Hollywood Pudgy/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: An average-sized woman (or, more rarely, man) is seen as overweight or obese. Closely related to Hollywood Homely.

  • Played Straight: Alice is a size 10, but everyone (including Alice) thinks she's chubby.
  • Exaggerated: Alice is, at most, a size 4, and everyone believes she's fat.
  • Justified: Alice is in or aspiring to a profession where weight is restricted: a dancer, a wrestler, a gymnast, a jockey, a figure-skater, or some such.
    • Alice IS chubby...comparatively, that is.
  • Inverted: Hollywood Thin.
  • Subverted: Average-sized Alice takes mockery for her 'pudgy' body, but then we see her shed a fatsuit and frumpy clothes to reveal a skinny frame.
  • Double Subverted:... and as everyone looks at her, they all say in unison: "My God! Alice, you're such a whale!"
  • Parodied: Alice is an emaciated pile of skin and bones, and someone still calls her fat.
  • Deconstructed: Although Alice is at a healthy, average weight for her age and height, the belief that she's fat causes her to diet obsessively and gain an eating disorder.
  • Reconstructed: Alice dresses in a manner that's flattering to her body (whatever size and shape it may be), and goes out to face the world. People find her self-confidence attractive and inspiring.
  • Zig Zagged: Some see Alice as thin, some see her as fat, and others see her as something in-between.
  • Averted: Alice is average weight and her body size and shape are never mentioned.
  • Enforced: "We need a plain, non-threatening best friend for our female lead."
    • The thin actress hired to play Alice refused to gain more than ten pounds for the role.
  • Lampshaded: "Alice, bathing suit season is coming and you're a size 5. Start dieting now because YOU ARE FAT!"
  • Invoked: Alice goes to a training session for models, gymnastics class, joins the women's wrestling team, etc. and is told to lose weight in order to better compete.
  • Defied: Alice refuses to give into ridiculous notions and unrealistic standards of beauty, and goes out to face the world...and wear a bikini.
    • The producer fires the actress who refused to gain more than ten pounds for the role and hires someone who more realistically fit the character's image.
  • Discussed: "Why do you call her fat? She's just average size." "Average is sugar-coating for FAT! There's no average! There is slim and FAT and she's FAAAAT!"
  • Conversed: ???
  • Played For Laughs: See "Parodied" (Can be used as either Dead Baby Comedy, Satire or both)
  • Played For Drama: Alice has become anorexic, in her quest to fit into society's ideals, and must find a way to get through her issues and recover...or else she'll die.

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