026?\u2019 We can\u2019t take it!\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/movies\/daniel-franzese-frustrated-over-the-whale-casting-fat-suit-brendan-fraser-exclusive\/\">told<\/a> <em>People<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI guess you can go ahead and wear a fat suit and do what you got to do and get your Oscar. We\u2019ll just sit here, waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Aronofsky said actors shouldn\u2019t be criticized for using transformative prosthetics for a role.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cActors have been using makeup since the beginning of acting \u2014 that\u2019s one of their tools,\u201d Aronofsky told <a class=\"external-link\" title=\"(opens new window)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/entertainment\/brendan-fraser-says-that-his-kids-inspired-his-transformative-performance-in-the-whale-181128097.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Yahoo!<\/em> <em>Entertainment.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"a8d-pre\">\u201cAnd the lengths we went to to portray the realism of the make-up has never been done before. One of my first calls after casting Brendan was to my makeup artist, Adrien Morot. I asked him, \u2018Can we do something that\u2019s realistic?\u2019 Because if it\u2019s going to look like a joke, then we shouldn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p><strong><em>Follow David <\/em><em>Ng on Twitter\u00a0<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HeyItsDavidNg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">@HeyItsDavidNg<\/a>. Have a tip? Contact me at\u00a0<a class=\"c-link x5l\" href=\"mailto:dng@breitbart.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">dng@breitbart.com<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky has found himself having to defend his new movie The Whale, starring Brendan Fraser, against accusations that it is fatphobic and anti-fat, with critics including the New<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1777618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[6962,8460,9630,9632,5458,9629,4833,9631,5336,5628,8400,3819,6269,8618],"class_list":["post-1777615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-the","tag-accusations","tag-anti-fat","tag-aronofsky","tag-bongino","tag-darren","tag-dismisses","tag-fatphobic","tag-film","tag-makes","tag-me","tag-report","tag-sense","tag-whale"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1777615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1777615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1777618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1777615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1777615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1777615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}