Revolution is afoot in a trailer for “Dietland,” Marti Noxon’s new AMC series. “I never wanted to stand out. I was just trying to fit in,” says Plum (Joy Nash, “Twin Peaks”). She’s a fat woman working at the country’s biggest beauty magazine, and it pains her to stand out among her thin colleagues. Consumed by insecurities and obsessed with whittling down her body so she can live the life she dreams of, Plum spends her days doling out diet and makeup advice to women as a ghostwriter for her boss Kitty (Julianna Margulies).
But a “crazy thing” happens to Plum “on the way to becoming [her] best self” — she comes to realize that conforming and losing weight isn’t the solution to her problem. Society is the problem, and more specifically, the patriarchy. As her therapist points out, “Maybe its the people who judge you who need to change.”
In the midst of Plum’s journey to self-acceptance, men accused of sexual abuse and assault begin disappearing, and the trailer suggests that Plum may be a suspect in the crimes. Her radicalization hasn’t gone unnoticed by her employers.
“Dietland” is based on Sarai Walker’s 2015 best-selling novel of the same name. Walker was inspired to tell the story after watching “Fight Club.” “I responded to its anger, its defiance, its punk spirit,”she recalled. “And I love the way it dealt with political issues, particularly gender. I mean of course it’s about men, but it’s still about gender. And after I saw that film I said to myself: I have to write something like that for women.”
Rather than using words like curvy or plus-size, Walker embraces fat as an adjective. “In the fat activist community we’re trying to reclaim the word ‘fat,’” she’s explained. “So I know to most people it’s an insult and it is often used that way, but in these communities it’s really reclaimed as either a neutral or a positive descriptor — so just like saying someone’s tall or short. … I know it’s hard, but I think that the only way it gets easier is if people like me and other fat activists use it proudly.”
Noxon co-created Lifetime’s “UnREAL,” which just concluded its third season. She has a new HBO show on the way, “Sharp Objects.” Based on Gillian Flynn’s novel, the drama follows a crime reporter (Amy Adams) who returns to her hometown to cover the murder of two pre-teen girls. The miniseries debuts in July. Noxon’s other credits include “Mad Men” and “Buffy.” She made her feature directorial debut with 2017’s “To the Bone,” a semi-autobiographical drama about a young woman with anorexia.
“Dietland” premieres on AMC June 4.
