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Getting Fat in a Healthy Way

Getting Fat in a Healthy Way

2015

Director

Kevork Aslanyan

Runtime

21 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

Synopsis

Bulgaria-based director Kevork Aslanyan’s European Short Film Festival-winning sci-fi short sees a man trying to overcome an obstacle of gravitas for love. In a dystopian post-communist world, Constantine and his father Atanas share a small flat in a run-down apartment block. A tragic accident has disturbed gravity on Earth beyond repair, so everyone weighing less than 120 kilos flies up into space. With only 60kg body weight, Constantine cannot go outside, nor does he want to. Stuck in the flat, at the mercy of the electrical mood swings of a household gravitational normalizer, Constantine leads an almost normal life. He is content spending the days looking at the world through his window. Until the beautifully plump stewardess moving in next door changes everything.

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Diversity & Representation

Overall Score

6.0/10

Good


Category Breakdown

LGBTQ+ Representation

Fair

The film lacks explicit depictions of LGBTQ+ identities. The central romance between Constantine and his neighbor follows a traditional heteronormative structure. It avoids romantic perfection tropes by focusing on physical compatibility within a distorted reality.

Gender Representation

Fair

The story disrupts conventional beauty standards by centering on a plump female character as a catalyst for change. While this challenges aesthetic hierarchies, the primary narrative agency remains with the male protagonist.

Racial & Ethnic Diversity

Fair

Set in a post-communist Bulgarian context, the film moves away from Anglo-centric storytelling. However, there is insufficient evidence to confirm a high degree of racial blending or intersectional casting.

Religious & Cultural Diversity

Good

The narrative uses a dystopian setting to critique systemic and environmental instability. It explores how domestic spaces become sites of both confinement and sanctuary amidst decaying infrastructure.

Disability Representation

Good

Gravity serves as a sophisticated metaphor for physical limitation and sensory confinement. The protagonist's inability to exist outdoors is treated as a fundamental aspect of his identity rather than a source of mockery.

Strengths

  • Subverts traditional cinematic beauty standards by centering a plump female character.
  • Uses a clever sci-fi metaphor to explore physical limitations and disability.
  • Provides a non-Anglo-centric perspective through its Bulgarian post-communist setting.
  • Critiques systemic decay through a well-realized dystopian environment.

Areas for Improvement

  • Lacks explicit representation of LGBTQ+ identities or non-heteronormative relationships.
  • Primary narrative agency is concentrated in the male protagonist.
  • Insufficient evidence of racial blending or intersectional casting within the setting.

AI Analysis

Kevork Aslanyan uses speculative fiction to explore how physical and systemic constraints shape human agency. The film's strength lies in its ability to turn a sci-fi premise into a nuanced study of identity and social decay. By subverting traditional body-standard tropes and utilizing a localized Bulgarian setting, the work offers a perspective distinct from mainstream cinema. It replaces typical Hollywood aesthetics with a focus on survival and emotional evolution within a broken world. While the film lacks explicit representation of LGBTQ+ themes or diverse racial casting, its metaphorical approach to disability and its critique of systemic instability provide a meaningful, progressive narrative.

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