--- --- # Scooby Doo and the Unfortunate Case of Fat Shaming by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Aug 21, 2014 8:55 PM UTC by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Aug 21, 2014 8:55 PM UTC Tuesday marked the release of _Frankencreepy,_ Warner Bros.’s latest straight-to-video Scooby Doo feature. But it turns out the real villain in the kid’s flick isn’t the monster. It’s Warner Bros. Here’s why. The movie begins innocently enough. Velma inherits her uncle’s haunted castle, unleashing a curse on the Mystery Gang that makes them lose what they “hold most dear.” Scooby, for example, loses his snacks. And what fate, pray tell, befalls stylish and slender Daphne? She transforms from a size 2 to… a size 8. That’s right, it is a “curse” to be a size that’s considerably smaller than the national average, which the [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr%5F11/sr11%5F252.pdf) (CDC) calculates at 5’4″ and 166 pounds. Cue the tears, screams and shattered cartoon mirrors! Because according to this supposedly feel-good-flick, weight gain is the ultimate horror. This screengrab from the film shows how “cursed” Daphne is portrayed in the film. Which is still _below_ the average size of an American woman:  Scooby Doo: Frankencreepy Here’s a self-reported actual size 8, exhibited by the beautiful [Mariska Hargitay](http://www.more.com/news/womens-issues/mariska-hargitay-sexiest-cop-alive?page=4):  Mariska Hargitay attends Haley & Jason Binn's Memorial Day party Johnny Nunez—Getty Images And here’s Christina Hendricks, another redheaded icon who displays her [reported](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/christina-hendricks-measurements-too-big-for-hollywood/) size-14 curves with pride:  Cast member Christina Hendricks poses at the premiere for the seventh season of the television series "Mad Men" in Los Angeles, California April 2, 2014. Mario Anzuoni—Reuters But back to Daphne:  Scooby Doo: Frankencreepy We don’t need to call the Mystery Gang to figure out where kids pick up unrealistic body expectations and weight stigma. “It’s sad to think that my daughter can’t even watch a cartoon about a dog solving mysteries without negative body stereotypes being thrown in her face,” blogger [Tom Burns wrote](http://goodmenproject.com/families/tmb-new-scooby-doo-movie-trying-fat-shame-daphne/). And for a mere $3.99 on Amazon Prime, you too can subject your elementary-school-age daughter to an early dose of fat shaming In a statement to the [_Huffington Post_](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/20/scooby-doo-frankencreepy-fat-shaming-movie%5Fn%5F5694539.html?u), however, Warner Bros. said that while Daphne does lose “her good looks (mainly her figure and her hair)”— implying that an _actual_ realistic figure isn’t, in fact, an attractive one — the message is one of empowerment since Daphne realizes she was being superficial and Fred still thinks she’s hot. --- > “” --- There’s a good message for your 10-year-old. Not having an almost unattainably perfect figure doesn’t matter “the most.” It just matters a lot. Jeepers. (Warner Bros is owned by Time Warner, which spun off TIME parent company Time Inc earlier this year.) Scooby Doo and the Unfortunate Case of Fat Shaming ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3154200/frankencreepy-scooby-doo-fat-shaming/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3154200/frankencreepy-scooby-doo-fat-shaming/"},"headline":"Scooby Doo and the Unfortunate Case of Fat Shaming","datePublished":"2014-08-21T20:55:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:43:05.295Z","description":"The latest Scooby Doo film \"curses\" Daphne by turning her from a size 2 to an 8","url":"https://time.com/3154200/frankencreepy-scooby-doo-fat-shaming/","keywords":["Living","women","Body Image","Opinion topic","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3154200/frankencreepy-scooby-doo-fat-shaming/","name":"Scooby Doo and the Unfortunate Case of Fat Shaming"}}]}] ```