My mug will go on...
He's fat and he's hilarious, and he's "the face that launched a 1,000 clicks". You can see him resplendent in a Stetson on the poster for Brokeback Mountain and being embraced by Leonardo DiCaprio aboard the Titanic. He has fought in Iraq, and been painted by Leonardo - and all this while holding down a regular job at a filling station outside Shanghai. "Watch out Harry Potter," chirruped China daily yesterday. "Here comes Harry Fatter."
Actually the kid's name is Qian Zhijun (although he is also known as "Fatty"). A few years ago he was snapped unawares while crossing the street. The image later found its way online, where it became customised by anyone with access to Photoshop and too much time on their hands. To date, he has yet to make a yuan from his celebrity.
Qian confesses that he was upset when he first stumbled upon the doctored images. Now he has apparently learned to grin and bear it. "I like it when they put me on the bodies of heroes, such as Russell Crowe in Gladiator," he poignantly explains. "But I hate it when they place me on the shoulders of naked women."
I guess it could be argued that these Photoshop dainties represent a kind of 21st-century folk art. Similarly, one might make a case that they are not poking fun at "Fatty" so much as they are puncturing the pomposity of the average movie poster. Yet somehow I'm not convinced. The whole thing smacks of legitimised school bullying on a global scale.
Obviously I'd like to think that this attitude proves my worth as a sensitive and civilised member of the human race, always on hand to wade into the fray and rescue the weak. It's just that a few weeks ago I almost had a hernia laughing at a film that showed a similarly rounded kid freaking out on a fairground ride. I'm not sure what this says about me, but I know it's not good. Without the safeguard of social convention - and the related fear of reprisal - I'd probably be off merrily flushing my colleagues' heads down the toilet.
