See Jane Die: Postfeminist lessons in Drop Dead Diva

Under the radar Lifetime dramedy Drop Dead Diva (2009–2014) demonstrates a conflicting message that both feminism (understood as careerism) and femininity (beauty-obsessed ‘diva’) hold women back. The ‘living fat suit’/body switch between a model (Deb) and an unfeminine plus-sized lawyer (Jane) attempts to resolve these tensions by teaching the model about fat loathing while feminizing an overly careerist feminist. The show departs from previous body-swapping comedies; the ‘swap’ is permanent, the new Deb/Jane retains legal knowledge and abilities from the body of Jane, and the remaining body (Deb) and soul (Jane) both die for good. The show is interesting not because it has a size 16 lead but because of how a size 16 lead can be incorporated into an already rigid gender and sexual bodily normativity by disciplining an unruly fat woman’s ‘lesser’ desires, and slenderizing her appearance, bringing her into a white heterosexual visual gender economy. Drawing on my failure to be moved in the right way by the ‘humourous’ premise, I outline how on the surface the show rehearses feminist arguments for bodily acceptance but ultimately promotes an aversion to feminism, trivializes femininity and straightens queerness, collapsing any fat politics into an individualized and apolitical ‘anti-looksist’ message.