#SOLOSTORIES: “SURVIVAL OF THE THICKEST”
#SoloStories is our feature in which we explore books, films and TV shows that show single women navigating their lives – but romance is not the main component.
“Oh my god, I’m single. I’m single! Whoo!” Mavis Beaumont cheers before dancing and drinking after she has broken up with her boyfriend.
Moments later, she says, “This is me single, OK? And It’s messy, and it’s gross and I’m really sorry, um, and I’m just so tired and my tits are so heavy.”
This perfectly sums up “Survival of the Thickest,” the Netflix series starring comedian Michelle Buteau.
Mavis possesses a big heart and big personality, which carries her through many up and downs as she navigates life as a single woman in her late 30s in New York City. Mavis is so effervescent, and so vulnerable – all while she’s wearing some fabulous outfits – that you can’t help but root for her.
“I have everything I need to make my own way,” she tells her ex-boyfriend. “My identity got mixed up with yours, and I let you take the lead. And I got lost. But you know what? Here the fuck I am.”
There’s some other great quotes, including, “I’m an independent woman that could definitely make her way, but sometimes I just want someone to ask how my day was.” And, thinking about how her mother treated her, she says, “Sometimes I just wanna feel comforted and supported.”
The show, which also features single friends Khalil and Marley, tackles tough issues, such as racism and mental health.
What makes Mavis so great is that she cares for others, especially the underdogs. Mavis makes a living as a stylist and, as the seasons progress, she opens her own business, including an “Oddie Bodies” pop-up shop for “baddie fatties” and trans women. These are for women who are forgotten and have cried in the dressing room, she says.
“I wanna be the person that I never had when I was younger. I wanna take fashion and show these people that feel like they’re on the outside that they’re beautiful just as they are. And that it’s the world that needs to catch up to them.”
Mavis navigates several relationships through the seasons, including an on-again-off-again romance with an Italian named Luca (who we think is awfully cute). We suspect the third and final season, which starts July 2, will focus more on their partnership, as well as Mavis’s desire to be a mother.
Whatever direction the show goes, we love seeing Mavis grow as a friend, an entrepreneur and a human. She shows us a world in which single women are fabulous.