The Whale: A Blak perspective

Disclaimer: Readers please be advised this article mentions fatphobia and suicide.

Over the weekend, I watched The Whale, a film that won numerous awards at the Oscars. The Whale is a film about a morbidly obese person named Charlie trying to forge a relationship with their adolescent child. My partner was excited to watch it. I, however, pushed back. My excuse was that the actor playing ‘Charlie’ (Brendan Fraser) is not fat or obese but instead was wearing what is known in Hollywood as a ‘fat suit’. However, I was happy to suspend belief and watch Yoda move objects with his mind, so I had to eventually be honest and say that I was terrified to watch this film because I might have to see something triggering for me;I live with food addiction caused by colonisation trauma. Unfortunately, . I was right to be fearful as I found that so much of the movie triggered me. Whether it was because it was, to me, homophobic, fatphobic, adverse to openly discussing mental health and suicidality or because in the end I couldn’t really relate to any of the characters as a Black woman. The only stand out to me was the underlying message that if we actually care, we can make a difference.

How this film painfully aligns with some mob’s stories

In The Whale, Charlie is a food addict, which gets out of control because he will not  address his  grief, now manifesting as complicated trauma. I also struggle with food, and I am not alone in this. The proportion of Aboriginal people aged 15 and over who are overweight and obese has increased from 66% in 2012-13 to 71% in 2018-19. The reversal of obesity is difficult for anyone, should they choose to pursue that. Let alone someone with environmental and social barriers such as poverty and structural racism. In Australia, it is a real health inequality.

In the movie, Charlie is effectively  attempting suicide by not treating his congestive heart condition or his obesity.  For me, having had people I know in my community live with suicidal ideation and suicide, this resonated with me. Aboriginal suicide rates are among the worst in the world, and are rising. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, in 2018, 169 Aboriginal people took their own lives. Suicide affects 95% of Aboriginal people in Australia. Suicide can span across several generations. Worldwide, Australia ranks 64th for suicide rates while Aboriginal people rank 12th. Year after year, suicides have rocked my family and the broader Aboriginal community. Last year we lost someone in their teenage years. This is not uncommon, with suicide being the leading cause of death for 5-17-year-olds in 2018 (25.5%)(ABS, 2019b). According to the latest Closing the Gap dashboard, the rates of First Nations people committing suicide has worsened, with a rate of 27.1 per 100 000 people as of 2021.

Like Charlie, many Aboriginal people suffer from intense trauma, grief, and mental illness. A lot of First Nations people  are disempowered, marginalised, oppressed, denied human rights, and actively hunted and incarcerated. We are missing the benefits given to many others in this country, often living in third-world conditions. In our Aboriginal communities, we are desperately trying to stop suicide.  

One of the movie’s major themes, expressed by Charlie, is that people can’t help but care. The movie is full of people not knowing how to deal with suicidality (or underlying grief, depression and trauma). An example is Dan the pizza man. He shows he cares by shouting out to Charlie (who he’s never seen before) to check he is still alive. However, when he sees Charlie for the first time, he runs away. We never see Dan again. This reminded me of many ‘allies’ and workers in allied health who get to fly in and fly out to Aboriginal communities, instead of staying with us to fight this suicide epidemic. Combating mental health and intergenerational trauma includes strengthening and reviving our culture locally. 

Liz, Charlie’s carer, seems to have been involved when the catalyst occurred for Charlie, her sibling’s death (ironically he suicides and it is indicated it is a clash between his religious faith and being gay although deep depression is also indicated).  If they were in Australia and Aboriginal, Liz may have struggled to find any help for Charlie. It is not clear in the film if Charlie was offered options such as a gastric band, a food addiction treatment centre, or a counsellor.  However, you must have access to funds, time, and external resources to gain this kind of support. Many Aboriginal people do not have this privilege, particularly in rural and remote areas. 

Barriers to support need to be addressed

Then there is the shame. The definition that best resonates with me is from psychologist Robert Caldwell; who states shame is the “inner experience of being not wanted”(Caldwell, n.d.). Feeling worthless, unlovable, broken, cast out, rejected, and guilty can rule your life. Feeling unworthy of love due to being overweight can lead to not caring for yourself. Living in a system where empowerment of Aboriginal people with weight issues is rare, additional shame and judgement from others can be a real barrier to accessing support.

At some point, Charlie may have been open to intervention, and he deserved it. Overweight people know they are overweight. Many have already tried options to lose weight or address mental health needs, if required. For some people, there is something deeper they need. They need support from subtle and blatant discrimination and hate fired at them (in the film, highlighted by everyone finding Charlie ‘disgusting’).  

Brendan Fraser went on to win an academy award for this performance in The Whale. There are other winners in our Aboriginal communities who are also choosing to live despite the constant oppression, systemic racism, attempted genocide that may cause health and mental health issues. Although problematic, The Whale posits that we can’t save someone else. But we can uphold their dignity and make a difference by caring for broader humanity.