The Plugged In Show, Episode 84: Fat Monica and the Rest of Us
Adam Holz
Take “Fat Monica” on
Friends, for example.
Back in the day, Monica’s overweight high school self might have seemed like acceptable fodder for a joke at her expense. But fast-forward a couple of decades, and some who saw those episodes when they were quite young can now see that this “joke” at Monica Gellar’s expense was actually at the expense of many others, too, in terms of the messages it sent. Messages like, “Thin is good, fat is bad.” With the benefit of hindsight, it’s clear that Fat Monica isn’t so funny after all.