EDITORIAL: "The Debate Over Simon Sharp: Obesity and the Use of Fan Works in Animation"
[Fanart on left by JeremyLoud123.]
[Fanart on left by JeremyLoud123.]
I am three months late on this, but the #LoudHouse episode "Purrfect Gig", the Sam-Luna-cat romp that aired on April the 29th in this country. That episode, which was a very good one from that colorful trio, has sparked controversy in those two months.
Almost all of it was centered on a little boy named Simon Sharp. Fans were mad over his appearance because he looked nothing like his fanon interpretation, which @SuzumiyaJavi popularized in his well-known, and long-running, Samcoln comic "It's Not Your Fault".
Simon, as Javi represented him (below, with his representation of Sam) appeared rather lean, tall and thin, had a bandage next to his left cheek, and was dressed similarly to lead character Lincoln Loud (both boys canonically share a voice actor currently).
The Simon of the episode in question looked noticeably shorter and more rotund. I never got around to finishing or publishing my review of the episode, but in it, I described Canon!Simon as "a miniature Pavarotti, but with blonde hair and into video games rather than opera."
Noticeably, some fans of Fanon!Simon were very upset that the Simon in the episode was not nearly the same person he was in the comic, and their anger has wormed its way into that #DoNotAgeUptheLouds petition drafted up by Jake Stone:
However, there were many members of the fandom who got along with Canon!Simon just fine, and I happen to be among those who took no issue with the difference. Let's look at it from the perspective of the kind of person Canon!Simon is, shall we?
The canonical design of Simon, who is Sam's younger brother, is another progressive move in the whole lot of them that were made by #TheLoudHouse's dedicated team, as it allows for the more obese members of our society to see a bit of themselves reflected on American television.
This is a particularly noteworthy accomplishment, as about roughly 13.7 million children and adolescents, roughly 18.5% of American youth, were determined to be obese by the CDC. cdc.gov/obesity/data/c…
Among the few times I can think of before #TheLoudHouse in which such a reflection could be seen on television by those who have obesity have been in the form of Roger Ebert, a now-deceased film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, and Melissa McCarthy, a top Hollywood comedienne.
But more often than not, the obese are a stereotyped bunch. They are typically shown as non-stop eaters and drinkers in every field, from the police department (fat police officers are typically shown putting more dedication into Dunkin' Donuts than into their police work) . . .
. . . to the playing field of a major sports game (when fat people are seen on the playing field at all, they don't typically play any games on the field, preferring to eat junk food on the sidelines or blow the whistle at any opportunity they get).
Simon is not stereotyped at all. In his introduction, he is shown as a completely normal human being, and that makes all the difference, especially for those who have been accustomed to fat shaming over the years.
One other point about this, brought up by some members of the fandom, is that technically, legally, those who are employees of #TheLoudHouse's brass cannot even THINK about using Javi's design for Simon Sharp. If these employees did, they MIGHT be sued by Javi . . .
. . . or by anyone else whose fan projects were used, in order to gain a share of the profits that might be made off of their work being used by the film or animation company. This might account for why the #DextersLaboratory episode "Dexter and Computress Get Mandark!" . . .
. . . was actually the only time in animation (so far) where a fan and a studio managed to congregate. You all know the studio behind the episode (its initials are CN), but the fan was none other than Tyler Samuel Lee, who now works as a freelance opera singer (he is a tenor).
Also, there are some studios that do acquisitions of films made independently of their organization; however, the studios who do so usually purchase and/or decide to distribute the films after they've been completed and are never directly involved in their production.
I, in short, view the canon version of Simon Sharp as a delightfully welcome bit of representation for people who are obese, and we ought to be grateful for that instead of complaining about whether or not he resembles an iteration of the same character from some fan comic.
