Jamie Oliver - Episode 1
Huh.
So it's both better and worse than I thought it would be.
Jamie himself doesn't verbally conflate weight and health. There are, however, many shots of headless fatties, and the Edwards, the family he goes to "help" (more on them in a moment) are definitely all fat.
He doesn't say to any of them "If you eat better, you will lose weight,"--until one of the kids brings it up first. Is it possible that conversation was had with him starting it, and it didn't make it on the episode? Absolutely.
I was both intrigued and horrified by the way he cooked all their week's food and put it all on the table to "show how unhealthy it is." Stacie, the mom, definitely looked horrified. It would have been really offensive (and it still was, don't get me wrong!) if she hadn't seemed actually stunned by what she saw. Either she's a fantastic actress, or this really was something she had a blind spot for. I know I think back to the way I ate in college, and it was all fried, covered in cheese, fast food, chain restaurants, thousands of calories per meal, etc. There's nothing morally wrong with that, but I certainly wasn't eating healthfully. I'm sure had I been shown on one table all of that stuff, I would have had a similar reaction as Mrs. Edwards.
Back to the show, aside from the people he's choosing to talk to, all of whom are fat, he's not saying to any one person YOUR FAT IS KILLING YOU. He's saying "your food choices are killing you," which is a different conversation.The language used by the show is that the town has a high incidence of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. I'd love to see them use skinny people in examples of those, and I'm irritated by the headless fatty shots. They're speaking out of both sides of their mouths with the things they're *saying* are "health, diabetes, etc," but the images they're *showing* are "Fatty fat fat fats."
The person who I really did want to smack? Pastor Steve. God, what a fat-shaming mansplainer. I understand the genesis (hurr durr) of his concern trolling: He's watching his congregation die at an alarming rate from preventable illnesses, but he's consistently saying it's because they're fat. When he paged through the church yearbook, I would be interested to know if any of the people he pointed to were not fat, but still had diabetes, heart disease, suffered strokes, etc.
But back to Jamie. I find him appealing and eventually respectful. There are moments where he steps in it ("Lunch lady" for example), gets called out for it, and he apologizes and asks the correct way to address the situation. I'd find him more irritating if he didn't seem (at least nominally) willing to learn the issues he's mishandling.
He is, however, really missing the boat on the "money and time don't grow on trees" issue. I do hope it gets addressed in later episodes.
I could really do without his constant drumbeating and occasional weeping into the camera about how he "just wants to HELP these people!" I know the very premise of this show is concern trolling, but I feel that element could be handled at least a little better.
So it's both better and worse than I thought it would be.
Jamie himself doesn't verbally conflate weight and health. There are, however, many shots of headless fatties, and the Edwards, the family he goes to "help" (more on them in a moment) are definitely all fat.
He doesn't say to any of them "If you eat better, you will lose weight,"--until one of the kids brings it up first. Is it possible that conversation was had with him starting it, and it didn't make it on the episode? Absolutely.
I was both intrigued and horrified by the way he cooked all their week's food and put it all on the table to "show how unhealthy it is." Stacie, the mom, definitely looked horrified. It would have been really offensive (and it still was, don't get me wrong!) if she hadn't seemed actually stunned by what she saw. Either she's a fantastic actress, or this really was something she had a blind spot for. I know I think back to the way I ate in college, and it was all fried, covered in cheese, fast food, chain restaurants, thousands of calories per meal, etc. There's nothing morally wrong with that, but I certainly wasn't eating healthfully. I'm sure had I been shown on one table all of that stuff, I would have had a similar reaction as Mrs. Edwards.
Back to the show, aside from the people he's choosing to talk to, all of whom are fat, he's not saying to any one person YOUR FAT IS KILLING YOU. He's saying "your food choices are killing you," which is a different conversation.The language used by the show is that the town has a high incidence of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. I'd love to see them use skinny people in examples of those, and I'm irritated by the headless fatty shots. They're speaking out of both sides of their mouths with the things they're *saying* are "health, diabetes, etc," but the images they're *showing* are "Fatty fat fat fats."
The person who I really did want to smack? Pastor Steve. God, what a fat-shaming mansplainer. I understand the genesis (hurr durr) of his concern trolling: He's watching his congregation die at an alarming rate from preventable illnesses, but he's consistently saying it's because they're fat. When he paged through the church yearbook, I would be interested to know if any of the people he pointed to were not fat, but still had diabetes, heart disease, suffered strokes, etc.
But back to Jamie. I find him appealing and eventually respectful. There are moments where he steps in it ("Lunch lady" for example), gets called out for it, and he apologizes and asks the correct way to address the situation. I'd find him more irritating if he didn't seem (at least nominally) willing to learn the issues he's mishandling.
He is, however, really missing the boat on the "money and time don't grow on trees" issue. I do hope it gets addressed in later episodes.
I could really do without his constant drumbeating and occasional weeping into the camera about how he "just wants to HELP these people!" I know the very premise of this show is concern trolling, but I feel that element could be handled at least a little better.