Overweight Teenagers
The new Lifetime Television movie, To Be Fat Like Me, asks questions about obesity, teenagers and our present day culture
The difference between being popular and being fat
It started out as a project by a 15-year-old girl in New York. She was asked by a family friend, who also held the position of producer at ABC News, to go undercover in a fat suit and document her experience.
Ali Schmidt went to school for a day as a 250-pound teenager to find out what it was like to be fat. Her usual 129-pound frame was covered with makeup and a fat suit to test how her peer would react.
Her story was made into a TV movie, To Be Fat Like Me, debuting January 8, 2007. The movie stars Kaley Cuoco (8 Simple Rules) and Caroline Rhea (The Biggest Loser) as mother and daughter who can’t communicate well enough to tell each other the truth.
Aly (Cuoco), spends 4 weeks in a fat suit during her summer break determined to win a documentary film competition that will win her $10,000 to go to college and pay softball.
What happens when a popular and fit jock experiences life as a “fat girl”? Her views are changed, her beliefs are shattered and she can’t live her life the same way anymore.
All of the pieces fit together perfectly as the family members and friends around her are all affected in different ways. Aly must get through the 4 weeks to tell her story- that of the truth.
Although there are certainly moments of strained acting, the movie as a whole has heart and makes up for it by inciting the viewer to ask themselves questions about obesity, fat stereotypes and what being overweight means in our culture today.
For more information on the movie, visit: www.lifetimetv.com
