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Oscars 2023: Viewers divided after 'The Whale' wins for Best Makeup and Hairstyling
During Sunday night's 95th annual Academy Awards, The Whale scooped the prestigious Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
Following a touching presentation by Jennifer Connelly and Samuel L Jackson, it was Darren Aronofsky's The Whale that beat out All Quiet on the Western Front, The Batman, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Elvis for prize.
For the movie, star Brendan Frazer was plastered with prosthetics in order to transform him into Charlie - a reclusive, morbidly obese English teacher who is fighting to win back his daughter's love.
But despite Frazer's acclaimed performance and the incredible work that went into his appearance for the role, the movie came under fire for relying on a "fat suit" - rather than hiring a larger actor for the role.
Stars like Guy Branum criticized the decision, telling PRIDE: "I think it allows people to talk about that character as an object in a way that wouldn’t be possible if it were an actual fat person who you had to look in the eyes."
And Mean Girls star Daniel Franzese told People: "Seeing [Fraser] get up so modest in Venice and have that moment, I was very happy for him. He's a lovely man. And it's great. But why? Why go up there and wear a fat suit to play a 400lb queer man?"
With such a sensitive topic being at the forefront of the movie's story, viewers' reactions were divided over Sunday's win.
"The Whale winning Best Hair/Makeup over Wakanda Forever!? When the fat suit was the most questionable and vile thing about the movie? So nasty and so rude," one viewer wrote.
A second added: "The Whale winning hair and makeup is an absolute f***ing smack in the face to fat people. Putting someone in a fat suit (to 'push Frasier’s weight to the severest extreme') is not skillful or praiseworthy. It is obscene & harmful."
Another wrote: "The Whale wins make up and hair styling for....giving Brendan Fraser a balding head and putting him in a fat suit? okay. What a slap in the face to the other nominees."
"A fat suit won? F**k that s**t," a fourth bluntly added.
And a fifth wrote: "The Whale really won an award for putting a dude in a f***ing fat suit. Yeah. I'm done here lol. See y'all next year, guys. #Oscars"
Others were more positive about the win, hailing the incredible work that went into Fraser's transformation.
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, the 53-year-old actor opened up about the process of physically transforming into the film's 600lb protagonist Charlie.
"The torso piece was almost like a straight jacket," he said, adding: "With sleeves that went on, airbrushed by hand, to look identical as would human skin, right down to the hand-punched hair."
Entertainment journalist Katie Rife also warned overweight people about watching the movie, tweeting: "I can't recommend in good conscience that fat people watch The Whale. I can't recommend that skinny people watch it either, since it reinforces the notion that fat people are objects of pity who have brought their suffering upon themselves through lack of coping skills."
Nevertheless, Fraser has received an outpouring of support for his role in the movie.
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