sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies
Article Title
Haunted by Fatness: Medicalization, Diet Culture, and the Failure of Chrononormativity
Abstract
In the summer of 2016, BBC Three filmed an autopsy of an obese woman in a documentary called Obesity: The Post Mortem. In addition, BBC has released a “behind the scenes” video of the procedure, detailing the real-life process of shipping a body overseas for “medical research.” This essay begins by pointing out the expressions of fears of fatness and of fat people present in Netflix’s full-length version of the autopsy as well as in the behind-the-scenes clip, by focusing on narration in the films as well as stylization such as sound and cinematography choices. I will use the framework of chrononormativity, as developed by queer theorists, to show how fatness disobeys normative notions of time. What’s more, the strategies that have been created by society to manage fatness, such as the medicalization of obesity and dieting culture, have in fact created new spaces where fatness persists in refusing normative temporality through haunting.
Publication Date
5-31-2019
Recommended Citation
Jeffery, Catherine
(2019)
"Haunted by Fatness: Medicalization, Diet Culture, and the Failure of Chrononormativity,"
sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies: Vol. 12, Article 14.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/sprinkle/vol12/iss1/14
Included in
Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons