
The Whale
Sympathy for the Fat Man
Charlie (Brendan Fraser) is a pathetic figure. How pathetic is he? Initially, only his voice is heard on a web conference with his students, who see him as a black square. (He claims that his webcam is broken.) Immediately afterwards, Charlie is revealed to be a morbidly obese man, sitting alone in a drab apartment, masturbating to a pornographic video on his laptop. The activity is too strenuous for him, and he starts coughing violently. He grabs a printed essay from an end table and tries to read it, but cannot because he is having trouble breathing. (As you may have guessed, The Whale is a love it or hate it experience.)
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