As most of my nearest and dearest could tell you, I'm just a tad obsessed with the new and improved, french braiding, Guardians of the Galaxy-starring Chris Pratt. Or, as I am constantly referring to him, "Handsome Chris Pratt". Fans of Parks and Recreation however will know that Pratt has not always been this way - his character on the show, Andy Dwyer, is a loveable chubby idiot - a sort of cross between Zach Galifinakis and Seth Rogen. Both versions of Chris Pratt are wonderful, and the more parts that he gets, the better. (At the moment, my dream film in a rom-com starring him, Adam Driver and Sam Rockwell as brothers whose father, Christopher Walken, worries over them as they attempt to pursue girlfriends that are well-rounded and talk about stuff other than their boyfriends, played by Lupita Nyong'o, Rosario Dawson and Christina Hendricks. I just came up with this in like 3 minutes but I can already see money flooding in…) Currently, Pratt's embarking on a seemingly meteoric rise to fame as he follows up Guardians of the Galaxy with Jurassic World. But, can you guess which version of Chris Pratt it is that's getting famous? Yeeeep, you guessed it.
Pratt's character in Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter Quill, was abducted from the Earth when he was a child, and spent his youth roaming the galaxy. He considers himself to be an infamous outlaw, (whereas of course his reality looks vastly different to his dreams) all of the while listening to a cassette recording of "Hooked on a Feeling". He's an everyman, albeit one with a six pack and rugged good looks. So why exactly did Pratt have to turn into such a hulking he-man to play such a role? Yes, he looks great with the muscles. And it must certainly be easier to market him as a "proper" blockbuster star now that he's slimmed down. (As we are all aware, there are only two types of "fat" actors - comedic ones like Melissa McCarthy, and serious ones like Phillip Seymour Hoffman.) But why, rather than bulking up, couldn't he have played the character as he was? It's not exactly like his performance is one of method acting to back up his physicality - he's essentially playing a douchier version of the character that he plays in Parks and Rec and various comedy films that he's starred in… except in Outer Space.
And, come to think of it, why aren't there any chubby superheroes anyway? I get that the whole point of being a superhero is being super fit and being good at fighting and annihilating bad guys, but are people aware that it's possible to be a bit chubby and still healthy? Most superheroes were born with powers or in distant realms which pushes them into this weird other-worldy category which seems to explain their disturbingly healthy and toned bodies, but what about man-made heroes like Iron Man and Batman? (Although I suppose being a darkly tormented orphan would be enough to put you off your food) All Batman does is sit in a dumb shaped car talking in silly voices and I'm pretty sure that Iron Man just flies everywhere, so why couldn't they be a few pounds heavier? The news that Thor is to be turned into a woman and that Captain America is going to become black is amazing - even for non-comic book fans such as myself - and these are considered to be "drastic" decisions. Piling a few pounds onto a character - or inventing on that already looks that way - is nothing.
So while I will of course see Guardians of the Galaxy, and I will cheer every new development what will hopefully be a very lucrative career, I will still curse the fact that Chris Pratt's new career comes at the price of him changing his image. And I'll continue to anticipate the day that guys that look like the old Chris Pratt can be cast as superheroes, and that artists will write them to be chubby in the first place.
Grace Barber-Plentie
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