HISTORY OF OBESITY IN CINEMA: THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES (1928) BY D. W. GRIFFITH

Abstract:

The aim of this article was to analyze The battle of the sexes (1928), by D. W. Griffith, as a primary source of the history of obesity in cinema. Methodologically, discoursive analysis of enunciation was used in a Foucaultian perspective. The analysis showed the importance that the issue of obesity and abdominal circumference assume in the plot. Both are made symbolic and the new values, portrayed negatively, as an indirect, threat to the integrity of families. Consequently, the belly and the little importance given by the wife and the children due to the true love they feel for the husband / father become symbols of good parenthood, fidelity and family integrity. It is concluded that the film is an important piece in the history of obesity both because Griffith was one of the most important filmmakers in the history of cinema and this one of his most famous films and because of the rarity of the discursive formation.

Keywords:
Obesity; History; Motion pictures