Modern Media’s Obsession With Body Positivity 

Anybody remember when the "body positivity" community got mad at Rebel Wilson for losing weight? Haters even called her a "traitor".

Careful Cynic. TurfNation might make half hour video essay trying to make you look like a toxic bigot while simultaneously unironically proving your point.

Making fun of short men is body shaming. Pointing out that fat person is living a worse life and is sick is literally truth they're scared to hear

I don’t want to see myself represented on screen, I want to see a GOOD STORY

We don't want ugly characters, we want appealing characters. They don't have to be sexy, they just need to be characters that look like healthy human beings that don't look like they spent all their time at an all you can eat buffet.

I still think it’s insane that Lizzo was fat-shaming her dancers.

I miss when body positivity used to mean "Are you missing a limb? Maybe your stomach is covered in stretch marks after giving birth? Do you have a large discolored birth mark on your body? Or a bunch of scars from years of surgery? Don't worry about any of that, because you are still beautiful and worthy!" Body positivity used to have MEANING. It used to be worth something. Now it's just encouraging people to be lazy and be self-proclaimed victims.

Real body positivity is teaching people how to be healthy... why they call teaching people that being morbidly unhealthy is ok "positive" is beyond me, it's extremely negative to be unhealthy.

They WANT us fat and essentially crippled, this is the best and most scary thing about that Wall-E movie

“I have a black brother in law so basically what I’m saying is my sister is fat” 😂😂😂 that’s just the best

This movement would be aimed at a women like me, but I hate it. I watch entertainment to see fantasies. If I wanted to see myself "represented" I'd look in a freaking mirror! In the words of Katt Williams "It's called SELF ESTEEM!!!" I don't need Hollywood or anyone else but myself to feel good about who I am 🫶🏾🩷🤦🏾‍♀️

Toxic positivity is a perfect name for it, tbh. And this is far from the first time a lifestyle that used to be considered bad was not only re-imagined to be good but also shown to be *superior* to the opposing way of life. Take, for example, Lady and the Tramp. In that film, Tramp's "ride or die," no commitment lifestyle is shown to be liberating in some aspects. But it also results in Lady being traumatized after she was carted off to the pound. In that film, family and commitment were shown as the lifestyle that most people should ultimately strive for. Fast forward to Toy Story 4. Woody is the one supporting the notion of family and commitment and Bo Peep is championing the 'no commitment, ride or die' mindset. But Toy Story 4 treats Woody as the one in the wrong, to the point where he throws away those values to adopt Bo Peep's. Disney is so obsessed with being "inclusive" to all lifestyles that they have swung too far in the other direction to where they are now actively promoting destructive and selfish lifestyles.

I mean if you step back and think about it... This is one demographic they have right 70% of Americans are obese... That's a pretty large target😂😂😂😂 pun intended

Also hate Body Positivity. What exactly is there to be positive about being massively overweight, unable to run, jump or even do basic functions and hating yourself everytime you look in the mirror.

Spot on, Cynic. I absolutely hate the culture of toxic positivity. I know this video is about body positivity specifically, but I'm sick of it in all fields. I'm sick of the media shoving obnoxious pandering messages with no real depth or solutions, just yammering on and on about the same things over and over again, and the people who its aimed for eating it up, and calling anyone who doesn't swallow a bigot. Not to mention the multiple people who will sign your name in the Death Note if you so much as DARE say a SINGLE NEGATIVE THING ABOUT ANY MOVIE IN EXSISTENCE. Like, even if it's a movie they hate, these people will whine and complain. I'm not kidding, there are Rise Of Skywalker haters mad that people are saying bad things about ROS. These people can't fathom the idea that sometimes negativity is a necessary and important part of fandom, that people don't just hate to hate, they hate because it's fun to discuss and analyze why we dislike something. But these people like things because liking things is what a fan is supposed to do. And I'm sick of it. Stop acting like being negative is this horrible thing, and just allow yourself to hate things. Side note, if you hate yourself, go look up r/SaltierThanKrayt. It is literally toxic positivity the subreddit, and it is one of the most cringey, obnoxious, self obsessed echochambers on the internet. It's like an endurance test going on that rancid subreddit.

"Toxic Positivity" is one of the most useful terms i found those last phew months It perfectly describes a LOT of issues i have with people's attitute.

I can’t think of anything more toxic than glamorizing/normalizing obesity and heart failure. When it’s literally the #1 cause of death in the United States.

It’s sad to see Pixar go from warning us about obesity to promoting it

Maybe don't promote Temu. It's technically not a scam but is super shady and unsafe. I agree that the body positivity thing is a case of the 180° turn that's too far. It's not okay to bully and shame people just for being overweight but it's also not something that should be praised or idolised. It's a bit of a personal topic for me because I've been overweight for a lot of my life and I've never thought of it as a good thing, but I also have a disability that makes losing it really difficult. I'm working with an exercise physiologist to help it but it's still going to be a long and arduous process. I think you briefly mentioned about unhealthy food being cheaper and easier, but I'd say that poverty/ wealth plays a big part in fitness as well. If you don't have the time between your job and taking care of your kids to cook a good meal, or you literally can't afford healthier food or a gym membership or, like me, need specialised help so as not to damage yourself, it's going to be very difficult to change your circumstances. Just some thoughts. Excellent video overall (aside from the sponsor).

With only a minute into the video: For me Hollywood, superheros, athletes all of it is supposed to be the peak of physical performance, beauty, and the physical form. I don't pay a monthly streaming fee to see my average fat next door neighbors. Judge it for what you will but it's the truth.

About two months ago I somehow stumbeled into a bunch of body positive videos on RU-vid. The next day I started dieting and exercising. The sheer spite has pushed me to keep going.

Body positivity is good up to a certain point. When you are fat and unable to walk, run, and have a shorter life span, thats when body positivity needs to stop. I used to weigh close to 400 LBS and yes, I told myself I was "happy" but not with high blood pressure, heart failure, etc. I had to make a change and trust me I feel alot better at 240 vs 400 LBS.

I didn’t kind mary Jane looking a bit older, what bothered me was we still had a young looking spidey where the original character model looked like what we thought a older Peter would look like, and it was wierd seeing a aged MJ with a teenage looking spider man

Really fantastic video and incredibly accurate. Wall-E is perhaps the best Pixar film ever made and it's so incredibly poignant. I've always felt it should be shown to children in schools followed by education on nutrition. Another thing I find too is people being enabled by family members and friends. The clips of The Whale reminded me of that because his nurse is just as guilty for his obesity as he is. She gives him what he wants just like enabling any addict because she feels bad. I used to work at a restaurant that was super family friendly years ago, and I would see so many children drinking 4-5 refills of soda with their dinner and they were all obese. Parents didn't say anything and just gave in. As we progress as a society shouldn't we be healthier than ever before with the knowledge we have? It is The Twilight Zone.

Editor deserves a raise. These memes are gold 😂

Tf? That’s Mary Jane? I thought that was aunt may

The irony of that short film Reflect is that Ballet is a very core intensive workout requiring a lot of stamina and the girl in the movie would likely lose all that weight due to the amount of cardio she would be doing on a regular basis. A perfect example of this is back in High School on my Cross Country team one of the guys who joined was on the fatter side but by the end of the season he had lost a considerable amount of that excess weight due to all the running.

Look, I'm a fatass that's working on not being a fatass (down 50lbs so far) so this is a very relevant topic for me. Being fat doesn't make you worth less, but it's not something to celebrate. It is a problem to fix, and that's it. We should encourage people that want to get in better shape and just ignore those that don't like we do for literally everyone else.

I really appreciate how you talked about the double standard of bodily expectations for men and women. In the early 2000s corporations pushed an unrealistic standard for how women should look (SUPER skinny, unhealthy). Nowadays, corporations push a very unrealistic standard for how men should look (SUPER jacked, unhealthy). Everyone is different, and we should all strive to be as healthy as we can be despite our differences. We shouldnt be promoting the use of enhancers for men or "body positivity" (laziness) for women.

Hold on a minute, just looked up the synopses for the "reflect" film. How the hell would a "plus sized" person learn ballet in the first place? Honestly, Ballet dancers aren't all thin because of unrealistic beauty standards, they're all thin because it's bloody physically demanding and takes great flexibility! What next, a film about a fat person winning races against Usain Bolt just by the magical power of belief? Also, news flash, most normal women like! Looking pretty. There is a good reason the beauty industry markets most of it's products to women, and it's certainly not "the patriarchy!"

Tell if I'm wrong but, isn't temu under some fire for workplace violations or something like that?

There's nothing wrong with being comfortable in your own skin. Its the people who push the idea that not only is morbid obesity healthy, but something to aspire to be.

The example that I think of whenever anyone mentions "Health at Every Size" is the rapper Big Pun, he was a talented rapper considered one of the greatest to ever get on the mic. But he died at 28, 700lbs from a heart attack. You can't look me in the eye and tell me that his weight didn't play a role in his premature death. You would be insane to do so. Body Positivity is nothing more than a shallow lie used to make people feel better without effort.

Progressive: fat isn't ugly Woke: fat is beautiful

Honestly, specifically with gaming and Spider-Man 2, it is even more anger-inducing, as they just say, "nope, you imagined it, we are not making females look "relatable" on purpose". It simply feels like gaslighting because you can't shake the feeling off that they make you question reality.

Main thing about Body Positivity I hate is it effectively Glorifies Laziness. Being Healthy and Fit takes genuine effort, which is why people find it attractive. Being Fat and Unhealthy takes NO effort what so ever. Thus you're effectively glorifying self destructive behavior.

You make your point very cogently. Thank you for taking the time to put this together. You do a really good job of identifying weak points and damaging patterns in our movies and the care you take in explaining them is appreciated.

As someone who was overweight as a child (age 5-14), had an eating disorder for 20 years (age 14-34), recovered from the eating disorder and is now living a normal, healthy life (34-37).... *I completely agree with this video.* ☝🤷‍♀

The April O’neil one is especially confusing to me. I expected the worst from the trailers, but she’s pretty well written and fits into the turtles’ arc. I don’t think anyone would’ve honestly minded a race swap, but there’s no reason for her to be unhealthy at all.

Amen to what you said. For years I struggled with my weight and still have body issues. But one day I decided to make a change, I controlled my portion, exercised a whole lot more and I lost 20 pounds. What’s best is the compliments I’m getting on my progress. It feels great to finally have some self confidence and showing up for yourself. I still have a long way to go, but I can see my confidence building and I’m finally starting to be happy with my body. However I never placed that insecurity on someone else nor blamed others or a fictional character for my insecurities.

The Rekieta skit was a really nice touch! 😚👌

you sir, have the best meme cuts.

Well done and thoughtful video

It's totally on me that I clicked on this video thinking it would have enough redeeming arguments to justify clicking on it despite the thumbnail and keep watching it for 18 minutes, so I won't even complain.

The body positive ballerina is going to obliterate her ankles. Thin ballerinas have problems with that, you can't put a couple dozen more pounds on those and have them stay in one piece. And it tightens up the execution required to not cause a catastrophic break. Just landing slightly off is going to blow her feet up, which can disable her permanently.

I like the editing

This was well articulated

This is a really good video. 👍

Ur editing and thumbnails are great!

this might be the most potent take i’ve ever seen

Why should one be positive about failing at ones responsibilities? Should we start to lionize kids who fail class, due to laziness, so as to not hurt their feelings? Should we praise people for not doing their jobs, all because we want to be understanding of their sensitivities? Make no mistake, with rare exception, being obese is a personal failing. It is a failure to do your due diligence to keep your body in the shape it supposed to be to maintain long term health, optimize quality of life and performance. I say this as a man who has struggled with his weight, since graduating university, over 22 years ago. Redefining a failing into a virtue helps no one, least of all those struggling with the vice of gluttony.

I feel like everyone should strive to be healthy. Its not about looks, its about your body and that its healthy.

Great video

You have the best thumbnails ever, dude.

1:39 THANK YOU FOR ADDRESSING THAT ONE😅😅

Hopefully people will hear this message - TRUTH. Great video.

Skinny doesnt = healthy either. I’m a size 8 and got asked “what are you doing here” when i went to a boot camp class. It made me stop going because everyone gave me evils

My man is the only one on internet talking sense!

Very well said.

They really turned MJ into a upscaled version of Kathleen Kenedy

One more thing I have noticed is that the whole body positivity and self love is just restricted to females. If a girl is fat she loves herself and more power to her but if a man does that suddenly the air is full of slurs and slangs.

Nailed it.

8:49 HAHAHA better joke than any joke in the show 😂

The insane thing about this ballet character is... MA DUDE, THERE ARE NO FATTIES IN BALLET There just aren't. The dancing just won't work without the propper center of gravity, it is taxing, hellish, all people in ballet say so - but it is a thin toned woman's game

Educate yourself about your sponsor please

Nice thumbnail art XD

The thumbnail killed meee😂

I don't mind half our society giving up before they hit the starting line, just means more opportunity for everyone who actually wants to work hard.

Really wish studios would use you input for their movie productions. You hit so many nails on the head on why its so garbage now a days

I listened to this video minimized until I heard that iconic "pakyu" around 8:48 that made me laughed out loud. Not where I expected to hear Bung Mokhtar at all.

Excellent Video.

Finally!!! It's not said enough. PREACH!!!!

Was not expecting to see a clip from Rob Zombie's Halloween in this video. Let alone THAT clip. 🤣

I gotta pop for the LA Knight clip... YEAH!

“Regression, pretending to be progression”. This quote right here..

I did not expect to hear music from Shenmue when I clicked this video. I'm cool with it though.

That LA Knight clip 😂

That Bill Burr at the end is all of the gold. He sums up all this nonsense in one joke.

Bettering yourself requires discipline, sacrifice, work, and taking responsibility for why you aren't where you want to be. Those four attributes are considered "toxic" by modern standards. So much easier to simply "blame society" and "toxic masculinity." Play the victim card. Blame the accuser of being an -ist or -phobe. Bask in the glory of the woke, "slay queen" crowd. Get a participation trophy. It's enough to make one sick. This current generation will be the weakest, most pathetic, most timid, least-achieving generation in history. And they've been brainwashed into thinking this is a good thing.

Body positivity is ruining society. It just emphasizes victim mentality. People have a ton of respect for others when they can admit that they have a problem and work hard towards fixing that issue especially with weight. Great work here buddy. Best video yet

10:48 You just earned a sub

“This is a lovely room if death … take care …. Bye bye then…”🤣

I like your work but after the third linger on the bal-a-okiner I had to scroll away and just listen to you tell the truth... Just-WOW!

This is like trying to make smoking look healthy like everyone knows it isn’t and I recommend no one do it

I have a dad bod and I don't like it. Where I work has a gym. Guess who's lifting weights now. I don't believe I'll get ripped but I don't want a gut anymore. Some say "oh you're not fat." But yeah I am and I agree with you that a little fat shaming is good if it's to keep the person motivated to get healthy. Being mean is one thing but if it's out of concern then it's a good thing.

It ain't just movies or shows either, gaming and it's communities are getting invested with this nonsense too. It's the biggest reason i stopped playing Final Fantasy 14.

Mr Cynic, if you keep releasing thoroughly researched and informative videos like this, you’re in danger of becoming one of the youtube GOATs in a few years. Keep up the excellent work. This video essay on the oxymoronic and false altruism of modern companies was stellar. I especially liked the callback to WALL E, I completely forgot disney made a whole ass movie disparaging obesity and sloth and then a few years later suggests gay trans morbidly obese sloths are the pinnacle of morality. God I hope western culture implodes already.

Ironically most video characters run enough to lose the weight that would make them fat. How often in an adventure game are you sitting on a couch at home power leveling your cool ranch level? Nah you running place to place, like these people should be doing in real life. I recently lost 50 lbs by quitting drinking, drinking water, and exercising. We can do it.

Haha moviecynic put the Malaysia Politician meme Bung Raden😆😆

John Candy. John Goodman. Jackie Gleason.

8:50 for all of Hollywood 😂😂

The road to hell has always and will forever be paved with good intentions.. it's the easiest way to get people there. Another cruel joke played on us by the universe

Has anybody noticed this incredible contradiction? Of those we would classify and put in the “woke” column. There are two distinct groups. One group says if you were not happy or feel comfortable in your body do everything you can drugs, surgery, and so want to change it. The other side says no matter what you are physically is perfect.

Chris pratt is a great one to discuss in this topic. He was told he was perfect for Star Lord but just not physically, as he was quite chubby. So he told james Gunn to give him a bit of time. He worked his ass off and was hired. Similarly, there are ppl like Paul Rudd who weren’t exactly overweight but not in the right sort of shape for a superhero. And they work hard as hell to achieve those bodies. Hell, Henry Cavill himself used to be overweight. And look at him now. And tho steroids are NOT a good thing by any means, it is still an example that the men really do go all out for the physiques that are demanded of them. Meanwhile we have out of shape female characters like Echo and Ms. Marvel. And ppl like Natalie Portman unwilling to put in any work and instead got her arms CGI’d.

Wall-E was spot on.

I do believe that "positivity" started out from a good and defensible spot that kids should not be bullied and "you are special just the way you are" is as old as Mr. Rogers. However, what the left forgot was this is only okay FOR KIDS. Yeah, if a kid is overweight, that is because of their parents and schools should never encourage bullying and kids that are different deserve to go to school and learn free from being bullied if the school hears of bullying. And telling little kids they have worth even if they look different than others is admirable. BUT they have tried to graft this unto adults, and that is crazy. Part of being an adult is knowing and accepting other people are smarter, funnier and better looking than you. It is called growing up. And people who are coddled and told being overweight is "sexy" also then start to think everyone also thinks that, and leads to a life of depression and cynicism and being angry when reality does not equal what is in their own heads. Many of these women (and you see it everywhere) think they are "10's" when they are more like 5's, and then demand only the hottest guys, but then are rejected and used by them. This causes them not to date in their league and are single with no kids and miserable at age 40.

Nice thumbnail of Captain Carvel

The reason April looks like that, is simply self insert, she literally looks like her designer, women love to self insert to gather male attention even when they should work out before ever considering to be gazed on

Everybody deals with insecurity, but everybody has different mental fortitudes and support systems. Its easy to see which ones have bad support systems and mental fortitude