We're meant to find Brendan Fraser in a fat suit tragic, not funny. Is that really progress? | Phoebe-Jane Boyd

I’m desperate to see fat characters who aren’t ‘comic’ – but The Whale’s appeal for pity is still far from the dignity they deserveI can only assume that acting – pretending, convincingly, to be someone you aren’t – is an incredibly boring, unrewarding profession if you are an able-bodied person playing other able-bodied people. That must be the case, considering how many professional actors who happen to fall into that group take on roles they perhaps shouldn’t, and are then celebrated for it by their peers – now including, of course, Brendan Fraser in The Whale.Fraser’s casting in the film – or whether the film should even exist in 2023 – may be under even more scrutiny now it has Academy Award nominations, including one for best actor, to add to its treasure trove of accolades.Phoebe-Jane Boyd is a content editor