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"Fat Slags" redirects here. For the film, seeFat Slags (film).

The Fat Slags
Publication information
PublisherViz
First appearance1989
Created byGraham Dury

The Fat Slagsis a Britishcomic stripappearing in thealternativeBritishcomicViz.The characters made their debut in 1989, their first appearance being in issue 36. The eponymousslagsare Sandra Burke and Tracey Tunstall, known to other characters as San and Tray. They are depicted as overweight, eating large amounts of food, mainly chips, while also having a lot ofcasual sex.[1]As with otherVizstrips, the strip's authors use a brash writing style. "Slag" is a British English word for "slut",or loose woman.

Activities

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The Slags' eating frequently follows a night ofbinge drinking,and the circumstances of the sex or the partner in question are rarely an issue - they have been known to leap on delivery men or workmen for gratification, with the targeted man rarely given an opportunity to resist or escape. Both slags regularly enjoy carnal relations with Baz (full name Barry Askwith, seemingly as a nod to the actorRobin Askwith), a local jobless dropout who divides his time between drinking, committing crime, and having sex with San and Tray. Baz's good-natured wife, Thelma Haystacks-Askwith (daughter of Horace Haystacks), often finds out that Baz is cheating on her, but invariably forgives him. The other major character in the strip is Baz's slightly more successful friend, Dave, who works as arefuse collectorbut obtains most of his income throughbenefit fraud.

Whilst mostVizcharacters are recognisably fromNorth East England,with the comic largely written inGeordie dialect,the Fat Slags and their friends converse with aNottinghamaccent. This originates with the characters' creator Graham Dury who, unlike the Geordie founder ofViz,is originally from that area.[2]

Both characters are noticeably warm-hearted and easy-going, and their friendship is never undermined by their conquests. Although both of the Slags are somewhat stupid - albeit good-natured -nymphomaniacs,Tray is marginally more intelligent and literate than San, who is marginally more nymphomaniacal than Tray. These factors, combined with Tray's more dominant personality, make Tray the leader and San the follower in their adventures. One strip parodying theBatmanfilms featured Tray as Batslag and San as Nobbin. In another strip, San got pregnant and brought the baby to term, tearfully vowing that she was prepared to make any sacrifice for her daughter's happiness. In the very next panel, realising that motherhood would conflict with her pub-crawling, she gave up the baby for adoption.

Tray normally wears tight-fitting Capri pants whilst San normally wears a too-small skirt; since the latter garment has more potential for jokes, San tends to get involved in more slapstick than Tray does. Although neither Slag has ever refused alcoholic refreshment in any setting, their favourite place to tipple is the "Dog and Hammer" pub, somewhere in Fulchester. Their run-down home - with its floor-level collection of alcohol cans, takeaway containers and cigarette butts - is at 22, Shit Street, Fulchester, which once featured as a porcelain model marketed by Viz in parody of products such as those ofFranklin Mint.

Arunning gagis that the Slags will accuse any men unwilling to sleep with them of being homosexuals and/or having small penises, and many other women of being unattractive and overweight.

Social context

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Their excessive lifestyle is a parody of Britishladetteculture.[3]VizcreatorChris Donaldrefers to this in his book, where he also mentions that the portrayal of the Slags was criticised by feminists writing in theGuardiannewspaper. At the time of these criticisms the Fat Slags had not appeared in the comic for more than a year, but as a direct response to the criticism they were immediately resurrected for the next issue, in which they had a humorous run-in with the feministMillie Tant.[4]Donald later questioned why theGuardianhad slated the portrayals of the Slags, but had not mentioned that the two male characters were portrayed as a cheating layabout and a fraudster, and that the strip's only "well-behaved" character, Thelma, was a woman.

Tunnel Boring Machines to construct the Jubilee underground line in London ( "fat slugs" ) were named after the Fat Slags.[5]

Merchandise

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In 1992, a Fat Slagssinglewas released, acoverof the 1963Cliff Richardhit "Summer Holiday".Theb-sidewas a track called "Dance of the Handbags (Oh Lordy! It's The Fat Slags)". Both tracks were produced byMike StockandPete Waterman,two of the producers ofStock Aitken Waterman.[6]The single failed to enter theUK Singles Chart.

The characters once appeared in a UK television advert for energy drinkLucozade,saying "Get it out of our fridge!" in unison.[7][8]

Animated version

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In 1992,stop motionanimated shorts were produced for PolyGram Video, with Jo Unwin voicing Tracey,Kathy Burkeas Sandra, andSimon Dayas Baz. The episodes, "Slags at Large", "Working Girls", and "Dirty Weekend", were first released on VHS in November 1992 and were later compiled on DVD in 2004 asOh Lordy! It's The Fat Slags.1994 saw the release ofReturn of the Fat Slags in Blue Honeymoon,this time withJenny Eclairvoicing Tracey.[9]

Fat Slags: The Film

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Main article:Fat Slags (film)

In 2004,Entertainment Film Distributorsreleased a film adaptation of the comic strip. It included cameo appearances from numerous well-known personalities, includingGeri Halliwell(as Paige),Naomi Campbell(sales assistant),Angus Deayton(Maurice the hotel receptionist) andDolph Lundgren(Randy).[10]

It was reported that the strip's artist,Graham Dury,was so demoralised by the treatment of his creations that he announced that he was dropping them from the comic altogether.[11]This was actually a misquote by an over-enthusiastic press officer and there was no intention of dropping the characters. Dury did not watch the film.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^"BBC - Nottingham - Fat Slags celebrate Viz birthday".BBC News.12 November 2009.Retrieved14 November2012.
  2. ^"Nottingham Culture - The man behind the 'Fat Slags'".BBC.Retrieved16 November2012.
  3. ^Wagg, Stephen (14 January 2004).Because I Tell a Joke or Two: Comedy, Politics and Social Difference.Routledge.ISBN9781134794324.Retrieved10 August2017– via Google Books.
  4. ^Sabin, Roger (11 October 2013).Adult Comics.Routledge.ISBN9781134557998.Retrieved10 August2017– via Google Books.
  5. ^"Learning Zone Class Clips - Construction of the Jubilee Line extension tunnel (pt 1/2) - Construction and The Built Environment Video".BBC. 1 January 1970.Retrieved14 November2012.
  6. ^"A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman: Ep 75: Summer Holiday, What Kind Of Fool (Heard All That Before), Higher And Higher and Movin' On on Apple Podcasts".Apple Podcasts.Retrieved19 August2024.
  7. ^Paul McCann Media Correspondent (27 August 1997)."Two ads, one featuring an erection the other showing 'Fat Slags'. Which one got a rap over the knuckles?".The Independent.Archivedfrom the original on 18 June 2022.Retrieved14 November2012.{{cite news}}:|author=has generic name (help)
  8. ^Danny Rogers (19 June 1997)."Fat Slags get low-calorie deal".Marketing magazine.Retrieved14 November2012.
  9. ^"Viz heads back to licensing".Licensing.biz.Retrieved14 November2012.
  10. ^"Goodbye, Fat Slags The Expendables' Dolph Lundgren on his big-screen comeback".Metro.Archived fromthe originalon 29 November 2012.Retrieved15 November2012.
  11. ^Judd, Terri (20 October 2004)."Lordy! 'Crass' movie means it's the end of the Fat Slags".The Independent.Archivedfrom the original on 14 December 2013.Retrieved1 April2022.
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