You Are Fat

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Did you know humans frown on weight variances? If you want to upset a human, just tell them their weight variance is above or below the norm.

GLaDOS, Portal 2

Sometimes, insults are very clever, devious and witty.

Other times, it's easier (no matter how lame it is) to attack a person's insecurities. And everyone has body issues. So simply calling someone "fat" is usually enough to reduce them to tears, or at least make them double-check the mirror.

Examples of You Are Fat include:

Anime and Manga

  • The cast of Axis Powers Hetalia (but mostly England) will occasionally aim this insult at America. Although America takes Big Eater to comical extremes, he has actually been shown several times to be abnormally fit due to how much he exercises. Unfortunately, this causes him to gain muscle mass, which he is convinced is actually fat.
  • Ranma ½: Ranma often insults Akane by calling her "thick-waisted," "overweight," or some other variation of the word "fat." Considering that she's very insecure, it's a pretty bad insult, along with "uncute."
    • Played for laughs when Ranma's mirror clone tells Akane that Ranma likes her.

Akane: Wha- No way! Ranma and I are Just Friends.
Ranma's mirror clone: No! I know that he... he... really likes fat people! If only I was fat too!

Comic Books

  • Ms. Marvel is a frequent target of this, thanks to Running Gag, even Dr. Doom took turns at calling her fat.
  • In Scott Pilgrim Knives Chau is known to call Ramona Flowers fat after she discovers Scott has left her for Ramona. Ramona is curvier than Knives but it's more that Knives is quite thin than Ramona being particularly fat.
  • When Polaris declines his offer of partnership in Ultimate X-Men, Magneto's response is to call her "an overweight harlot." She's not known to be his daughter or relative in this universe.

Film

  • In Disney's Tangled, "Gettin' kinda chubby" is one of Mother Gothel's "teasing" insults directed at undermining Rapunzel's self-confidence. (Made more ridiculous because Rapunzel is skinnier than Gothel, and they're both ridiculously thin.)
    • Could be a case of Fridge Brilliance, a nod to the original fairy tale where Rapunzel starts to put on weight because she's pregnant from the Prince that's been visiting her.
  • In El Arca, the lioness Bruma decides to go on a tirade against the heroine lioness Kairel, saying that since Kairel is about to die a horrible death by drowning, there's a few things she wants to let her know first-she goes off saying many extremely rude things, and ends with the line- "And, in case you don't know what a mirror is... You. Are. Fat."
  • Hairspray - when Tracy is being interviewed for a spot on the Corny Collins dance show, Amber tries to derail her by calling her fat. It backfires by getting her suspended from the show - Tracy is too comfortable with herself to be fazed and handles the interview with charm and grace.

Literature

  • In one of the "Wally McDoogal" books by Bill Myers, when Wally and Wall Street swap places for a week, he discovers that the slim-to-average Wall Street is constantly dieting because the boys tease her about her weight. When he protests that Wall Street isn't fat and that the boys tease all the girls that way, the other girls inform him that they're all constantly dieting.
  • In And Another Thing, Zaphod being reminded that Wowbagger called him a fat-ass is a Running Gag.

Live-Action TV

  • One of the many running gags in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was cracks about Uncle Phil, played by (ex-navy, poet, Badass) James Avery. These would usually come from Will, Geoffrey or Jazz, who really make a Karma Houdini out of themselves, as they're often in no position to snark at them, thanks to his Ha Ha Ha No response. Fortunately, he's humble enough to take it in stride. Others, such as close friends (including Geoffrey) or coworkers also get passes.

Philip Banks: It's so good to see you, Judge!
Judge Robertson: It's so easy to see you, Philip!

    • And Carlton constantly referring to him as "Big Guy" in a chummy manner might be taken to be an affectionate dig at his weight also.

Newspaper Comics

Video Games

  • In Portal, GLaDOS spends a lot of time mocking Chell's (nonexistent) excess weight, as in the page quote. This is in keeping with GLaDOS's generally childish and bratty personality.
    • She also does this to the robots in Portal 2 who serve as player characters in the co-op mode, ATLAS and P-body.[1] This was something the developers came up with when they were planning to have the co-op characters be Chell and another woman, but they left it in for humorous effect after they changed the characters to robots to explain how the player characters could die so much.
    • According to a discussion, this is based off of writer Erik Wolpaw's experience as a fat kid with a passive-aggressive grandmother.
    • Wheatley picks up the fat jokes after GLaDOS and Chell return to the new facility, but he is terrible at it. However, he manages to do it right later.

"Fatty. Fatty-fatty no-parents."
"...Just ten pounds of useless dead weight. Soon to be two hundred and ten. Fatty."

    • In one of GLaDOS's test chambers, a very early one in Portal 2, she commends Chell. Not on solving the test, but on somehow beating the odds and gaining a few pounds after being in stasis for centuries.
      • Another one has GLaDOS test the Aerial Faith Plate with Chell. "Oh. Looks like you broke it's maximum weight-bearing capacity. Oh well, I'll just increase it a bit." When the player tries a second time: "Oh. You broke it again. It must not be calibrated to someone of your... generous... ness. I'll add a few zeroes to the maximum weight-bearing capacity, just to be on the safe side." And a third time: "You appear to have defeated the plate's capacity. Well done. Look, I'll just lower the ceiling for you." The interesting thing is, that the Faith Plate shoots Chell the same height no matter what.
  • Team Fortress 2: has many characters making shots at the enemy Heavy's husky figure.

The Scout: I am owning you, you fat, bald, fatty fat... Fat fat!
The Demoman: Little too-much caber tossing pie down your own throat, eh chubby?
The Engineer: Gotcha, fatboy!
The Sniper: I just bagged the world's fattest man!
The Spy: What's the matter? Fat got your tongue?

Web Comics

Western Animation

  • In an episode of Recess, Randall is so jealous at how popular T.J. (who's pretty chubby) is, which makes him pull a I Just Want to Be You mixed with Kick the Dog rant to him, which includes this trope.

Randall: Look at you! You're fat, you're ugly, you wear that filthy jacket... but everyone wants to play with you!

  • Mikey can be a target of this
  • In "The Ratings Game", out of all characters, Gretchen becomes a target of this trope by a group of tall, skinny fifth or sixth grade girls. What makes it funny was that Gretchen was even skinnier than them!
  • In one episode of Aladdin, the heroes confront one of Genie's former masters, suspecting him (rightfully) of sending the Mukhtar after Genie. The guy jovially ribs Genie by saying he's "gotten fat" since he last saw him.
  • In the Codename: Kids Next Door episode "Operation: K.I.S.S.", Cree flat-out calls Numbuh 2 a "fat slob"; exactly why half the fans view her as a Draco in Leather Pants villain (other than the obvious reason) is a mystery to the other half.
  • In Animaniacs, the three protagonists would poke fun of Ralph's weight occasionally.
  • In Samurai Jack, the Scotsman's wife is a Berserker who goes berserk if someone tells her she's fat, having demolished the Master of the Hunt's entire army after he did so. When Jack mentioned it by accident both he and the Scotsman run for their lives! And that was the only time in Jack's career he ever ran from anybody!

Real Life

Shane Warne: I've been waiting two years to bowl at you again.
Daryl Cullinan: Looks like you spent most of it eating.

    • Another one, from Australia vs Sri Lanka. Shane Warne asks Ian Healy for advice on how to lure Arjuna Ranatunga out of his crease:

Healy: Put a Mars Bar on a good length, that oughta do it.
Ranatunga: It's no good. Boonie (David Boon) will be onto it before I can move.

    • And the Greatest Comeback of All Time

Glenn Mc Grath Why are you so fucking fat?
Eddo Brandes Because every time I fuck your wife she gives me a biscuit.

  1. Who are just this side of genderless. ATLAS is vaguely masculine and has a masculine voice, and P-body is vaguely feminine and has a feminine voice.
  2. Jeph himself has said that if Faye's overweight at all it's not by much, but she has body issues and she is less skinny than most of the other female characters