Much fuss has been made over the past few years by the American media about childhood obesity. I could pull the statistics, but what fun is that. Let's just make it suffice to say that alot of American young'uns are fat fucks who sit on their fat asses watching TV and playing video games all day while thier fat ass parents feed them McDonalds upwards of 4x's a week. I've written about the way the media, namely television, addresses childhood obesity issues (see my musings on "Honey, We're Killing The Kids" on TLC). But tonight, while flipping between Rachel Ray braising cornish game hens in an orange balsamic glaze on the Food Network and one of the post-Suzanne Somers episodes of "Three's Company" (where the opening credits is the cast at the zoo and Joyce DeWitt started to look fat), I came across MTV's "Return To Fat Camp".
Typically, I like my teenagers at summer camp young, nubile and being chased by Jason Voorhees. But unlike my treasured "Friday The 13th" series, the only potential killer at this camp is hypertension and high cholesterol. But still my interested was piqued...
What fun MTV has addressing these issues! In typical MTV fashion, the overlying message is how overweight teenagers struggling with self esteem and body image issues seek to overcome their weight problems at sleepaway camp. The subtext, however, is how much fun it is to watch fat kids try to play dodgeball, do jumping jacks and be forcefed healthy meals. Thrown in the mix is typical teenage drama, fights, love interests, etc... all while getting weighed in every week!
One thing that really irked me about the show was that not everyone was fat. What kind of bullshit is that? I mean, if you're gonna pay to send your kid to fat camp, shouldn't they be monstrous? Personally, I think it just makes the average sized kids feel better about themselves. I wonder if the kids who aren't really fat pay less to go there. I swear to Christ, these are the things I think about while I watch these shows. The presence of the non-obese kids annoyed me, but it was more than made up for with the scene where the girl shows how her ample inner thighs are rubbed raw from the friction of running around all day and notes "it doesn't end there, it goes up all the way". That right there was enough to almost make me spit my Betty Crocker Warm Delight all over the couch.
If I keep it up with these Warm Delights, you might just see me on the next installment MTV produces- Return To Fat Camp 3: 3D.
