Fat Slob

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

The human body's production of fat is a very complex process with many, many more factors to it than eat = get fat, such as glandular conditions, a low metabolism, genetic conditions, or an endomorph body type. In Real Life, excess weight can be surprisingly difficult for some people to shed, and demands an extreme amount of dedication from those who would want to work even a couple pounds away. Furthermore, being fat means nothing more than having a body with more fat than it needs to, and the only real influence it would have on one's personality or habits is merely the result of the individual's treatment by other people; that is, a fat kid who gets constantly bullied for being fat won't enter adulthood crapping ponies and rainbows.

The modern world's busy lifestyle and prevalence of desk jobs leaves a very tight margin of free time; anything related to eating is rushed, abridged so as to take as little time as possible. Cooking is abandoned, canned and processed foods are in. Can't waste time taking three meals, let's eat it all in one go. All of this, in the long run, doesn't please the body at all. And that's not counting the occasional birth condition that literally forces you to be fat or die, one way or another. It also varies from place to place. Other countries outside of the US have a less prevalence of fat people due to more active lifestyles, better diet, and taking care of themselves. People can be naturally thick and still look good and be in great shape if willing to put in the effort.

Naturally, fiction won't have any of that pesky "facts" shit. Being fat in TV-Land means that:

  1. You have poor table manners, take outrageously large servings, eat with your hands when it's clearly not appropriate, etc.
  2. You have poor personal hygiene; ill-fitting, wrinkled or stained clothing, or dress inappropriately.
  3. Your language and mannerisms are crude and unrefined.
  4. You leave trash (such as food wrappers) everywhere you stay for more than a few minutes at a time.
  5. Regardless of how favorably you are portrayed, every fat person in the universe is basically you with a different face.[1] There is only one kind of fatty; they are all interchangeable clones with the same tastes, same habits and same personality.
  6. Most importantly, if you weigh between 201 and 399 lbs., chances are that you don't exist. Fictionland is oblivious to the concept of weight; you're either a rail-thin hottie or Jabba the Hutt, and any suggestion that there might in fact be a middle ground is clearly PC propaganda from a fat apologist conspiracy bent on destroying civilization. Uh huh.

Generally played as Always Male. This character's Distaff Counterpart is "the Fat Girl". Folks like this are usually bad guys, but not always. If they're on the good guys' side, however, it's almost always a case of Good Is Not Nice. Most Fat Slobs are incompetent and lazy, but not all of them; a few Genius Slobs and Acrofatic types may be included.

For more stereotypical behaviors of the obese, compare and contrast Fat Bastard, Fat Idiot, Jabba Table Manners and Fat Sweaty Southerner in a White Suit. Contrast Big Beautiful Woman and Big Beautiful Man, who are fat and attractive in spite (or because) of their girth. Another positive contrast is Big Fun, for people who are hefty, yet portrayed as chipper and friendly.

Examples of Fat Slob include:

Anime and Manga

  • Bucca from Air Gear, though we all know that it's not actually fat, definitely fits.
  • A heroic example is Tokita in Paprika.
  • The boy who stalks and forces himself on the attractive young gym teacher in Peridot is another example, visibly slavering and being obnoxious because he's too big and overbearing to be stopped.
  • In Soul Eater, BlackStar acts like this at the party to celebrate the founding of their Extranormal Institute. Much to the embaressment of Tsubaki and the horror of Death the Kid.
  • Mr. Maurer from Monster, albeit not quite how it's usually portrayed. His colleagues complains about his never showering and he tends to smoke and eat quite a bit. However, it's played a bit differently than normal, as he mentions that his family left him because of how he lives, but decides that he'll clean himself up in hopes of getting them to come back. He gets murdered before he can attempt this.

Comic Books

  • Harvey Bullock in Batman comics, although just how much of a slob he is depends on the writer.
  • Fat Freddy of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, considerably dimmer and way more slovenly than his two scrawny friends. One of the highlight comics has him in a marijuana-and-hunger-fueled frenzy, bursting into a grocery store, devouring a massive pile of food, and collapsing ecstatically after a huge belch.
  • Sam Burke of Spawn (current Trope Illustrator): very rotund and notoriously sloppy with his eating.

Film

Literature

  • Augustus Gloop of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (and its film adaptations) is done in by his drinking straight from the chocolate river, despite being forbidden.
  • Igneous Cutwell in the Discworld novel Mort is a minor example; he's probably not that fat by wizard standards, but his robes have more stains than mystic symbols and his shop has a half-eaten pizza lying on the chair and the run-off from treacle sandwiches on the desk. As The Discworld Companion puts it: "He enjoys food, although not to the extent of actually preparing any; he more or less grazes on whatever comes to hand".
  • The eponymous character in Oblomov.It takes about 150 pages until he leaves his bed, and without his friend Stolz, he may not even have managed that.

Live-Action TV

  • Oscar Madison of The Odd Couple is a rather mild example.
  • J.D. Hogg from The Dukes of Hazzard exhibits behavior #1, if none of the others.
  • Eddie Fitzgerald, protagonist of 'Cracker' series is heavily overweight, often disheveled and unkempt and fond of caustic comments. He is also alcoholic and has problems with habitual gambling.

Video Games

Web Comics

  • Tharqa of Penny and Aggie.
  • Murry Purry Fresh and Furry. Making a cameo appearance across a story arc, Princess Aurelina takes this trope so far that she literally has slaves to lift her arms and is constantly convered in food slurry.
    • Although rarely shown eating, Cadillac Myspace's poor dental hygiene, ill-fitting clothing and morbid obesity make her fit this trope.
  • Lardee from My Milk Toof is very mess when it comes to eating and doesn't like bathing.

Web Original

  • A rare female parody is The Nostalgia Chick. When she came out of her Schedule Slip, she had a pillow stuffed up her shirt had a big belly and would have much rather kept drinking beer and eating cheetos than doing reviews.

Western Animation

  1. ↑ If even that...
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