- It's bullying, and it's messed up. You should not be putting that out
and then calling it satire.
- Satire's absolutely okay.
- You gotta wait and see the whole thing.
♪ (industrial intro) ♪
- My name is Patty.
- I've seen this one. - Oh. Yes, yes.
I have heard of this.
- Oh, no. - Oh, I saw this on Twitter.
Everyone's pissed.
- I follow her Instagram, so I see so much about this.
- I saw a bunch of stuff on this,
how it's like, "Oh, no. Once you get skinny, you get popular."
- (boy) Fatty Patty's huge. - Sounds discriminatory.
- (Patty) While my classmates were out losing their virginity,
I was at home stuffing another hole.
- (laughs) - (chuckles) Me.
- (girl) Smells like bacon. - Ugh.
- Girls are vicious.
- (Patty) Every day, I wondered, how much more of this can I take?
Then it hit me.
(boom) Now what?
- I already have it on my saved to watch later.
- (man) Where's Patty? - (Patty) Right here.
- Oh, look at that. She's super hot now.
- I don't know how (laughs) I feel about this.
- The girl that was ostracized becomes a beauty overnight.
- (Patty) Having my jaw wired shut lost me more
than just my summer vacation.
- I was a very fat kid, so I can relate.
- (Patty) I could be the former fatty who turned into a brain
or an athlete or a princess.
- Hmm. - (Patty) No, I'd rather have revenge.
- Revenge. - So, we got a good ol' revenge story.
- I just don't know how Netflix would advertise this kind of stuff.
- (man) Patty is out of control.
- Ruthless. Oh, it's just payback time.
- (woman) I wanna punch her in her bitch face.
- (Patty) I want them to hurt like I hurt.
- Ow. - (Patty) I wanted more.
I was insatiable.
- Ohh. - (Patty) What can I say?
- Dang. What the heck?
- (Patty) This story is full of some crazy sh--.
- Okay, well, I think it's a little much.
- This show is definitely gonna be a ride.
- (Patty) That's what makes it so fun.
- Sounds interesting. - It's a Netflix original.
Normally, those do pretty well, but I don't know how this one will do.
- God, that's terrific. The fat, ugly chick gets healthy
and goes back and kicks everybody's [bleep].
- I think it looks good. - Just, no.
I'm disappointed in Netflix.
- It's the same fat girl is bullied into getting her mouth wired shut--
- And the only way she can get back or become better is if she's skinny.
- It's an interesting concept.
It's such a big step away from reality.
And I think that's what television, for the most part, is supposed to be.
- (FBE) So, this show has actually stirred up a good amount
of controversy online recently. From what you just watched,
do you have any idea why? - Oh. Fat shaming.
Mm-hmm. All right. Yeah, I can see that.
- It's basically saying if you are more of a heavier set person
that you can't be considered the pretty girl or whatever.
And then it's saying, like, oh, now she can get revenge,
because she lost weight, and she's skinny.
- I get why, but at the end of the day,
you've got to know it's just a show.
This is just an overreaction.
- There's so much outrage culture, and it's always judged
before the product is actually out.
Fat shaming is definitely a thing in it,
but I'm sure her character deals with fat shaming all the time.
- (FBE) So, people are saying the series perpetuates a narrative
that women need to be thin in order to be popular.
- Mm-hmm. - Yeah, I can understand that.
Unfortunately, a lot of young people, they feel that if they're thin,
they're gonna be more popular, they'll get ahead.
If you're not that attractive, then your odds of "making it"
in the world are gonna be lessened.
- (FBE) Someone has gone as far as to launch
a change.org petition to urge Netflix to shelve the series.
- (both) Whoa. - That's a little much.
In the end, it's just a show. It's not like it's real life.
- I understand. I get why people are getting sensitive about it,
but I don't think it's necessary.
- If I don't like a show, I don't like a topic,
I'm not gonna shut it down. There are some things
that literally go too far.
- (FBE) So, before we talk about this a little more,
we have some tweets from the show's stars
and creators to show you as well. - Okay, perfect.
I'd love to see that.
- Debby Ryan, okay. We got the star.
- I know she's on "Jessie," so that's kinda how I know her.
- "As someone who cares deeply about the way our bodies,
especially women's, are shamed and policed in society,
I was so excited to work on 'Insatiable,'
because it's a show that addresses and confronts
these ideas through satire."
- "Satire is a way to poke fun at the hardest things,
bring darkness into the light, and enter difficult conversations."
Okay, so yeah, it brings darkness into the light,
but there's better ways to bring it into the light
than what they're trying to do.
- It's a commentary. It's satire.
People need to learn to relax.
- Satire is just bringing something more.
It's more of a joke toward something, but it's not to be taken seriously.
- "I have to laugh at my pain." Hmm.
"Otherwise, I'll dissolve and weep and get stuck
instead of working through it."
- "It's a coping mechanism, and, for a lot of people
who are telling these stories, a healing mechanism."
Very deep.
- "Over the last few days, I've seen how many voices
are protective and fiercely outspoken about the themes
that come into play in this story. I'm grateful for that
and comforted by it,
because I want those stories told right, too."
I like the part where she said there are people
that are telling their stories as well through this.
- "It was very important to Lauren Gussis,
our writer and showrunner from whose brain and heart
and life the character of Patty was born,
as well as to me, that any scenes
where Patty was heavier don't use her size as a punchline."
That's exactly what I was saying.
It's, like, they're not really using it maliciously.
- She went through the issues and that she kind of understands it,
I don't think she would've taken the character
if she thought, "Oh, this is fat shaming."
I could see where the controversy is. I see why people are upset.
- "Patty had the same brain, the same sense of humor and style,
soul and heart, the same Chucks,
but like she didn't matter to anyone until she was thin."
- "She didn't have the same opportunities,
and she was treated worse, which is what triggers her rage.
And Patty does not starve herself skinny.
She snaps and undergoes a physical transformation,
but it doesn't make her happy."
- I think that people should kind of come down about it,
because they said that she didn't make herself skinny.
It's not the show's fault. It's kind of society's.
- "We're not in the business of fat shaming.
We're out to turn a sharp eye on broken, harmful systems
that equate thinness with worth." - In the trailer,
they're trying to show her as somebody
who's really manipulative and spiteful,
but I think that's just something to draw people in.
- "If you go for this ride, I think you'll recognize both yourself
and the things that make you mad about our fractured
and beauty-obsessed culture."
- When you're actor and you're in a show
and you support what is being said and a lot of people are coming at you,
you wanna do something like this where you need to say,
"Don't just trust the trailer." So, we'll know what's in the show,
and that's when we can say if it-- in regards to fat shaming or not.
- You gotta wait and see the whole thing.
We've all been surprised by certain shows
that we haven't wanted to watch or we kind of put off,
and then you get into it, you're like, "Whoa.
There's a lot more to this."
- (FBE) So, this next tweet came from Lauren Gussis,
the show's creator. - Okay.
"When I was 13, I was suicidal.
My best friends dumped me. I was bullied, and I wanted revenge.
I thought if I looked pretty on the outside,
I'd feel like I was enough.
Instead, I developed an eating disorder
and the kind of rage that makes you want to do dark things."
- "I'm still not comfortable in my skin,
but I'm trying to share my insides to share my pain and vulnerability
through humor. That's just my way."
- One of the best ways to bring topics up
and actually have an adult conversation about it,
you know, make a really nice dynamic, is through jokes.
When people laugh, when you laugh, you gain control over something
that otherwise would give you adversity.
- They're bringing the issue up in a way that's more attractive
to the eye of the average person now.
We go more towards what makes us laugh.
We go more towards online media.
- It's so sad and... (sighs) So many girls go through it.
You are allowed to feel the way you feel,
and if she wants to share that, I'm willing to listen and watch.
- (FBE) So, the creator of the show has said that the show
is not about, quote, "somebody who gets thin,
becomes happy, and gets everything she wants.
It's actually quite the opposite, but the story has to start somewhere."
- I agree. Even in the trailer, with the little bit we've seen,
she got skinny. She wasn't happy.
- I like that idea where this girl thinks
that everything is gonna get better if she loses weight.
But to take it as far as to, like, it doesn't get better,
so I'm gonna get revenge on everyone who bullied me
and then I'm gonna light somebody on fire
or whatever she was doing in that trailer,
that's just, like, here's the line,
and then it crossed it.
- (FBE) So, for people defending the show,
including its creators and stars, talk about the show is a satire.
Satire's been used to make a point with sometimes extreme situations,
with many who do comedic satire feeling it could be a better way
to make you think about a topic than presenting it
in a purely politically correct way.
What are your thoughts around satirical content?
Is it okay? Or, in this case, is it not okay?
- People have their own opinion about satire.
I've never really understood it. For me, being a woman,
having some weight issues, satire is not something
that is appealing to me.
- I realized when people mess up really bad,
comedians usually, they go, "Oh, it was satire."
It's bullying, and it's messed up.
You should not be putting that out and then calling it satire
to backtrack and make yourself look better.
- No matter what kind of content you create,
you have to kind of be a little more dramatic
and over the top for it be more relatable to everyone.
It lightens the situation in a way,
but it's not really taking away from the issue 100%,
'cause it's still, like, "Let's talk about it."
- It's good to learn different types of--
What's the word? Different types of comedy.
It's a really good way to get a point across.
It gives the comedy more meaning to it.
It gives it more depth.
And without satire, everything would just be plain.
Everything would just be boring.
- Satire is one of the greatest outlets there is.
It makes you laugh. It makes you think.
And it makes you get connected to what people are trying to say.
- It takes all kinds of angles to bring awareness.
People are too sensitive nowadays with every little thing.
- Satire's absolutely okay. If you start saying
people can't do stuff, you deny them their own,
you know, freedom of speech.
Outrage culture, in a sense, is also bullying.
You're also saying terrible things to people
for something you don't even understand.
- The second we start trying to get categorize things
as, "Eh, this can't be shown, but this can,
but this can't," that's a very slippery slope.
At what point are we going to just keep banning everything
or having very strict guidelines on what people can film
or show or express just because someone else
feels uncomfortable with it?
- (FBE) So, regardless of how people feel
about this controversy, the issues of body shaming
and bullying are serious issues. - No, definitely.
- It's just social media. Even kids at my age,
I start feeling like, "Oh, I'm too big.
I'm too this. I'm too that."
- I get down on myself all the time right now
because of my weight. Even as an old man,
you feel like, why am I struggling
with this right now? And how can I be comfortable
in my own skin? Because I'm not.
- I was, like, 230, 240 pounds. I was a very hefty child.
And that kept going throughout my teens
until about 16, 17. I had a lot of body issues, right?
And then I lost it, and I actually got into very good shape.
And then I would look in the mirror,
and I would still kind of judge myself.
I was self body shaming when I was overweight
and then when I lost the weight. So, I realized it's kind of coming
from the inside and just how I feel about myself.
- We're not what society thinks of as the first person
they, you know, are attracted to. And so, when-- I'm sorry.
When-- - Aww.
Aww, it's okay. I know what she's trying to say.
When the first thing that somebody does
is judge by your looks, it's kind of hard.
- I just wish the world was more like, you know,
the people that we know and the people that--
I'm sorry. Whew. The people that we hang out--
and you guys, you know, who accepted us
and let us on the show and (sniffs) who let us
speak our opinions and share our thoughts.
And it's just-- it's an amazing opportunity.
- (FBE) Finally, Netflix has defended the show
and will move forward with the show premiering on August 10th.
When it's released, will you watch the show
or has this controversy turned you off of it?
- Oh. I will not watch the show. It'll probably make me really upset
and probably bring back some body image issues.
- Women are terrific and smart and strong
and anything that promotes that, I like.
- At this moment right now, I don't think I'll watch it,
but we'll see. I'm not 100% against it,
because you can only judge so much off of the trailer.
- I'm probably gonna watch it just so I can see how it turns out,
because I reacted about it. I read about the controversy.
I should at least watch the show.
- I'm gonna make sure to watch it now just because this whole controversy,
I wanna form an opinion on it by myself
and not just from the trailer.
- I will watch it. They're gonna get so much more attention
for this show. I can promise you this show
would've just been glanced over before.
Now, that it's got so much attention, it's gonna do pretty well.
- It's made me wanna see where it goes, honestly.
I like checking out stuff that people have, I don't know,
railed against just to see if their arguments are legit.
- Based on what I saw, I would share that
with my grandchildren as an educational lesson for them.
- I actually encourage a lot of people to watch it,
because then you'll see both sides of the story.
You'll see our side of the story, and then you'll see
maybe a little mirror of yourself in the story
and how words can affect people.
It's gonna bring some tough subjects to light,
but I think it's gonna be a good thing.
- As we're learning about what's gonna actually happen
in the show, the creator's point of view,
the actor's point of view, I think you need to know
as much information as you can possibly know
before you just openly pick a side or judge.
- We're definitely a sensitive bunch of people,
but that sensitivity can play a huge role in society,
and it can definitely have its ups and downs.
And I think we kind of need to create a medium
where not everything needs to be such a sensitive topic.