Fatty
Patty. A fight with a homeless guy over
a donut in front of a convenience store (Booze and Stuff). Punches are thrown. A summer spent with jaws wired shut. The completely-believable loss of over 70
pounds. Returning to school in the fall
a skinny and hot Patty. One who is
“insatiable”—including a desire for revenge.
There’s the
premise for the tv show, Insatiable.
The big
controversy about the series is that it engages in fat-shaming. Much of that criticism was based on the
show’s trailer, which does seem to illustrate the quote, “skinny is magic.”
However, the
show’s creator Lauren
Gussis begs to differ. She bases the
story of Patty Bladell (played by Debby Ryan) on her own life. In a Vanity Fair article, she says, “I
always had issues with my body and weight. I was always in the 90th percentile for
weight. I always felt bad about it. I was bullied when I was a teenager. My friends dumped me. I felt alone without the protection of friends
or being one of the popular girls. I got
attacked a lot. I think that made me
isolate, and I think food became a solution to that for sure.”
For fans of
dark comedy—and high school trauma—Insatiable
fits the bill. Bob Armstrong, played by
Dallas Roberts, is a disgraced lawyer whose real purpose in life is coaching
beauty pageant contestants. The
ridiculous nature of the pageants provides a running backstory. Alyssa Milano plays his wife, who has her own
struggles to overcome her past and join the Georgia town’s elite residents.
There are
plenty of sight gags and over-the-top moments of humor, but there are scenes
which display Patty’s futility in finding peace and acceptance. She still battles with her demons—figuratively
and literally! One especially
heartbreaking incident of struggle comes when no sound can be heard. We can sense Gussis channeling the
self-hatred she had to have felt.
