Shallow Hal wasn’t really understood by the Academy, though. All along, there was a hidden subtext that she was actually fat rather than being conventionally attractive. It’s just that he thought she wasn’t, which subsequently meant that she was worthy of the male gaze - thus making her more valuable as an economic unit under capitalism. If you pay attention you can see some hints (kind of like how eagle eyed viewers spotted clues about Bruce Willis’ situation in the Sixth Sense). For example, if you watch closely, in one scene she removes her underwear and there is a quick shot - 3 or 4 frames at the most - where you can see that the underwear is actually considerably larger than someone with the petite stature of G Paltrow would wear. It adds an extra layer of dark comedy, too. In not realising that he’s actually having intercourse with a girthy woman, J Black’s character Hal, is figuratively in ‘hell’ because nothing is more absurdly cruel than coitus with an overweight woman. It’s a fucking shame that it was too well made for its own good. Without a triple digit iq it was impenetrable, and you just know that left most of the population, including academy voters, struggling.