For this lesson you will read a short article and watch three Netflix episodes (about 40 minutes each) of Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser.

First, read this article from the Canadian Medical Association Journal. As you read, think about whether transforming a condition such as obesity into a medical problem makes it any less deviant.

Now watch the three episodes of Fit for TV  and join discussion.  

Questions to help you start (if you need some):

1) How was shaming used for entertainment on The Biggest Loser? Try to recount examples of shaming as entertainment.

2) Can you think of how Sweeney's 'big ideas' might help critics to analyze The Biggest Loser?

3) How was character (personal qualities) an important part of Biggest Loser narratives?

4) What possibly harmful features of the Biggest Loser experience were a result of the producers' goal to make good TV?

5) What did you think about the doctor's concerns and how he expressed them? Did he do enough?

6) Was Jillian's style of coaching helpful or productive?

7) After reading the CMAJ article and watching Fit for TV, what do you think led to so many winning contestants gaining back all the weight they had lost?

8) Do you think The Biggest Loser reinforced stereotypes about fatness and fat people in American society? Did Biggest Loser help American better understand obesity?

9) The producer and members of the cast participated in the making of Fit for TV. Were you satisfied with the accounts they gave for their thinking and behavior?