The seminal acts that led to the rise in fatness and the concomitant manufactured outrage against this epidemic that is not an epidemic did not occur last week or last year or even 10 years ago . Rather , the rise in obesity rates can be linked to the 1971 appointment of Earl Butz to the position of Secretary of Agriculture , whose policies resulted in Americans acquiring a taste for salt , sugar , and fat , which put the United States on the road toward corn dependence , thereby leading to today ’ s saturation of the populace and the beginnings of their slow death at the hands of high fructose corn syrup . This institutionalized dependence is much the same that occurs in Supernatural with the Leviathan playing the role of today ’ s policy makers and food manufacturers , who are removing the agency of a population in need of “ help ” to achieve their own ethically dubious goals . The mundanity of accepted policy and the manufacture of predictable situations create an environment that can absorb the ordinary nature of the passage of time . This absorptive environment makes events forgettable and allows people to exhibit an associated alienation , coolness , and detachment that allow one ’ s agency to be easily removed .
What Is and What Should Never Be . . . Othering the Fat Body
How does the loss of personal agency lead to othering ? How does the placement of a body in the social hierarchy and its constant comparison to all other bodies influence that othering ? The answer is found in work focusing on the idea that when a group is othered , their opposite group is marked as superior , which then deems those that have been othered an unequal and subordinate . Furthermore , it allows for a differentiation and demarcation by which a line is drawn between “ them and us ” and through which social distance is established and maintained ( Schwalbe 777 ). With that understanding , the important aspect of othering to consider in the context of this paper is its ability to create a power dynamic in which the superior group is in control of the identity of the subordinate group . This results in the “ others ” being reduced to basic stereotypes , making dehumanization easier and identity development difficult , if not impossible . This results in the subordinated group being given a specific identity based on the discourse surrounding their body , rather than allowing them to develop an identity of their own ( Jensen 75 ). This phenomenon is evident in the episode “ There Will Be Blood ,” when Sam and Dean enter a convenience store in search of food that is not tainted by the food additive of the Leviathan . At this point , the forced identity of the fat body becomes apparent as all of the individuals infected by the Leviathan ’ s additive are depicted as slow , stupid , mindless automatons desperately looking for their next meal ,
55