Sensei Talks  

Can a plus size actress play this role too often? “Overweight high school student spurned for being different from her peers…finds acceptance, glory and the hint of romance with a …guy, all without surrendering pride to the body-image police.”

“Inspired by the true story of a Detroit teen who in 2004 spurred a national dialogue about a type of teen bullying: students voting less popular peers onto homecoming courts for the purpose of mocking them.” As long as bullying like this takes place, the story needs to be told.

Kids can be brutal. We all want to be accepted, but most of us would rather be ignored than made fun of. Columbine and other school tragedies taught us that we all have a breaking point. Some point sorrow inward, some aim out.

Nikki Blonsky, 19 year old star of "Queen Sized" and Golden Globe nominee for Hairspray won’t give out her weight or dress size. Asked “whether… she can, should or even wants to build a career playing the girl who is noticed primarily for her weight” she describes one scene in which “she wears only a bra and pajama bottoms” and stands criticizing her body. In another scene “filmed from the back, she undresses in a bathroom stall, to avoid having to change in front of her peers.”

She “realized that a lot of plus-sized women are ashamed of their bodies or scared to show them…but this is what we look like…if I can speak for them…then I’m proud of it.” “…Blonsky says you can only be typecast if you let yourself be.” If only the same was true for teen pain.