Michelle Buteau and Peppermint are loving how this season of Survival of the Thickest is uplifting inclusivity in life and love.
Blavity/Shadow and Act columnist Sharronda Williams spoke with Buteau and Peppermint about the second season, and both stars talked about how the season is showing up for audience members who have felt left out of happy endings in the past.
“I gotta tell you, it all starts like with being able to tell a story authentically. It is important to have authentic casting, somebody who can recognize and sort of make those things come to life on camera,” said Peppermint. “But I think equally as important as being able to have writers and directors and creatives that… really understand the importance of that and the need [to] do this right. Being able to [have] someone else [advocate for you] instead of having to advocate for yourself in that situation, it just feels so good because they want to get it right, because they know how important it is.”
Peppermint on queer love and identity onscreen
One of those happy endings includes Peppermint’s character, also named Peppermint, getting a new relationship. Dan Amboyer plays Harrison, Peppermint’s boyfriend—something the real Peppermint was pleasantly surprised to have happen to her character this season.
“Dan is an out queer man, so he’s in the community, which is great. But he also understood [that] I identify personally and [am] taking ownership over Peppermint the character since I’m also the only Peppermint I know,” she said. “[And] I’m a straight woman. I know that’s like so weird. Yes, I’m queer. Yes, I’m a part of the LGBTQ community, but since I have the misfortune of being attracted to men, I’m a straight woman [laughs]. And so that’s my experience, and it was important that like we were able to communicate that and that Dan understood that and he totally did.”
“Navigating being a straight woman who’s trans, who’s a part of the queer community, who’s Black, who’s this, all these different things—it’s really important to me that we get it right. And Dan was a hundred percent on board with all of that,” she continued. “He was so loving and still is. We’ve gotten really close to this day, because it was really important for him to be able to tell the story accurately and with—with reverence and with care. I get choked up now thinking about it. It was beautiful.”
Michelle Buteau talks the pain of invisibility and the power of representation
Buteau said how important it was to her that inclusivity of all kinds is included in her show because, as she has personally experienced, the pain of not seeing yourself in entertainment can be excruciating.
“I’m only able to talk about that and say, ‘Let’s do it like this’ because I’ve been through it, because I know how painful and dark it could be not to see yourself, to be rejected, not know why, not even know your worth of what you bring to the table, but know that there’s a light inside of you,” she said. “How do you reach deep down inside to find it when there are no examples or tools laid out for you?”
“Now… it is TV, so we only have 25 minutes. But the thing is there is no proper bow. We do the work every time, and that’s why inclusivity is everything—because people should know that they matter and they should also look good,” she continued, adding how representation for plus-sized people speaks to a larger societal issue regarding how larger people are treated in daily life.
“The same reason we don’t have healthcare is the same reason why we can’t find a dress in that color, in our size, because people are saying we don’t matter,” she said. “I’m here to say we do, and I’m gonna make it hilarious. And your kid might be watching and say, ‘You should watch this show too, Mom.’ That’s the beauty of television [and film], right? Any weird conversation I’ve ever had with my mom was based off of a scene from something I have watched before… It’s sort of like a jump off for conversations.”
Survival of the Thickest Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
