I started writing "Fat Boy Thin Man" more than six years ago, and though the timing was mine, not measured to the zeitgeist, even then I thought that it was coming at a good juncture in history. 

I was right then, but boy, the pace is picking up. "Mike and Molly," the sitcom in which the main characters meet at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting, could hardly be a more mainstream example.

And today I learned about "Fat Boy Chronicles." It's not out yet, but I just watched the trailer and I'm intrigued. Unlike, say, M&M, or "The Biggest Loser," I will definitely see it. It is, indeed, about about a fat kid, who, in the trailer, is bullied and ridiculed, which I have some experience with. But I'll tell you; during those years, I  n-e-v-e-r  expected to see those things portrayed on the big screen.

From what I can tell, the abuse motivates the title character to change, which isn't how it was with me. He's also urged to change by his doctor, which also had no effect on me. In both cases, I went the other way, the "hold-my-breath-until-I-turn-blue" method.

I don't have high hopes for the lessons from any Hollywood film — their goal is to succeed in filmmaking, not to effect social change — but I continue to notice, and welcome, the fleshing out of the fat experience.