Think about all the overweight people represented in our media. Now think about all the overweight main characters. What do they have in common?
Well, if they're not Jack Black, who can actually get away with the Overweight Antihero, then they are excruciatingly well-dressed. Neat as the proverbial pin.
The ladies (far rarer than the men) are aggressively cute. The stand-out example is Penelope Garcia from Criminal Minds. She is the girliest of girly girls, despite being in a STEM discipline. Every episode, if she's not wearing something fluffy, she's wearing something either covered in sequins, or something baby-girl pink. Her outfits are always bright in colour and form-fitting in nature. She always wears inconveniently high high heels.
As for the men? Suits. Ties. Vests. They're always impeccably groomed. Their shoes are shiny Oxfords if you see them at all. They always have a beard and that beard is always neat and well-kept. They're rarely allowed to have any other hairstyle than the short back and sides.
Neither of these types are allowed to have any kind of relationship that lasts the entire series/movie. Garcia gets to playfully flirt with another teammate, but he's offscreen married and the relationship is nowhere near serious.
Even Jane/Deb in Drop Dead Diva only gets to have her girlfriend from a previous life. I haven't watched the show past the first season. Things might have changed. But I doubt it.
In our media, today, fat people are not allowed to just be themselves. They are not allowed to have relationships. Not permanent, loving ones. They are not allowed to exist, unless it's under a specific set of rules. Lady fats have to be HYPER FEMININE (with all the bumps in the "right places"). Male fats have to be HYPER MASCULINE. And if they're not, then they're the gross slob that only exists for comedy value.
Unless, as I mentioned, the actor in question is Jack Black. He gets away with it because famous. There is no other reason.
Writers - break this mould into a million pieces. Please. There's thousands of ways you could represent fat people, but you choose two.
In other news, the place I tried to order the A Monster in Paris soundtrack from has called to say the manufacturer has quit making it. Gnash. Anyone who knows anywhere I can get this from legally, please help. Stop bootlegging at the cause.