One of the healthiest things that can happen for young women in our society is to see women who represent the body positive goal on television and in film.
Just thinking about the affect seeing these women would have had on me in college, lets me know that it is important for us to have better representation. Though our society still places unrealistic body images and standards on us, for women and men alike, I definitely see some small progress being made in this area.
Because of this, I wanted to highlight five modern actresses who are successfully shattering body expectation norms and proving that women can be spectacular no matter how tall, short, light, heavy, or whatever else they may be. These women are giving me body positive goals! Yaaaaasssss!
Mindy Kaling
I can honestly say Mindy is one of my favorite actresses!
Best known for playing Kelly Kapoor on NBC’s The Office, as well as for her own show The Mindy Project, (my absolute favorite) Mindy Kaling has built an incredibly successful career as both a writer and comedic actress. Aside from her unstoppable sense of humor, one of the most admirable things about Kaling’s career is her consistent ability to write herself into romantic entanglements despite not necessarily resembling Hollywood’s traditional romantic interest. I mean honestly, who can’t relate to that?
I absolutely fell in love with Mindy as an actress because not only does she represent body positivity, but she gave me authenticity. She is like your everyday best friend that you can relate to in areas such as humor, love drama, and self confidence.
Chrissy Metz
When I first saw Chrissy at The Curvy Con 2016, singing every other sentence in a confident melody, I knew she was amazing!
Chrissy Metz has become one of the true stars of This Is Us, which in turn has become a defining television drama of the current decade. As the show continues gain high praises and accumulate fans, a recent article even discussed a sort of race to find the next show like it. It’s basically set a new standard for emotional payoff, and it’s a standard that can’t easily be met or imitated.
For her part, Metz is undeniably a plus size woman, but makes no effort to change or address her body type according to anyone else’s standards. She’s become a bona fide star and appears to be genuinely happy in her own skin – something we should all strive for. Body Positive goals right!!!
Gwendoline Christie
Gwendoline Christie…one of the baddest women on everyones favorite show!!!
It’s hard to overstate how popular the key actors and characters in Game Of Thrones have become. Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenarys Targaryen in the show, recently blew up the internet by getting a few tiny dragon tattoos. Kit Harrington and Rose Leslie did the same when, like their characters in the show, they fell in love (and got married!). People have analyzed the characters to the point that a recent article speculated as to what their favorite games might be if they wandered into a casino.
Gwendoline Christie wasn’t in that article (though I could see her being a no-nonsense poker player), but these are the circles she now runs in after playing the part of Brienne of Tarth – a large, strong woman sometimes mistaken, in the story, for a man. Can we have a moment of silence on how great her character is in Game of Thrones?
Christie embodies the role at a striking 6’3’’, and has turned herself into a star, inviting the level of attention I just described despite some of the judgements that come with the character.
Rebel Wilson
Am I the only one that wishes she had a best friend like Rebel Wilson? She is undeniably hilarious, and another great example of body positive representation in movies and television.
Rebel Wilson has been around for some time in the performing world, but really became a star depicting “Fat Amy” in the Pitch Perfect comedies. That alone is a huge statement of confidence. For her part, Wilson has embraced her figure to an incredibly admirable degree, frequently making light of it and displaying a great level of self-confidence.
She’s actually been quoted as saying she sees her size as being an advantage, and honestly why shouldn’t she. She’s absolutely gorgeous! Going even further, Wilson has said she’s always tried to use her brain to “get places,” implying her figure shouldn’t matter one way or the other.
Alicia Vikander
I also want to point out rising star Alicia Vikander simply to express that combatting body norms isn’t just about being plus size, or tall and strong in the case of Christie. Vikander too is far from what Hollywood tends to tell us is “perfect,” at an extremely slight 5’6’’.
Though widely viewed as a beautiful young woman, and capable of exhibiting action star physicality (as in her Tomb Raider reboot), she is not the sort of curvy, hourglass starlet we so often see in leading roles. Vikander has instead become a star through her talent and persona, and clearly has a very bright career ahead of her (and an Oscar under her belt already!).
Tell me, what women on television or in movies, who represent body positivity, do you admire?
Cool work you have here. 🙂
Thank you