Abstract
This paper seeks to focus on the Indian narratives of cartoons and their representation of characters that are ‘fat’. The notions pertaining to their characteristics are conveyed in the manner of being a bully or being evil. The ‘ideal’ perception of body image has always favored being lean for females and muscular for those of the male gender from a cis-gendered as well as other genders' perspectives. Psychological studies have proven that the ideologies of parents and media affect children from an early age with respect to how they perceive themselves and their bodies (Lisa). It also develops their linguistic perception and controls the vocabulary and language they choose to use (Lodhi et al.). This influences what they deem as positive and negative connotations associated with the words. The nuances of body image portrayed by popular media can be seen through the manner in which they are represented by certain characters in popular Indian cartoon shows such as ‘Chotta Bheem’ (2008-present),‘Doraemon’(2005-present), and ‘Roll no. 21’(2010-present). The paper explores the manner in which characters of these Indian cartoons who are showcased as ‘fat’ are represented in a negative manner putting forth the ideology that being fat is a disability and an abnormal stature of being that makes one ‘evil’. A representation such as this gives forth the notion that it is undesirable to have a body that may be ‘overweight’. Such a characteristic inherently makes one evil or a bully in these television shows where in reality children and people who are ‘fat’ are the ones that face bullying to a great extent. This happens because of their portrayal in these narratives and is thus perceived as evil by children. The paper also looks into analyzing how the Indian perception of the ‘ideal’ body is engrained through such narratives into the minds of children through the usage of terminologies such as ‘Motu’, ‘guddu’ and such and how the names of these characters are used in a negative manner because of the way in which they are portrayed in these shows.
Introduction
Media is one of the most prominent modes of exposure available at the disposal of children and adults that play a prominent role in educating as well as conditioning them. Children from an early age are exposed to the representation of various ideologies in the form of cartoons and stories that influence them to form their own understanding of various aspects of life. Body image perception is a psychological state that begins to spur in the minds of children from as early as the age of three years old (Harriger et al., 2018) Children tend to favour and prefer a representation of a physical figure that is lean, thin, and slim in the case of females and one which is ‘built’ or muscular in the case of the male gender. This understanding takes roots from the manner in which the visualization and representation of the characters are shown in beloved children’s narratives. This paper aims to look at how the representation of ‘fat’ is often associated with negative connotations and that of being evil and creates an undesirable narrative for those who are considered ‘fat’ or ‘obese’ in real life through such a representation. Characters that are often depicted as overweight tend to carry the burden of being a bully or someone who is obsessed with food. The understanding that those who are considered to be overweight are usually depicted as lazy, unproductive, and mean are relevant issues that need to be discussed in terms of understanding how people of similar stature are actually the ones being bullied in real life because of this reason. The concept of being ‘fat’ which comes under the discipline of disability studies is explored through the lens of what content can be considered as the ones that are suitable for children. The paper seeks to explore the question of how characters that are considered to be ‘fat’ are represented in popular select Indian cartoons for children and what message does such a representation conveys. It looks into how categorizing someone as ‘fat’ fall under the labels of disability in terms of assessing character representation in children’s narratives. The question of why there is a negative connotation around the construct and ideology of fat and how are such labels used as mediums to condition children into forming an aversion to being oversized will be assessed in the due course of the study. The study explores whether this conditioning goes beyond the idea of health and if it is overpowered by the notions of physical beauty and structures that have been embedded into young minds through the representation of ‘fat’ people being bullies and How this opens the discussion for how disability is represented in children’s narratives. It also delves into understanding whether the representation of ‘fat’ people through negative lenses causes a psychological effect on children in terms of preferring thin and lean body images in terms of determining self-worth. Children tend to grasp concepts at an early age which is a primal part of their building a conscious that helps them comprehend factors. It is important to make sure that children are exposed to content that helps them be more accepting of the concept of body positivity. The concept of understanding and deconstructing the ideologies of body image acceptance can be difficult in terms of assessing factors that can be associated with the idea of what can be called ‘healthy’. however, the main cause that determines whether the notions of being ‘fat’ are represented as negative is because of how the idea of physical appearance is associated with being a certain body size. This understanding is internalized through culture and depiction of ‘fat’ in popular media and influences children mainly through the medium of cartoons and television. Popular Indian Cartoons such as ‘Chotta Bheem’ (2008-present), ‘Doraemon’(2005-present), and ‘Roll no. 21’(2010-present) can be studied and analysed in order to explore the manner in which characters that are ‘Fat’ are generally represented in cartoons. An analysis of the characters who are showcased as ‘evil’ will help determine the manner in which characters who are ‘fat’ are portrayed to be the ones who attract a sense of aversion to themselves.
Methodology and Theoretical Framework
The methodology of the paper is content and discourse analysis using the theory of Fat studies and psychological understanding of how children perceive certain notions at a young age which are exposed to them through media and cartoons. The paper looks at the representation of characters who are overweight and analyses the common pattern of associating them as bullies who are considered ‘evil’ or ‘bad’. The characters have been chosen on the basis of how they are still running on television platforms.
Literature review
The article ‘Appearance related themes in children’s animated movies released between 2004 and 2016: A Content Analysis’ focuses on analysing the portrayal of characters with respect to the appearances of their height and weight and looks into whether children are affected by the same. The argument of how the media plays a significant role in influencing young minds is discussed. The extent of exploring how Disney characters are portrayed in certain movies and how there is a relation with respect to how children perceive this representation is conducted through a comparative statistical study. The movies that were a part of the study included: Despicable Me 2 (2016), Shrek 2 (2014), The Incredibles (2014), Dr.Seuss’s The Lorax (2013), Shrek Forever After (2013), Zootopia (2013), Frozen(2012), and Kung Fu Panda (2012).
The study shows that the female body was portrayed as thin in 72% of the movies while the concept of male masculinity took to 76% (Harriger et al., 2018). The physical traits of being thin, sleek for females, and muscular for males were considered to be admirable and ideal in most of the movies. Love interests and the beginning of attraction commenced from considering these appearances as desirable. Most characters that were represented as evil showcased a figure that seemed unattractive. The factor of appearance-related themes studied in the article gives insights on how media representation of the concept of beauty can be problematic in terms of how it affects children and their idea of self-esteem. A common theme is that children view the idea of being thin or muscular as the desirable body image to be acquired. The concept of exercising in order to lose weight is also given importance in these movies devoiding the notions of exercising to stay healthy. The representation of characters who are overweight is also noticed to be shown in a manner in which they are either eating all the time or are surrounded by food most times as in the case of Kung Fu Panda. The study was limited in terms of exploring how children would be affected by such portrayals as it did not analyze the discourses of ‘fat’ and ‘appearances’ and focused mainly on a statistical approach that will be used to substantiate the analysis of this paper.
‘Am I Too Fat To Be A Princess? Examining The Effects Of Popular Children's Media On Pre-schoolers’ Body Image’ is a study conducted by Sharon Hayes that delves into the nuances of how female children are affected by body image perceptions which are mostly controlled by the Socio-cultural influences along with peer and family influences and media representation and portrayal. Body image perception is often controlled by the notions of how being fat is seen as bad and being this is seen as good and desirable as constructed by the norms of the society of what is deemed to be desirable in terms of body perceptions. The internalization of the ideal concept of body image perceptions is the main reason to cause issues with respect to self-esteem, weight consciousness, and even health issues of eating disorders (Hayes, 2008). The influence of maternal body image on girl children is also seen to be more prominent with respect to paternal body image in this study. The peer influence on children and adolescents is inevitable as they are exposed to a setting that makes them question their own body image and causes dissatisfaction in their perception of their body in terms of comparisons and socio-cultural ideals. The culture of dieting and remaining slim is evident among teenagers and is hard to educate them based on the actual nuances of health rather than pertaining to options that may seem unhealthy means to lose weight just to fit their concept of an ideal body. The role of media and its representation of these socio-cultural ideals in terms of body image plays a significant role in causing body dissatisfaction among female and male children. The representation of bodies that are slim, sleek, curvy, and full are portrayals of a body that can be understood as sexualized to show an ideal of what women are expected to look like in order to be considered to be attractive. The study looks into how female children tend to develop dissatisfaction with their bodies from an early age and its intensity increases as they enter the phase of being a teenager. The magnitude of dissatisfaction faced by a six-year-old or a girl less than six is comparatively smaller than that compared to those who are pre-teens and teenagers (Hayes, 2008). The internalization of these notions tends to make them favored towards being on the thinner side. Sands and Wardle state that the ideal woman prototype is portrayed as someone who is lean and thin by the western standards and culture(Hayes, 2008).The results of a study conducted by Tiggemann and Anesbury (2000), show how the majority of the children chose the normal weight figure over an obese one in order to determine their own opinion on who would be friendlier and happy rather than lazy and unhappy. The children seemed to prefer the normal weight figure to be more approachable and better and associated negative connotations with the one that was obese. We see how the representation and exposure that children get play a huge role in determining their perception of body image. Children tend to associate larger bodies with negative connotations which are understood to be influenced and maintained by media exposure. We see how a mentality of ‘being fat' is undesirable and also causes an association of isolation and discrimination in terms of treating people with larger bodies.
‘Messages about physical attractiveness in animated cartoons’ is a paper that focuses on exploring the representation of attractiveness in animated cartoons. The nuances that focus on portraying the protagonists and ‘positive’ characters as attractive while displaying the antagonist as less attractive is an evident manner of display noticed in many children’s narratives. The study explores how young minds are exposed to narratives at a young age which plays a prominent role in internalizing the cultural nuances that have been constructed with the ideologies of physical attractiveness, unattractiveness, and ordinary-looking features. ‘Portrayal of body weight on children’s television sitcoms: A content analysis is a study that focuses on viewing how Television shows feature characters with idealized physique types that are out of reach for the majority of viewers. Many teenage viewers compare their self-worth and bodies to the models they see on media. This study looks at how preadolescent and adolescent characters' bodies are depicted on comedies from three children's television networks, both in terms of frequency and depictions. The findings show that while there are few overweight characters in children's situation comedies, this small number closely mirrors national figures. The distribution of male and female characters across weight categories is the same. When ethnicity is taken into account, however, considerable changes occur. Surprisingly, there were no variations in how large figures were portrayed in terms of physical and mental traits, except in terms of social popularity, where overweight characters were less rooted in social networks. In comparison to other relevant studies, this study shows that the treatment and portrayal of overweight characters in children's sitcoms are more positive, equitable, and less stereotypical than in other programming venues and that children are exposed to a variety of body types in these fictional ports.
Analysis
The narrativization of characters who are overweight in nature generally falls under the circumstances of being isolated or alienated for the difference in their physical appearances which is deemed to be distinct from what cultural conditioning has established to be the norm. The notion of what can be deemed as ‘normal’ per se is an argument that has been debated by many scholars in terms of analyzing why there is a necessity for a ‘normal’ when there exists an array of diversities in reality. The portrayal of characters as protagonists and antagonist are crucial to storylines for narratives, however, there exist liberty in terms of idealizing and concept creation while developing a character and analyzing its representation. The most common factor in such a process is that most protagonists are portrayed in the light of being muscular or built or even thin and slim while antagonists are depicted as those who are ‘fat’ and undesirable. The notion of depicting characters who are ‘fat’ as ‘the other’ yet again paves a need to isolate the character or to develop a sense of aversion to them causing the audience to dislike them and have no form of association with them. The characters of many popular shows represent the concept of ‘fat’ as something that is undesirable.
The popular Indian cartoon Chota Bheem tells the revamped story of a mythological character Bheem and his childhood, we come across the character who plays the antagonist or competitor whose name is Kalia. Bheem is showcased as the strongest boy in all of their area of Dholakpur even so that he is strong enough to fight a lion. Kalia on the other hand is always seen to oppose Bheem and boast about how he is the actual one who is stronger than Bheem. This rivalry is showcased in the narrative in such a manner that children tend to develop an aversion towards Kalia as he is represented physically as someone who is overweight and even darker in terms of skin colour. This gives him imagery of being undesirable. Bheem is portrayed as fair-skinned, thin, and built with muscles while Kalia is dark, fat, and represented in a manner that children would not want to be him or associate with him because of how much of a bully he is. He is seen mainly as Bheem’s rival whom Bheem is not at all affected by. Kalia’s presence creates a sense of snobbishness and pride which are yet again considered to be negative characteristics. Another factor of interest is how Bheem is shown to be in love with ladoos as his favourite food and is seen to eat innumerable ladoos and still remain ‘fit’ while Kalia too has a similar fascination with the dish but is seen to be extra bulky the more he eats. The manner in which he is dressed in the cartoon as well signifies how intricate thoughts have gone into depicting his character in order to portray him as the ‘bad guy’ or the ‘bully’ in the show. The cinematography and animation add to the manner in which is visually represented in terms of the way he walks, talks, and behaves with his fellow comrades. He is seen to bully his best friends Dholu and Bholu and is portrayed more like a bully character who threatens and bosses them around to get his work done which makes the audience build a sense of dislike towards him. In most episodes, he is depicted as the one who competes with Bheem in terms of defeating or fighting with the villain characters and yet fails and needs to be saved by Bheem as well. The study conducted by Tiggemann and Anesbury (2000), shows how children prefer being acquainted with those who are ‘ordinarily figured’ or thin and we see how such conditioning plays deeper into the minds of children through the representation of Kalia. A psychological alienation and self-esteem build up in children while determining how they should look while exploring characters that they like and dislike in shows. This creates a notion of comprehension in their minds directing them to detest their own body if they do not conform to the internalized conditioning of body image and standards set forth by narratives and cartoons that they adore. Such an understanding opens up the discussion of how children bully those who are differently physique with respect to their idea of ‘beauty’ and physical appearance. Children who are overweight are generally isolated and bullied rather than being the bullies themselves. The nuances of being fat portrayed as a characteristic that deems to be unwanted and isolated is highly problematic in terms of determining and exploring the layers that come with the discipline of fat studies. It is important to analyze and make decisions when it comes to determining the structures of binaries. There is a need to look beyond the dualities of fat and thin while exploring body image and body weight especially while exposing children to such notions through visual and literary representations.
‘Doraemon’(2005-present) is a Japanese anime that is highly popular in India where children have accepted it as one of their own. It is generally streamed in Hindi on most Indian channels and is considered to be a prominent cartoon streaming on Indian platforms. The antagonist named Gian in the show is depicted as someone who is obese and of large stature and tanned skin tone across different versions of the show. Throughout the different versions prevalent he is still portrayed in a similar manner. He is the antagonist of the show as he constantly bullies and beats up the main character Nobita and all of his friends. He is very aggressive and is the major threat to most characters of the show in terms of how he might react when he is emotional or angry. He is depicted as the most athletic character yet is someone who is horrible at signing and cooking and is yet seen to be proud of it. Most instances showcase him in a manner in which he is extremely addicted to food and can be won over by using the same. He is constantly shown to be bullying Nobita and even his supposed best friend Sunio. He likes to steal things on the pretext of bullying people into giving him gifts and praising him. Such a representation yet again creates a sense of prejudice towards fat people as Gian’s Character is the only one depicted in such a manner of being larger in stature.
‘Roll no. 21’(2010-present) is a storyline derived from mythology that portrays Krishna as a school boy and his childhood endeavours in a contemporary time. The character Golu in the show is a bully who is yet again represented as an overweight character. He goes around pulling pranks on everyone displeasing them and also causing Kris the protagonist to teach him lessons for being mean to his friends.
Conclusion
The representation of characters who are fat in Indian cartoons creates an ideology of how they are comprehended by children in a negative manner which needs to be assessed in a serious manner. It is important to study and analyse shows before making them available to children. The question of who decides what children should watch is a debate that brings upon multiple perspectives that need to be assessed. Children are prone to imbibe the notions that are put forth to them that becomes an unconscious part of their comprehension and mindset. Chota Bheem, Doraemon and Roll no. 21 are cartoons that are popular among the young Indian audience. It is important to assess representation of ‘fat’ characters in cartoons as body image perceptions are vital and important in terms of understanding how children comprehend the concepts of how they see themselves and their bodies. Female children tend to associate themselves to want to have a body that is slim and thin while the male gender focuses on being buff and ‘built’. This adds on to the aversion and sentiments that are associated to the representation of ‘fat’ characters. The paper has the limitation of restricting its analysis to just three shows while there are more texts that need to be analysed and studied. A proper methodology of study that involves the qualitative and quantitative analysis of interviews and studies with the involvement of children and their opinions is a scope for future study.
Works Cited
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