Educational Media Reviews Online

The Size of It tells the stories of four obese women, whom reveal their feelings and attitudes about being fat. A common theme among all four of them is that they have learned to accept themselves as overweight people. They claim to be happy the way they are; however, the viewer hears other internal voices that conflict with their pronouncements of contentment. Unfortunately, the documentary does not fully probe into their psychological or physical histories for us to learn more about their morbid conditions. While one young woman admits that “if I had the choice, I would not be fat,” the question of choice is never explored. It is as if being obese is a hopeless state that is unchangeable, while the facts show that it is-- through diet, exercise, and support programs. We would like to know what these women’s thought processes are while they are consuming high calorie foods.

However, there is little soul searching among the women. Dana, a belly dancer, admits to using food as a protection against being intimate with people. We get a glimpse of her relationship with her father who tells her in one breath to “swim one hundred laps for a piece of cake,” but who also says that their relationship is more important than Dana’s weight problem. Lisa’s mother disapproves of her size and implies that her daughter’s body is ugly. Even though the mother lost one hundred pounds, she has ambivalent feelings towards her daughter’s corpulence. Janine has serious health issues and is considering surgery. She has a son whom she is worried about if she dies from overweight-related problems. Teresa is a stand-up comic who has capitalized on being fat. She philosophizes that you still have to love yourself, even if you are heavy.

All four women express the problems they have about fitting in, so to speak, in a thinner world, but have unfortunately resigned themselves to staying obese. Childhood histories would make this documentary more insightful so that we can understand why these women have gained so much weight as to compromise their health. While they can proclaim that they love themselves and accept themselves as they are, the viewer is left with that famous quotation: “The lady doth protest too much.”