The Whale: what is the origin of the controversy of the Brendan Fraser film?

The controversy that has been generated around the film The Whale (The whale) involves actor Brendan Fraser’s use of prosthetics to portray Charlie, a 600-pound obese man. The decision of the film’s director, Darren Aronofsky, to use prosthetics to give life to a fat character has been criticized in networks, basically arguing that the use of such special effects is a step backwards in the advances that had already been made in cinema to better portray plus-size people. Actor Brendan Fraser has admitted during promotion for the film that he was forced to wear a 136kg suit filled with dried beans and marbles after he was unable to gain “enough weight” to bring the character to life. he. These critical voices felt that director Darren Aronofsky should have cast an actual obese person in the role. The point is that the controversy with The Whale has reached the same levels in social networks that it reached four years ago joker with his alleged apology of violence.

During the promotion of the film, the screenwriter of The Whale, also the author of the play of the same name, Samuel D. Hunter, whose real life also inspires the character of Charlie, has responded to the controversy generated by the casting of Brendan Fraser and the use of prostheses to give life to a obese person. Hunter has acknowledged the “quite terrible” representation of obesity in other films, but has defended the use of prostheses in the specific case of The Whale, precisely because of the intention of the story. Hunter has drawn a line between the use of prosthetics in movies like Avengers: Endgame Y Thor 4which raised questions about whether Chris Hemsworth wore prosthetics to give life to Fat Thor (Fat Thor) or if it was all CGI, or nineties comedies, and what it does The Whale. According to Hunter, The Whale take an “empathetic” approach to that character, rather than continue the trend of “stigmatizing” people with obesity.

“I think that the representation of obesity throughout history, when it comes to cinema, is always quite terrible. These types of prosthetics have been used in a very inaccurate way and to ridicule or make fun of people. While it What we’re doing is just trying to delve into the deep, complex humanity of this beautiful, complicated human being, and I also think with things like this… With plays, people don’t often read a synopsis of a sentence and then judge it based on that. But I think people do that more often with film. So yeah, I mean, I understand that people will have whatever reaction they have, but I just have to have faith in the story that I’m telling. , which I think is based on empathy and love,” Hunter explained.

Brendan Fraser has qualified that “the rule [que nos habíamos marcado para usar la prótesis] it was that the whole look had to obey the laws of physics and gravity, because we never see that in the movies.” “This is important to say, because there are those who live with this disease. I felt empowered to be his voice and be as honest as I could and as authentic as I could in my performance. I gained weight to play this role, and it wasn’t enough, so the body had to go on top of that, and the two worked together.”

Also speaking about the controversy surrounding Brendan’s casting, Darren Aronofsky said: “There was a phase during pre-production on this film where we tried to research actors who are obese. Apart from not being able to find an actor who can convey the emotions of the script, n[os dimos cuenta de que se] had turned into an absurd chase. For example, if you can’t find a 600-pound actor, is a 300-pound actor or a 300-pound actor enough?”