Fargo alum Allison Tolman’s managed an impressively varied array of TV roles in recent years. She dove into action mode in ABC’s Emergence, bopped into housewife mode for Why Women Kill, and she will soon appear in the Gaslit miniseries alongside Sean Penn, Julia Roberts, Patton Oswalt, Dan Stevens, Hamish Linklater, and Betty Giplin. Still, Tolman makes time to be active on Twitter, where she offered a piece of her mind on TV shows that can’t quit with the weight jokes.
Yep, these scripts are still popping up, and although some TV shows are more blatant in their approach, many others offer subtler, more insidious jokes about weight. Tolman’s now appealing for this tired approach to end. “Writers and showrunners- take the jokes about weight out of your scripts. I promise they aren’t funny,” she tweeted. “And even if they were, they won’t hold up well. And even if they did, they’re unkind-either to your characters and actors or someone in your audience or crew. It’s not worth it.”
Writers and showrunners- take the jokes about weight out of your scripts. I promise they aren’t funny. And even if they were, they won’t hold up well. And even if they did, they’re unkind-either to your characters and actors or someone in your audience or crew. It’s not worth it.
— Allison Tolman (@Allison_Tolman) January 18, 2022
From there, Tolman offered tips on how these jokes aren’t always forthright and directly about a character’s bod. They can also revolve around food, exercise, clothing, and so on. From there, she explained how character descriptions shouldn’t default to using descriptors like “Fat Lady In Theater” when “Annoying Lady In Theater” works better and is, frankly, much more useful to inform the character.
Jokes about weight don’t have to just be jokes about a characters body. They can also include making mention of:
– the numbers on a scale
– what someone eats
– what size their clothing is
– exercise and movement— Allison Tolman (@Allison_Tolman) January 18, 2022
And when you’re ready, begin to wrap your mind around removing body descriptors from your scripts altogether, including character descriptions and the names of minor roles.
— Allison Tolman (@Allison_Tolman) January 18, 2022
I’m not saying you shouldn’t use adjectives. But please don’t say “Linda- the main character’s cousin, thin and witty” unless there’s an actual reason Linda needs to be thin. And please don’t say “Fat Lady In Theater” when you mean “Annoying Lady In Theater”.
— Allison Tolman (@Allison_Tolman) January 18, 2022
You can read the rest of Tolman’s thread below. Her replies are mostly positive and yep, it’s high time for Hollywood to move past defaulting to weight as a punchline, especially when the world offers to many more opportunities for humor that are, you know, actually funny.
Oh! And also, people think it’s okay if they’re using descriptors for small bodies, because they’re considered complimentary. Like, you’re auditioning for “Skinny Intern”, congratulations! But do you see THAT IS THE EXACT POINT AND SURELY YOU UNDERSTAND HOW WEIRD THAT IS.
— Allison Tolman (@Allison_Tolman) January 18, 2022
The audience only knows the values you assign to different body types if you have characters saying lines about them. But the rest of your script? That’s your crew, writers room, everyone in the office, executives, creative partners- all the people helping you make your show.
— Allison Tolman (@Allison_Tolman) January 18, 2022
