Shrill
Hulu
In the last several years a well-spring of prominent novels and memoirs about the overweight female experience have emerged (Hunger, Shrill, Dietland, Good in Bed, Dumplin’, Eleanor & Park etc.). Though there have been many monumental female produced shows in the past ten years obese and/or overweight women are often made the punchline instead of the protagonist. Lindy West, an outspoken feminist writer, truly changed the game when she published Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman. West talks about the abuse and constant vitriol she receives online, and in real life, just because she’s a woman who voices her opinions. She also covers topics such as internet trolls, abortion, and grief, and does it in a very unapologetic and brazen way. The core of the book was about life as a fat woman, and though not all of the Lindy West’s real life was translated specifically for this Aidy Bryant vehicle, that perspective is front and center in this Hulu original.
Aidy Bryant plays Annie, a website curator who wants to venture into becoming a writer. Her boss (John Cameron Mitchell) is a no-nonsense Portland gay (slightly based on Lindy West’s real life boss Dan Savage), her roommate (Lolly Adefope) is a body positive lesbian, and her current hookup (Luka Jones) is ashamed to be seen with her outside of his own bedroom. Frustrated with her life, Annie takes the helm for the first time in a long time, and tries to better accept herself whilst decrying labels and societal bullshit. Though not every woman has been obese in her lifetime, every woman knows the psychic weight of trying to adhere to society’s beauty standards. Aidy Bryant plays a lively, beautiful, and angry fat woman in a world that often infantilizes or degrades them. Annie is also juggling a sick father (Daniel Stern) and an obsessed mother (Julia Sweeney). Sweeney, who has been out of limelight for a number of years, had always been a very outspoken female voice in the comedy world and it’s great to see her in a starring role.
The show’s narrative follows Annie as she stumbles through her newfound self-assurance, sometimes wallowing in her own selfishness to a strange degree. Some aspects of the book make themselves into the show’s narrative, including the battle with her boss and the face-to-face with her troll. The troll story was brilliantly presented in a This American Life piece that I highly recommend. This show is markedly different because Annie is nowhere near as confident, heart-strong, or brave as the current iteration of Lindy West. This I find to be a positive, because we get to see an inner transformation for Annie that is never shown in mainstream media. The norm for women is to passively deal with real and imagined slights to accommodate thinner people which is where we start with Annie. It’s one thing to tell women to show more confidence, but to really know the price of presenting your true self it’s unclear what that looks like for full figured people. Annie knows she shouldn’t badly just because she’s overweight, but if she reacts she’s yelled at, threatened, and abused online, much like the real Lindy West. The show highlights the complexities of being unapologetic and the aftermath of living life that way. On top of all that praise, I have to mention the abortion storyline which was handled in the most empathetic way possible. It’s only covered in one episode and it doesn’t come up again.
Shrill was recently renewed for a second season, and I am excited to see more body positivity, examples of full-bodied women celebrated and embraced by mainstream media, and unrepentant and blatant feminism.
