Debby Ryan as Patty Bladdel

When I saw a petition calling for the cancellation of the latest Netflix Original show Insatiable, due to it’s depiction of an overweight character (played by a girl in a fat suit) — I instantly made the assumption that the show was going to be some depressing twisted Thirteen Reasons Why for fat people.

I woke up this morning and saw that it was trending on Twitter, so I thought I’d hop out of bed, make a cup of tea and watch the first few episodes; in hope that I could write a thoughtful insight into my feelings about the show and the way it depicts it’s overweight lead character, as someone who’s been there myself.

But I can’t. I stopped midway through episode 2 to write this, because it’s not depressing or shameful at all. It’s entertainment.

And if you think I haven’t watched enough to make a sound analysis, the majourity of people freaked out just after watching the trailer alone so for the sake of this argument I’ll consider myself qualified to pass judgement!

This show … is a bit nutty.

Whether you personally enjoy it or not, the show is ridiculous, dramatic and (intended to be) comedic. Not every overweight girl loses weight, develops an underlying personality disorder and becomes hell bent on revenge in the same way that not every science teacher becomes a meth cook, not every night club owner is a drug lord and not every forensic scientist is a serial killer.

In the same way that not every overweight guy is a considered to be loser, like Chris Brander.

Just Friends

In 2005 Ryan Reynolds (in a fat suit) and Amy Smart starred in a film called Just Friends, a rom com about overweight high schooler Chris Brander, who feels so embarrassed by a bad High School experience, bullying and rejection that he leaves his home town — only to return years later thin, confident and (as I’m sure most would agree) charmingly handsome.

Ryan Reynolds as Chris Brander

Chris Brander wanted to prove people wrong, and by doing so he created a huge shift in his confidence, but it also had a toll on his mental health. He became obsessed with winning the prize, his objectified high school crush Jamie Pallamino. This movie at its core was (whilst in my opinion really funny and entertaining) about losing weight so he could prove people wrong and make people find him attractive. This movie went on to take $50 million in the box office.

Doing A Chris Brander/Patty Bladdel

When I was younger, I always wished that I could do my own Chris Brander transformation, and finally I eventually did a transformation of my own.

Just me!

I wanted to be like everybody else, I wanted to be wanted, I wanted Ryan Reynolds face to be my face! I related to the character in a lot of ways, even including the fact that his obese self was represented in the movie as a “loser”. Even though most people probably didn’t relate to him. Because not every person who’s “overweight” is insecure or unhappy.

When returning as his new thinner self, Chris Brander had the same mission as Patty Bladdel — to make people feel sorry that they ever bullied them. Some people may lose weight and still be exactly the same person, but in my case I changed from the person I was into a person that I wanted to be — and that wasn’t because of the weight loss, it was because of the mentality shift that I went through to get to that place.

Patty Bladell Is Out There

Patty Bladell has a slightly different goal than I had. I wanted to feel respected and victorious, Chris Brander wanted to feel accepted and victorious, Patty wants to feel feared and victorious. And just because you don’t relate to her, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t exist.

Characters are not created in the image of every viewer watching. Not every overweight girl is supposed to relate on every level to Patty. In fact, the girls who can mostly relate to Patty Bladell will probably never watch the show, they’re too busy out there being batshit crazy and trying to mess with someone’s lives.

You can guarantee there are lots of girls out there who have gone through similar feelings, emotions and desires that Patty has gone through. Patty never decided to lose weight, she had that decision made for her when she had her jaw wired shut, which probably isn’t that common, but that doesn’t matter. It’s about the effect that change had on her mental health, because everybody who loses weight changes in some way.

Just because you don’t have the same flavour of personality disorder as Patty Bladell, doesn't mean she isn’t real.

Enjoy The Show (Or Not)

I don’t relate to Insatiable’s Patty in the way I did to Chris Brander, but I definitely think I’ll enjoy watching the rest of this series (when I get around to it). If you were outraged by the trailer, it’s probably best that you move on with your life, but if you weren’t particularly offended by the trailer, were originally intrigued but have a bad taste in your mouth because of the controversy, give it a go, it’s really not been worth all of this trouble.

It’s comedy. It’s a bit ridiculous. It’s silly. Don’t take serious life advice from a Netflix comedy.