by Dot Cannon
(Graphic copyright 2015 by Mason Arrigo, and used with permission.)
What if–being overweight were a crime, punishable by concentration-camp imprisonment? What if getting your BMI down to a number others deemed acceptable were a prerequisite for continuing to live?
That’s the premise of the just-published graphic novel, Fatizen 24602, by Philip C. Barragan II and illustrated by artist Mason Arrigo. Their goal is to challenge the way people think about obesity.
“This is the last area where people feel comfortable openly discriminating,” Philip said. “I want to start dialogues (about that).”
The book’s official launch party, titled “Living Large”, happens this Saturday, March 28th, at Cultural Alliance Long Beach, and you’re invited. But this is so much more than a book launch.
“I wanted it to be an event to celebrate diversity,” Philip explained. “I said, why don’t we invite some poets to talk about body-positive spoken word? And we’re having a plus-sized fashion show. I hope there’s enough space (at CALB’s Pine Avenue location) for everything that’s going to happen.”
According to his book’s website, Philip “has been an activist for people of size for as long as he can remember”, and believes that everyone should be comfortable in their own skin, regardless of size.
(Graphic copyright 2015 by Mason Arrigo, and used with permission.)
Philip said the genesis of Fatizen 24602 was a short story he wrote, as an undergraduate at Antioch University. “I wrote a story about a dystopian society, about twenty-five pages long, exploring what would happen if the obese were forced underground because of some big political change…I created a world where there were eating contests, funded by the Mafia, where people ate themselves to death. I wanted to explore what would happen if obese people were told, ‘you can’t exist’. ”
Initially, though, he was hesitant to read his work to classmates. “At first, I told the teacher, it’s a real twisted story. I don’t know if I want to bring it in to share. And people said, ‘bring it in’.”
Response was positive to a story that strikes a chord with all too many of us (who hasn’t heard, or been the recipient of, an offensive comment about weight?). Ultimately, Philip would develop his concept into a much larger work. “When I got into grad school, it was my thesis.”
Fatizen 24602 is the story of protagonist Delilah Palladino, a loving and unapologetic plus-sized woman in the year 2075. The government has just passed anti-fat legislation that threatens, not just her rights but her very life. With a supposed national food shortage looming, Delilah’s outspokenness lands her in a “Calorie Camp”–a federally sanctioned weight loss center for the criminally obese.
Reviews of Fatizen 24602, following the book’s March 9th publication, have included phrases like “a powerful critique of the hypocrisies of American society” and “beautiful, powerful and morbidly funny”.
“I’m humbled by everyone’s response to the novel,” Philip commented. “I want people to understand that regardless of what you look like, we’re all people. The elimination of fat shaming (is what I want to accomplish).”
(Graphic copyright 2015 by Mason Arrigo, and used with permission.)
“Living Large”, the official launch event for the new graphic novel Fatizen 24602, is a free event sponsored by Cultural Alliance of Long Beach, and will be happening this Saturday afternoon, March 28th, from 1:00 to 3:00 at CALB’s, 727 Pine Avenue location, at Seventh Street.