New Netflix movie Dumplin' is the plus-size moment we needed
15 November 2018, 14:45
A movie we can really sink our teeth in to.
Netflix dropped the trailer for new movie Dumplin' and everyone's talking about it. Taken from Julie Murphy's best-selling book of the same title, the feel-good flick stars Hollywood royalty Jennifer Aniston, Disney starlet Dove Cameron and American Horror Story actress Danielle MacDonald. Dumplin' will also feature new music from country legend Dolly Parton.
The film follows Willowdean – nicknamed Dumplin (Danielle Macdonald) by her mother – a plus-size teen and daughter of a former beauty queen (Jennifer Aniston). She's always in the shadow of her near-perfect mother, who is a local celebrity in their small Texas town, so she decides to do something radical. Dumplin signs up for her mum's pageant in protest and soon other unconventional contestants begin to sign up too, changing the pageant world forever.
There's some echoes of Insatiable in there, but this seems to be the body positive statement Netflix missed the mark on. Remember that whole messy situation? Insatiable rightly received a lot of backlash for its plot about an overweight girl who gets thin and "beautiful" after spending three months with her jaw wired shut.
The show was branded "toxic" for perpetuating fatphobic views and for finding comedy in what was ultimately body-shaming. Although the actors and creators claimed they were addressing the issue of body-shaming, they clearly didn't know the difference. More than 200,000 people signed a petition calling for Netflix to cancel its release, but it still went ahead and was renewed for a second season.
Dumplin already has the potential to be so much better than that. We want to see stories that show plus size people living their best lives and being treated like any other slimmer person would. And with an actual plus size lead and not a thin actress in a fat suit Dumplin is already more progressive.
Some online are saying Dumplin is what they needed after that whole Insatiable mess.
Sorry, why did Netflix bother with Insatiable when they had this coming? #Dumplin https://t.co/r9rt6elsSe
— Hanna Ines Flint (@HannaFlint) November 15, 2018
I hope #Dumplin does better handling a "fat" MC than Sierra Burgess is a Loser or Insatiable did.
— Brianna ☾♊🔮 (@boringgoddess) November 15, 2018
To anyone else who thought the trailer for #Insatiable looked like a bit of a skewed message for kids, I’d like to point out Julie Murphy’s book #Dumplin, which is the same sort of premise but without the message of “you can only be happy if you lose a load of weight” pic.twitter.com/IrL93stiZf
— George 📚💃🏻 (@Georgedean98) July 20, 2018
Dumplin' will be launching on Netflix on December 7 but people want it NOW.
Does anyone else jump want to jump really high and cheer for this! 🙌#dumplin #Dumplinmovie #myheartexplodes 💕 https://t.co/VNol9sJVXY
— Jessi Rae Fournier (@jessi_rae) November 15, 2018
Omg !!!! And a plus size lead !!!!!!!!!!! STUNNING
— charly (@charlyelise) November 14, 2018
LOVED the book, can't WAIT to see this!!! #Dumplin https://t.co/5TyOhP2HlB
— UCF22-0 🏈Knights'92⚔️ (@MrsRainbowZebra) November 15, 2018