I found another example of problematic fatphobia in another movie. We were watching the 1960 movie “Spartacus” in History class. It’s basically about a slave named Spartacus starting a war against the Roman empire. The leader of the Romans is a governor named Crassus who has a rival in politics named Gracchus. Spartacus is shown as brave and loyal while Crassus is shown as mean and sneaky. Spartacus is thin and muscular while Crassus is pretty chubby. Gracchus has quite a bit of fat and his BMI (it’s bullshit I know, but bear with me here) would be classified as “obese.” He also proudly classifies himself as corpulent, which means he’s cool with being fat. Throughout the movie, Gracchus is picked on for his weight. At the end of the movie, he is listed as a traitor to Rome and later commits suicide. Crassus later kills Spartacus, but it isn’t exactly a victory. Crassus admits he is afraid of people uprising too. He also admits he is afraid of Julius Caesar, his younger friend, and how he will surpass him. Take note that Caesar is tall, thin, and muscular and very conventionally attractive.

Thin privilege is watching a movie in history class that depicts the heroes/winners as people of your body type while the larger characters either die, lose political power, or remain afraid of the thinner characters.