Harry Potter and the Fat Stereotypes
2019 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesisAlternative title
Harry Potter och De Tjocka Karaktärerna : En Analys av Stereotyper inom Fantasyserien (Swedish)
Abstract [en]
In the field of research within film studies which consider how aspects such as gender or race affect the portrayal of a character, the aspect of characters' body sizes are not always taken into account. By analysing the fat characters in the popular children's and young adult film series about Harry Potter, I bring attention to the fact that the use of stereotypes is significant in these characterisations, and further contributes to the marginalisation of this particular group of people. I looked specifically at what the characters had in common with each other, and if they adhered to already established stereotypes concerning fat people, and found that the one thing they all share is a lack of academic or intellectual skill to varying degrees, which is in line with the common stereotypes of fat people as dumb. I further analysed the differences between the fat men and fat women in the series, and found that fat men were a far more common occurrence than fat women, and that fat girls did not even exist in these stories. This is not surprising, as the exclusion of fat women and girls is abundant in mainstream culture.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2019. , p. 40
Keywords [en]
Harry Potter, Fat Studies, Film Studies, Gender Studies, Children's Films, Young Adult Series, Intersectionality, Fat Stereotypes
National Category
Humanities and the Arts
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-79683OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-79683DiVA, id: diva2:1281164
Subject / course
Film Studies
Educational program
Language, Culture and Communication Programme, 180 credits
Supervisors
Examiners
2019-01-222019-01-212019-01-22Bibliographically approved