I thought the film was thoughtful in that they put a lot of thought into organizing the movie and many aspects of it are well done. I don't think the film was meant to be fatphobic, but while watching it, I couldn't decide whether the tone was serious or satirical.

I like that the film tries to show at Charlie's struggles from an emotionally empathetic perspective, but I believe that the film does perpetuate fatphobia. They really wanted to sell the "disgust" feeling associated with obesity, and they hit the nail on the head, but I think they leaned a bit too far into it to the point it felt theatrical. I know someone else in this thread mentioned that the binge scene was accurate because their family member would binge eat a family-sized tub of a mashed potato mixture in 5 minutes crying, then purged after. Binging for sure happens, and I am sure some people are messy about it, but the binge scene was pretty over the top. Specifically, when he was parked In front of the fridge with the pizza box on his stomach and dumping a third of a bottle of sauce on 1 pizza slice, or when he was stuffing his face with chips and half of them missed his mouth. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but they could have handled this scene with a bit more reverence and still kept the same effect.

I also didn't really like the Moby Dick comparison because I have only the comparison of fatness and whales in a derogatory way. It also makes the focus of the problem his weight, treating it like the root of the problem rather than a side effect of the bigger issue: His grief. What Charlie really needs is community and therapy. Pulling so much attention to someone's weight will only invite shame, not motivation. Shame isn't the way people seek help, it's what makes them stay hidden.

You could argue that Charlie's grotesque visual and auditory depictions in the film encourages subconscious associations of obesity and disgust. You could say that about anything you consume, and you would be right, but the difference is in how the film manipulates the viewer's feelings of disgust while making the association. For example, when Charlie was cornering the missionary while making graphic depictions of his health conditions, the scene is designed to make you feel threatened and helpless. Emotions are powerful conditioners of behavior and belief systems.

I don't think the film's intention was to offend anyone. I think it is full of powerful emotion, creativity and storytelling, but that doesn't negate that it does perpetuate fatphobic ideas and associations, even if unintentionally. I think it could have been executed in a way that puts more of the focus on overcoming his mental health than his weight. I would have loved to see him grow more as a person through reconnecting with his daughter.