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Pop CultureAugust 30, 2024

Why Shortland Street’s first fat storyline is such a big deal

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Joanna McLeod has been campaigning for years for our beloved soap to include a fat character. This week, it delivered. 

Last week, something extraordinary happened on Shortland Street. Selina, the show’s first fat main character, used her lived experience of fat phobia and weight stigma within the health system to advocate for the fat patient she was nursing who had come in for a standard surgery and been greeted with revulsion by her doctor.

And this care shouldn’t be a huge thing, but it actually is. 

Before I go any further, I probably have to state that fat is a neutral term. It’s a physical description, not an indicator of health or moral character, just the same as being tall or brunette. Now imagine how weird it would be if Shortland Street had gone over 30 years without a brunette main character. And yet, before Bella Kalolo-Suraj joined as nurse Selina To’a in 2023, that’s where we were at. 

Shortland Street’s Madonna Diaz and Selina To’a

Back to the storyline. Fat liberation is literally my job as part of running my ethical clothing company, so for years I have been complaining about a lack of fat characters on Shortland Street and campaigning for our inclusion. It should not be controversial to say that a cultural institution, that aims to depict a broad spectrum of New Zealand, should actually show us at our broadest too. 

So I sent emails to producer Oliver Driver, complimenting the show’s work with intersex and trans characters, but asking when there’d be a character who couldn’t just walk into Glassons and buy clothes off the rack. When Kelly Martin, head of South Pacific Pictures was profiled in a magazine saying she dug her heels in for diversity, I headed for her inbox too. Neither of them replied to me.

I even pitched a piece on the missing fat characters to this very publication but was told it “wasn’t the right fit”, so I just published it myself. Anytime I was approached by the media as a “dial-a-fatctivist”, I made sure to mention Shortland Street’s missing fat people. “If you want a fat character, hire a fat actor cos they’re certainly not busy on Shortland Street” I wrote in this piece about The Whale

After years of campaigning, the stunning Bella Kalolo joined the Street, and you bet I was excited. Prior to last week, Selina had no specifically fat storylines, which was a welcome relief. Fat women usually only exist on TV as the comic relief best friend and/or to be seen as struggling with weight loss (rather than struggling with fat stigma in a society that hates fat people). 

Instead, Selina arrived a fully formed character – struggling with raising a kid, getting fair pay at work, fighting with her brother’s fiance and being drawn in by the inevitable Chris Warner tractor beam to his deadly loins. But Shortland Street can’t be all easy escapism (witness its recent collapsing health system, and racist efforts to suppress te reo Māori signage in the hospital), so when Selina’s first “fat” storyline came up, it was a big one (I get to make that joke). 

A fat patient came into the hospital, and Selina was incredible. When patient Jocelyn worried that the blood pressure cuff wouldn’t fit her “giant arms”, Selina cheerily replied ‘“the usual ones don’t fit me either babe, so I got this one.” When Jocelyn asked if it was possible to get a larger robe, Selina said “I’m sorry, we really should have more sizes available, but I’ve got this trick where you can wear a second one backwards like a dressing gown.” This acknowledged that it was the hospital that was falling short, and that Jocelyn deserved to be treated with dignity.  

Oh my Lorde, I felt so SEEN. I’ve had people at a gym freak me out by telling me my blood pressure was dangerously high when they were actually using the wrong size cuff (I generally have perfect blood pressure, thanks for asking). I’ve had to educate a bunch of vaccinators that you need to use a 38mm needle for larger patient Covid vaccinations, had to wait while they fetched the right needles and then not be able to sit down to wait for the 15 minutes because only flimsy plastic chairs were provided. I was finally seeing my own experiences reflected accurately on screen. 

Later, when checking on a painful infection Jocelyn had been hiding, Selina empathised with her. “It’s hard when your body size makes you a problem before you’ve walked into the room, isn’t it?” She then correctly pointed out to thin white doctor Phil that skin infections can happen to anyone (there is not a single illness exclusive to fat people, and weight and health are absolutely not the same thing), asking how Jocelyn would be treated if she was smaller, and she used her own experience to help the fatphobic doctor see things in a different light.

Crucially, Selina’s brother Viliami – a former professional rugby league player and personal trainer – also showed the allyship that non-fat people need to demonstrate. When the doctor turned up her nose and said “how could anyone let themselves get like this”, Viliami explained that calories in/calories out as a magic formula for weight loss was something that’s been debunked a long time ago. By that stage of the episode I was bawling – it was exactly what’s been missing on our screens.

Later, when the patient needed surgery for her infection, Selina explained to Phil how hard it is when you’re judged for your body before you even open your mouth, especially in a doctor’s office. I instantly had flashbacks to all the GPs I’ve seen. One doctor asked if I was just depressed because of my low self-esteem due to being overweight, when it was actually undiagnosed ADHD. He also told me to “go for some walks and cut down on sugar” when I went in for a completely unrelated ear infection from frequent swimming. He never asked about my diet. 

The author, Joanna McLeod

Then there was the psychiatrist who, as I cried describing how suicidal I was after the exhaustion and brain fog from long Covid, wrote down “patient should get some more exercise” – when over exertion is known to make long Covid symptoms worse. I have a friend whose knee tumour was missed by a doctor who proposed weight loss surgery instead, and there are thousands and thousands of other stories just like this that I could tell you. This is why so many fat people hesitate before going to the doctor, because they’re infantilised and not listened to. 

Unfortunately, in a move that felt kind of like fridging your gays, Jocelyn died this week at Shortland Street hospital. But at least when the brash Dr Drew said “she was always fighting an uphill battle, which was complicated by her BMI”, Dr Phil stepped in. “Actually, I’m not sure that her BMI was a factor, because Jocelyn was fighting a multi-resistant organism which made all our treatment attempts futile. Her BMI was inconsequential.” Drew’s wife – also a doctor – agreed that they needed to move with the times. And Selina got to have the last, very accurate word: “BMI is trash!” 

In response to my post about this storyline on social media, one of the nurse-writer consultants Alison James said they were very proud of it and had been pushing for it for a year. Thank you so much Alison. This storyline tackling medical fatphobia and its consequences is groundbreaking, and I’m so, so grateful to see something this realistic and relatable depicted on our screens. And soon I’ll be writing to all those producers who I’ve hassled over the years to thank them as well. 

Watch Shortland Street here on TVNZ+

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Pop CultureAugust 29, 2024

Here’s what the Rings of Power cast miss the most about Aotearoa

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Ahead of the return of Amazon’s formerly-shot-in-New Zealand Rings of Power, Dominic Corry speaks to the cast about how much they miss us, really. 

For a country whose national identity is an inferiority complex, we are surprisingly overt in the pride we have for our prominent association with adaptations of the works of JRR Tolkien. That first Lord of the Rings trilogy gave us all a little boost on the world stage, then the Hobbit films kept the feeling alive. 

When Amazon Prime Video announced that they were mounting an ambitious live-action Lord of the Rings prequel series based on supplementary Tolkien material, it made sense to us that it would be made in New Zealand, even if Peter Jackson wasn’t involved and the production was more of an Auckland-based affair than the movies. 

So it’s safe to say we felt some kind of way when it was announced that the show was moving to the UK after the first season finished shooting here. We’ve never quite gotten a clear consensus over the reasons for the move (Amazon choosing to focus on their new production hub in the UK and enduring Covid-related travel problems were both in the mix), and some recriminations followed the announcement. 

“As a Kiwi, this is a bit of a bummer,” noted a Reddit user at the time, speaking on behalf of us all. “Everyone here knows someone who has worked on Lord of the Rings at some point or in some way. Will be a shame to see such a massive production shift.”

But another universal truth about New Zealanders is that we love hearing about how great our country is. I’m sure all visiting actors get sent an instructional video where Tem Morrison educates them on this critical aspect of working in New Zealand (“just keep using the word ‘beautiful.’ Feel free to mention the coffee,” he would hypothetically intone while strolling around Hobbiton). 

Recently at San Diego Comic Con, I got to test this theory out with pretty much the entire cast of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, who were presented in pairs in a cavernous boardroom. They were there to discuss the show’s second season, a much more Sauron-focused affair which sees the three Elven rings of power out in the world, and the impending forging of the seven dwarf rings and the nine rings for men. 

But all I wanted to know was one thing: how much did they miss New Zealand after the move? 

Morfydd Clark as Galadriel in Rings of Power

Welsh actor Morfydd Clark, who plays a young, slightly more impetuous Galadriel in the show, and who was known to have been spotted at Karangahape Road’s Bestie Cafe on occasion, seemed genuinely wistful about the shift. “It was a big transition,” Clark told me. “There’s this Welsh word – ‘hiraeth’ – that is a type of longing for home that can’t be satisfied. I felt that a lot when I was in New Zealand, and I didn’t realise that I’d be there long enough, and also be so loved and welcomed by the people there, that now that I’m back [in the UK], I have that for New Zealand.” 

Not bad. 

American actor Benjamin Walker (who plays Elven High King Gil-galad) remembered me from when I interviewed him for the first season, when he told me he misses the coffee and that his young son still had a Kiwi accent. He knew he had to give me something special this time, and he didn’t disappoint: “It’s like the way the elves long for Valinor [basically Elf heaven],” said Walker. “It was magical and we miss it. Also, because of the circumstances of what was happening around the world, to have been able to be there and be made to feel so at home.”

There’s one essential part of Kiwi life that Walker shouted out: “Walking down Ponsonby Road with your shoes off. You can’t do that in Windsor, let me tell you.” Not a lot of visitors celebrate our barefootedness. It’s often deemed the worst thing about us, so extra points to Walker for getting onboard with this local custom.

Benjamin Walker plays Elven High King Gil-galad

And yes, he means that Windsor. The show’s current home, Bray Studios, an hour or so outside London, where they used to shoot Hammer horror films in the 1960s, is just a few miles up the road from Windsor Castle. And Legoland. Not sure how we’re supposed to compete with that. We have no royal castles and no Hammer horrors were shot at Kumeu Studios. Although Disney’s Zombies 4 did recently lens there. 

When I spoke to him for season one, Puerto Rican actor Ismael Cruz Córdova (who plays Silvan elf Arondir) was proudly sporting a pounamu, so I wasn’t surprised when he told me he was “distraught” to leave us. “Aotearoa New Zealand gave us a home in a time that was so uncertain. I mean, we got quote unquote stuck there and we were embraced in such a wonderful way. But, going to England, it’s also great. Living in London is wonderful. It’s two different experiences really, but both lovely.”

Oh, OK. 

Charlie Vickers plays seafaring Halbrand

London-based Australian actor Charlie Vickers – whose character Halbrand initially presented as something of an Aragorn type then was revealed to actually be the Dark Lord Sauron at the end of season one – knew what I wanted to hear. “We were properly embraced by everyone in New Zealand,” Vickers told me. “I made friends, nothing to do with the show, that are now some of my closest friends in the world. So it was a really special time.”

Vickers further endears himself by pointing out that season two was less collegial, outside of work hours: “In New Zealand we would go to work together and then we’d all go out to dinner together because we only kind of knew each other. In England it’s fundamentally different because while the work is the same, you go home to your lives, I guess both have their positives.” 

I suppose he has a point. 

English actor Sophia Nomvete, who plays Dwarf Princess Disa, and who has spoken far and wide of her love for New Zealand, said it was bittersweet to leave. “New Zealand was a real journey for me, personally,” Nomvete told me. “It really held me up in a way that I never knew a country could. I’m like, currently designing Māori tattoos for myself. It hit me in a way that I’ve not experienced before. I have so, so much love for that country, as does my family. So I’m so grateful that we started [there], it just couldn’t have been anywhere else. I love it.” 

Sophia Nomvete plays Dwarf Princess Disa

But again, like much of the English cast, she understandably couldn’t deny the benefits of working where she lives. “Of course it is lovely to be home as well. I feel quite blessed that we had that incredible time. That New Zealand fire is at the heart of this story and for me at this time in my life. I get to carry that home with family and friends. I just think it’s a win-win all around, we were really lucky to have both sides.”

England-born American actor Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Númenórean Queen Regent Míriel) had more New Zealand experience than more, reflected on working the two “life changing projects” she made on our shores. “The first time I was there was 10 years ago with Spartacus. At that time I thought, ‘Oh gosh, I’ll never get to work here again’. I had such an incredible time,” she said. “Then lo and behold, I get this second incredible experience with a lot of the same people, a lot of the same crew, familiar faces. So it was very bittersweet to transition.”

Welsh actor Trystan Gravelle, who plays Númenórean political player Pharazôn, felt very at home here. “New Zealand blew my mind when I was there. I found it very, very similar to the UK. Huge swathes of the country untouched and unspoiled and stuff. So it was like a home from home from home.” Because of that, he said leaving the country was quite poignant. “I just had such a lovely time in New Zealand, I thought well, when am I going to go there again?”

Trystan Gravelle plays political player Pharazôn

But English actor Charles Edwards (Elven smith Celebrimbor), who also co-starred with Rebecca Gibney in the Central Otago vineyard dramedy Under the Vines, appears to have had his fill of the antipodes for now. “I mean in terms of being closer to home, that’s always a plus,” he admitted. “With family to consider and all that, the practicalities of such a move were beneficial to those who live there.”

Perhaps sensing he has let me down, Edwards then added: “We miss New Zealand very much. Some of that obviously can’t compare anywhere in the world, the shots that they get, but once you get in a studio, you could be anywhere. The feeling of goodwill and fun in the crew both [in London] and in New Zealand is very similar.”

In perhaps the most measured take, London-based Welsh actor Lloyd Owen, who plays Númenórean seafarer Elendil, stressed that the unique circumstances of the season one shoot helped bring the cast together. “There was something very particular about New Zealand,” said Owen. “Obviously it was during the Covid pandemic, so we bonded hugely. Inevitably, once you get home, everyone just goes home to their own places. New Zealand really set us up well as a cast. That bond that we’ve created is because of that New Zealand experience and that will never go away.”

He’s right, there is something very particular about New Zealand. 

Lloyd Owen plays Númenórean seafarer Elendil

I also spoke to Rings of Power co-showrunners Patrick McKay and JD Payne in San Diego, and posed them the same question about the production leaving New Zealand for the UK. “Living in New Zealand when we did through Covid, making season one of this incredibly ambitious show was a crazy and amazing and challenging life experience in so many ways,” said McKay. “Speaking for myself, I made friends for life in New Zealand. My wife gave birth in New Zealand. We loved it there, but ultimately, [moving to England] was a decision above our pay grade.”

While McKay said the show has creatively benefitted from having different environments to explore, Payne quickly added that New Zealand’s time in this particular spotlight isn’t over yet. “We also shot dozens of hours of aerial photography in New Zealand,” he said. “So it’ll be a part of Middle Earth for many years to come.”

Damn right.

Watch The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Prime Video.

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