Why We’re Loving ‘How To Die Alone’

We’re lovingHow To Die Alone“, a new comedy series on Hulu created by and starring Natasha Rothwell, who you’ll probably recognize from Insecure. The show is both laugh-out-loud funny and emotionally intelligent. Mel (Rothwell) is a fat, Black airport employee who’s never taken a flight or been in love. She’s going with the flow of life, not particularly concerned about work, goals, or societal norms.

A near-death experience makes her realize that she hasn’t really lived and we’re taken on the journey of her trying to figure out life. Mel shows us through a mix of vulnerability, resilience, and humor why life is worth living, even if you’re living alone. Here are a few more reasons why you should binge-watch “How To Die Alone” immediately.

Representation

As fat babes working in the travel industry, it feels fantastic to be seen! We love that her body image is neutral and isn’t a main character. Mel is a fully realized human with flaws, friends, family, relationship woes, and workplace drama. Some of the people in her life are fat, some are queer, and some are POC. “How To Die Alone” gets many things well and representation is at the top of our list.

Relatable Dark Humor

The show delivers a candid and less sanitized perspective of life’s struggles. Often using humor to navigate the emotional complexities of around life, love, isolation, and relationships.  Mel’s broke, she hates her job, and she feels like she has no direction until a brush with death helps her realize that she is in control of her destiny. My brush with death really helped put into perspective what matters most in life.

Honesty + Vulnerability

“How To Die Alone” explores topics like loneliness, mortality, societal pressures around work, success, relationships, living a meaningful life, and self-discovery. From friendship breakups and situationships to complicated family dynamics and workplace boundaries the series challenges the usual narrative structures of comedy and drama shows.

Annette Richmond

Annette Richmond is an award-winning content creator, travel writer, public speaker and advocate. Richmond is an immigrant that splits her time between Mexico and the United States. The creator of the fat positive travel community Fat Girls Traveling is a native Californian. Annette got her start in the fashion industry working in trend forecasting and public relations. Her love for travel inspired her to start Fat Girls Traveling in 2017 which is where she and Amanda met. When she's not creating diverse travel, fashion, and beauty content for The Fat Girls Guide she is hosting Fat Camp retreats and fat positive tours. In her spare time you can find her speaking publicly and writing articles promoting diversity and inclusivity, recording her new podcast, or sipping a margarita on the beach. Richmond hopes to continue to inspire other marginalized people to see the world and be seen.

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