http://www.channel4.com/programmes/my-mad-fat-diary/4od
My Mad Fat Diary
In this programme, the protagonist named Rae Earl, is an overweight teenage girl who has recently left a psychiatric ward. The episode above begins with her narration on her losing her virginity, as well as the morning after it happened.
From these first three minutes, the programme seems to present her very realistically in the role of a teenage girl - arguably too realistically, as teenagers in TV are usually beautified to some extent with the use of make up or flattering clothes to make them look more attractive, but in the case of Rae there is no obvious appearance of make up, her hair the morning after appears to be more messy than it would normally be portrayed on television, and her clothes are very simple, modest and dark - not bright and cheerful which teenagers are usually presented to wear. On one hand, this is a fairly positive representation, as it normalises the appearance of a teenage girl without touch-ups to the audience which allows teenagers alike to personally identify with Rae and also allows the show to focus more on her experiences and feelings rather than looks, which helps in humanising her character as more than just a 'fat chick'. However, it can be argued that her plain appearance in the show doesn't help in representing overweight people on television in a positive way, as her features are not celebrated in the way they potentially could be. This kind of representation supports the negative stereotype that fat people cannot be attractive. It is impossible to deny that Rae's weight isn't a vital part of the plot, as even the show's title is a reference to her weight. However, the show tries to side the audience onto Rae's side of any conflicts and uses her experiences to provide information to what it is like to be an overweight teenager.
