That one time that I played a
badass fat chick
Jasmine Rajah
Yes, I come from Sabah! ▶
It was so good that we had two nights of sold out
shows! In fact, the hall was so packed that people
didn’t mind sitting on the staircase as long as they
could watch the show. It was incredible!
The story goes that Genie lost his lamp and because
of that, the whole Disney universe fell apart. The
personalities and characters from all the worlds were
complete opposites, and Genie had to travel through
the different worlds to retrieve his lamp and make
the world better and normal again. As a result, we
were introduced to an extremely sensual and curious
Jasmine, a seemingly flamboyant Prince Eric and a
dumb and airheaded Ursula – or at least, that was
what my character was initially written to be.
When I first found out about the audition and saw that
Ursula was on the list, I was determined to audition
for the role. I didn’t even think twice about it. Playing
Ursula was meaningful for me because of what she
represents: she’s strong, complex and vivacious, but
most importantly, she represents the strength and
determination of a fat chick. Evil or not, you can’t deny
that she’s pretty badass.
Badass Ursula!
◀ Me in my Ursula costume and my two trusty
sidekicks played by Crystal and Chloe.
Some call it ‘fat’, some prefer ‘plus size’ and others
would use the word ‘curvy’. Call it whatever you want,
that is me. I am that fat chick. In fact, I’ve been that
fat chick all my life and more often than not, fat chicks
are represented poorly in mainstream media and,
naturally, in society. We are painted as dumb, ugly,
funny, lazy, have low self-esteem, always the butt of
the joke and underserving of love and I am anything
but the above, so I made it my mission to change that
misconception. I wanted to deconstruct what it means
to be a fat chick and own it.
So, imagine my utter delight when a strong fat chick
character like Ursula was presented as a character in
a Monash musical! Not only is she complex, powerful
and interesting, but she’s also a badass! All of which
should represent fat chicks everywhere, in fact, make
that all women everywhere!
After the auditions, I got a call back and they told me
the good news. I got the role!
When we had our first meeting and was told of the
story and personality change of the characters, we
were excited. This was something different. When I
was handed the script, however, I was honestly rather
disappointed. Ursula’s personality was stripped down
(expectedly), but instead of interesting, complex and
powerful, she was reduced to a stereotypical fat chick
role – dumb, fat, ugly and funny. So, I knew I had a lot
of work to do for my role.
As the character meant so much to me, I made it my
own personal goal to reclaim this role and make her
my own Ursula while still honouring the script. It was a
challenge that I was ready to take. I thought to myself,
“Ursula’s character is funny and silly which was great,
but who said she has to be dumb and ugly too?”
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I wanted
to deconstruct
what it means
to be a fat
chick and
own it.
I once played Ursula in the 2012 Monash Performing
Arts Club (MPAC) musical called, ‘Dude, Where’s My
Lamp?!’. It was an exciting and animated musical
merging Disney worlds together where the characters
of each world – from Aladdin to Frozen to Mulan –
would be able to visit each other’s worlds freely.