MovieChat Forums > Shallow Hal (2001) Discussion > I have to ask about the culture in the v...

I have to ask about the culture in the very early 2000's that the film portrays

posted 4 years ago by holly61 (978)
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Since this film is 20 years old I have some questions. Yes, I know it's just a movie but I'm still curious

* Was there that much obesity stigma surrounding a woman of Rosemary's size in 2001? would seeing someone of that size be shocking back then?

* Did average looking men feel entitled to date a beautiful woman and settle for no less?

* One of the characters mentioned he made ''29K per year'' and seemed proud of that. Was this considered a good salary back in 2001. Enough to impress a woman? that just seems like poverty level wages by today's standards.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

Obesity was still considered a health issue in the early 2000s. It's only now that we're enlightened and realize heart disease is a turn on and beautiful.

In the early 2000s, men pursued women they were attracted to without care for how they, the men, themselves looked. We were not as enlightened as we are today, where we know our place and don't even think about looking at women who may be "in a different league" (of course, with the "body positivity" movement, we now realize grossly obese women are actually beautiful and so the market has opened up quite a bit).

Depending on where the movie took place, 29k would still be a lot. Obviously, not so in a blue state where excessive taxes would render such a salary pointless.

[–] holly61 (978) 2 years ago

See this is what I mean about the pursuit of beautiful women by average men. When I watch movies from this era it seemed to be a pretty common theme as long as they had a good job. I wonder if this was really the case back then in real life.

Now it seems average or unattractive men are pretty much forgotten by most women.

As far as "the modern Rosemary's" I think things got a lot better for them now. Obviously not with their health but they seem to be more accepted even by men. Back in the early 2000's it seemed they were nearly a ghost in the dating scene.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

Obviously my comments had a bit of an edge to them. I'm not sure why I was in such a nasty mood when I wrote that. However, I don't think anyone Rosemary's size, male or female, should settle for themselves. There is nothing healthy about obesity. It is not considered beautiful (by normal, sane, rational people unafraid of losing their jobs for saying something that's true) for very practical reasons. If the modern Rosemaries wish to be part of the dating scene, they need to demonstrate they care about themselves if they think other people should care about them as well. The "body positivity" movement is a disaster (though the healthcare industry stands to profit quite a bit from it).