Raging Piggy: Fatphobia and anger in Cerdita (Carlota Pereda, 2022)

Rebeca Maseda García

doi:10.5209/tekn.88989

Rebeca Maseda García University of Alaska Anchorage https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3143-929X

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5209/tekn.88989

Keywords: fat-shaming, feeling rules, female anger, horror film, weight-based violence

Agencies: This article is part of the R D grant PID2020-113054GB-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.

Abstract

Cerdita/Piggy (Carlota Pereda, 2022) has garnered critical acclaim and commercial success. The film’s focus on an overweight protagonist who confronts bullying and discrimination with anger is particularly noteworthy, given the underrepresentation of such characters and the horror genre utilized. Piggy is a relevant case study given the current moment of popular feminism and heightened visibility of female anger in response to violences. The article analyzes the film’s representation of anger through three dimensions:
the construction of the enraged subject, the causes of the anger, and its effects. It specifically examines the significance of a plus size teenager as the main character, fat-shaming and weight-based violence as triggers for her anger, and the social and symbolic consequences of her anger in terms of breaking with hegemonic, neoliberal, and postfeminist ‘feeling rules’. Ultimately, the study offers insight into the potential significance of representing anger as a resource for social change for marginalized groups.

Author Biography

Rebeca Maseda García, University of Alaska Anchorage

Professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She has an extensive record of publications (as well as grants, conference presentations, guest lectures, etc.) on film, media and gender. She is the co-editor of Gender and Violence in Spanish Culture. From Vulnerability to Accountability (Peter Lang, 2018, with María José Gámez Fuentes) and Gender-Based Violence in Latin American and Iberian Cinemas (Routledge, 2020, María José Gámez Fuentes and Barbara Zecchi). Her latest publications include “White anger, Black anger: The politics of female anger in Little Fires Everywhere (HULU, 2020)” with Emma Gómez Nicolau and María José Gámez Fuentes. She has been an associate investigator on two R+D projects: ‘The re-signification of women as victims in popular culture: implications towards representational innovation in the construction of vulnerability and resistance’ (MINECO-FEDER/ FEM2015-65834-C2-2-P) and ‘Mediatization of Women’s Rage: Intelligibility Frameworks and Strategies of Politicizing Transformation’ (MCIN/ AEI/ PID2020-113054GB-I00).

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