Melissa McCarthy: Funny because she's equal

Rex Reed, a noted film critic, got himself in hot water earlier this year when, during his review of “Identity Thief,” he called Melissa McCarthy “tractor-sized.”

Appalled, I went to Google and found that Reed has still not apologized. Instead, he released a defense of his critique.

I was surprised and intrigued when Reed said the reason he was so harsh was because he objected to “the disgusting attempt to pretend obesity is funny.”

So, should obesity be funny?

Only when the actor is in on the joke.

I then went back to all the movies I’d ever seen where a fat person was funny.

McCarthy took her time responding to Reed, and when she did, she said that had she been in her 20s, his remarks might have crushed her. Now though, she said she does not feel like his remarks reflect who she is.

She worries about her younger fans reading Reed’s review and finding fault in themselves — fans who are not able to see that pop culture is not a mirror by which they should judge and be judged.

I found, as well, that McCarthy and other larger comedic actors like her were, in the realm of comedy, treated equally. The body, for the actor and for the comic, is a tool.

Everyone’s body is a joke.

Jason Bateman, her co-star, is funny for his placid Midwestern-ness — his every-man look a comedic trope.

Kristen Wiig, McCarthy’s co-star in “Bridesmaids,” is well aware of her lanky awkwardness, and creates the socially inept, cripplingly self-conscious Annie based on her seeming inability to control her arms and legs.

Opposite her, the Jackie Kennedy-esque Rose Byrne creates her character out of an inside joke with the audience, that behind her beautiful face is an animal baseness bordering on stupid.

In short, is obesity funny? Yes it is, but only as a tool.

Fat-shaming happens when the actor/personality/whatever is unaware that her body is the basis for which the audience develops an opinion of her.

Fat-shaming also happens when people like Rex Reed feel it necessary to call someone tractor-sized in order to get a point across.

Anybody can be funny, but it only works when the actor is the one making the joke.
Otherwise, it becomes humiliating for both the actor and the people the actor represents.

Melissa McCarthy manages to walk the line. In doing so, she maintains control, and she is the one in charge of what makes her feel bad about herself. And it’s that kind of self-confidence that we definitely need to see more often.

­— ewenning@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Emma Wenninger on Twitter @EmmaWenninger