‘When I lose the weight, we’ll go on a date’ – fatness, singleness and liminality in Fat Chance

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn contemporary Western culture, fatness and singlehood are constructed as requiring change: from fat to thin, from single to coupled. Makeover shows with a dating theme that focus on both aspects in connection to each other have become increasingly widespread, aiming for the makeover of one’s life and relationship status through the makeover of one’s body. I analyze the makeover show Fat Chance in the theoretical context of rites of passage applying the concept of liminality to fatness and singlehood. Fatness and singlehood are constructed as undesirable temporary states, with the diet being presented as the rite of passage toward the acceptable states of thinness and being coupled. In Fat Chance, overcoming the liminal states of fatness and singlehood is constructed as proof of successful adulthood and appropriate progression and consequently the precondition for and key to an acceptable, fulfilling, and happy life.