Yeah, the interesting thing about the portrayal of Wolfe to me is that, hmm... there's no *moralizing* in Archie's attitude, none of the super-typical omg, Puritan moral panic, shame the sinner thing, the viewpoint where fat people who aren't starving themselves deserve to be shamed and feel bad all the time because, ew, how dare they impose their fatness on everybody else. I mean, like you were saying-- if you see someone seven feet tall, that's just a normal-ish physical variation of a human being, with some attendant pros and cons. It's not some shameful character flaw. Looking at Archie's POV on Wolfe-- it *is* treated just like that, like it's perfectly normal(ish). And there's no going the other way into total utter denial, either, none of that thing where people are like, "You're just tall! Big boned! It's baby fat! There's just more of you to love! You have such a pretty face!" etc., the things people say because it would totally be the end of the world if anyone said "fat", because obvs. fat people are only fat because they're bad or lazy or weak, etc. Sometimes Archie dresses it up with "impressive" or "gargantuan" or whatever, but he's definitely not *ashamed* or *repulsed* and trying to cloak Wolfe in euphemism, he's just matter of factly describing him the way you would if you met someone whose hair was REALLY RED or who had SUCH A SEXY VOICE or something else that was really, really *different* about them, but not BAD.
It's really almost *sad* just how strange it is to be in that viewpoint and have it be just... *normal*, with no ISSUES of judging or shaming. Just: Wolfe is fat and that's normal for him. He's allowed to enjoy eating good food! He's allowed to enjoy wearing nice clothes! And he's not a stereotype, either, the fat person who ONLY cares about food-- he likes books! Maps! Orchids! Beauty! Drama! AND food, too, as part of the whole experience of life. And yeah, his fatness, affects certain aspects of his life, but it's not like a symbol or a sign of a fundamental character flaw. It's just so *refreshing*.
(And speaking of Archie being judgmental, which we were in... some other comment... when Archie gets on Wolfe's case about being lazy he hardly ever means *physically*, you know? Using his brain-- that's what both Wolfe and Archie consider "hard work," and when Wolfe decides to quit *thinking*, that's what really seriously pisses Archie off-- that's what he considers *actual* laziness on Wolfe's part, and that's when he gets REALLY judgmental.)
eta: And I should mention, specifically about "League of Frightened Men," that it's especially bizarre to me to have this really sort of enlightened, totally casual proto-fat-acceptance on Archie's part, and the really enlightened portrayal of a mentally ill character in Fer-de-Lance, and then in this book you get this MINDBOGGLING portrayal of Paul Chapin, "Aaaahhh, creepy psycho cripple with CRIPPLE POWERS, NOT A MAN, OH NOOO," just TOTALLY freaking out and symbolically equating a physical disability with a moral/mental disability. Like I said above, I do wonder whether we're supposed to look back after the "twist" and say "oh my god, these guys are all assholes, idiots and/or totally projecting; he wasn't ACTUALLY that creepy," but it's still not going to win any awards.
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It's really almost *sad* just how strange it is to be in that viewpoint and have it be just... *normal*, with no ISSUES of judging or shaming. Just: Wolfe is fat and that's normal for him. He's allowed to enjoy eating good food! He's allowed to enjoy wearing nice clothes! And he's not a stereotype, either, the fat person who ONLY cares about food-- he likes books! Maps! Orchids! Beauty! Drama! AND food, too, as part of the whole experience of life. And yeah, his fatness, affects certain aspects of his life, but it's not like a symbol or a sign of a fundamental character flaw. It's just so *refreshing*.
(And speaking of Archie being judgmental, which we were in... some other comment... when Archie gets on Wolfe's case about being lazy he hardly ever means *physically*, you know? Using his brain-- that's what both Wolfe and Archie consider "hard work," and when Wolfe decides to quit *thinking*, that's what really seriously pisses Archie off-- that's what he considers *actual* laziness on Wolfe's part, and that's when he gets REALLY judgmental.)
eta: And I should mention, specifically about "League of Frightened Men," that it's especially bizarre to me to have this really sort of enlightened, totally casual proto-fat-acceptance on Archie's part, and the really enlightened portrayal of a mentally ill character in Fer-de-Lance, and then in this book you get this MINDBOGGLING portrayal of Paul Chapin, "Aaaahhh, creepy psycho cripple with CRIPPLE POWERS, NOT A MAN, OH NOOO," just TOTALLY freaking out and symbolically equating a physical disability with a moral/mental disability. Like I said above, I do wonder whether we're supposed to look back after the "twist" and say "oh my god, these guys are all assholes, idiots and/or totally projecting; he wasn't ACTUALLY that creepy," but it's still not going to win any awards.