Gay Superman Gets Universal Horror Nights Bill and Ted Canned

[UberPubert]

I went to Halloween Horror Nights this year as well, shamefully I didn't get a chance to stop by the bill and ted show (I blame the lines for the haunted houses being too long). I'm not certain what the performance entailed, but after reading Taete's description... I'm still not sure what the problem is. It's made pretty clear that everyone gets made the butt of a joke at some point during the show that's comprised almost entirely of Scary Movie-like antics (read: extremely crass and offensive shock humor coupled with one might say excessive pop culture references), unless the writers were being purposefully exclusionary of homosexuals, why should gay men get a pass?

And you know what I did stop by to see? The Rocky Horror Picture Show tribute, not too far away from the bill and ted theater. If you've seen the original film or maybe even are just peripherally aware of it you'll know there's absolutely nothing reserved about how it depicts sexuality for just about every human coupling. It was completely faithful in this regard; bare-chested men performed alongside burlesque styled women and Dr. Franknfurters getup was as bare as ever. I refuse to believe that this show could somehow coexist within the same park as a show that people are insisting treats homosexuals as lesser people, it seems incredibly inconsistent.

 

[McMarbles]

At least it isn't comic canon.

P.S. Thanks

P.P.S. But seriously, who thought this was a good idea? Even ignoring all the different groups, both pro-and anti-gay, that would be offended by this... it simply isn't funny. These jokes are all too obvious and predictable.

No, but Pink Kryptonite was.

You think I'm joking, but I'm not. [http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101221000734/marvel_dc/images/thumb/5/51/Pink_Kryptonite_001.jpg/681px-Pink_Kryptonite_001.jpg]

 

[theApoc]

I was just wondering when satire automatically became bigotry... And seriously, some of the "legitimate" portrayals of LBGT are more offensive than anything I read above. Is this really what we are coming to? Whining about everything any anything? This is almost as stupid as the rodeo clown who got fired for making fun of Obama...

I think you are confusing unfunny, juvenile toilet humour and satire. One is a protected form of free speech in the USA, the other isn't.

I am pretty sure you don't know what satire is, or that both examples are protected as free speech...

 

[Lieju]

The joke is, basically, that gays can't be heroic or useful, and that they like to molest other men.


Looking at the linked article, the 'humor' in the show seems to be on the level of Epic Movie;
"For instance, there's a scene where a Sharknado appears and Kim Jong-un comes on to the stage to explain that the Sharknado came into existence as a result of Kristen Stewart sucking his dick too hard."

?????

This is not parody, this is not commentary, this is just shit.

I guess this is just the people I hang around but there's a profound difference between 'campy' and gay.

So if he was outright declared 'gay' then yeah this is stupid. If not then...well the fairy dust just turned him effeminate.

Well, from the description, he blows kisses at Bill and Ted and slaps Ted on the ass.
(I guess we can add 'sexual harassment is funny if it happens to guys' for why we should find this funny)

 

[Kair]

Why couldn't he just be turned fabulous, without being turned homosexual as well. There is no good reason to pin the fabulous stereotype to homosexuals, it only helps to alienate and polarize homosexuals.

 

[Lieju]

I went to Halloween Horror Nights this year as well, shamefully I didn't get a chance to stop by the bill and ted show (I blame the lines for the haunted houses being too long). I'm not certain what the performance entailed, but after reading Taete's description... I'm still not sure what the problem is. It's made pretty clear that everyone gets made the butt of a joke at some point during the show that's comprised almost entirely of Scary Movie-like antics (read: extremely crass and offensive shock humor coupled with one might say excessive pop culture references), unless the writers were being purposefully exclusionary of homosexuals, why should gay men get a pass?

I'm not saying the show wasn't filled with stupid jokes in general (judging from the description in the article).

But making being gay the punchline of the joke IS exclusionary to homosexuals.
Or did they also make fun of heterosexuality, such as portaying all hetero characters as obsessed with breeding?

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

I truly have no clue what this article is even saying.

Universal Studios has a Bill and Ted night? And the event somehow turned some version Superman gay?

After reading the actual source article it makes a bit more sense. It's a TELEVISION special. The Escapist article said "show" so I assumed it was some kind of stage production at the Universal Studios theme park.

Anyway yeah, that's pretty blatantly idiotic and I'm the kind of **** who's usually saying "If you're offended, get over it"

It's actually kind of perplexing that something like this actually made it to air.

The real shame is that the whole affair is directly tied to the most excellent duo that ever rocked.

 

[Hazy]

After reading the actual source article it makes a bit more sense. It's a TELEVISION special. The Escapist article said "show" so I assumed it was some kind of stage production at the Universal Studios theme park.

You had it right the first time. It's a stage show put on at Halloween Horror Nights.

 

[UberPubert]

I'm not saying the show wasn't filled with stupid jokes in general (judging from the description in the article).

But making being gay the punchline of the joke IS exclusionary to homosexuals.
Or did they also make fun of heterosexuality, such as portaying all hetero characters as obsessed with breeding?

Actually if the description provided in the original linked article is apt...then, yes.

To quote Taete: "I use the term "jokes" loosely here. As they are, generally, terrible, and follow the same formula: Pop cultural reference + pop cultural reference + a reference to sex = LOL!"

If the show didn't make a joke about gay guys being super homosexual alongside jokes about straight people being super heterosexual that would be being exclusionary. By the author's own admission, the treatment is fair and even.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

After reading the actual source article it makes a bit more sense. It's a TELEVISION special. The Escapist article said "show" so I assumed it was some kind of stage production at the Universal Studios theme park.

You had it right the first time. It's a stage show put on at Halloween Horror Nights.

Oh. Well now I'm really confused.

So every Halloween, there's a stage show with Bill and Ted.

This year, they had a man dressed as Superman come out, get sprinkled with dust and act stereotypically gay.

Also apparently there were terrible jokes about Sharknado and Kirsten Stewart told by the North Korean leader.

This sounds like a very surreal show...

 

[Hazy]

After reading the actual source article it makes a bit more sense. It's a TELEVISION special. The Escapist article said "show" so I assumed it was some kind of stage production at the Universal Studios theme park.

You had it right the first time. It's a stage show put on at Halloween Horror Nights.

Oh. Well now I'm really confused.

So every Halloween, there's a stage show with Bill and Ted.

This year, they had a man dressed as Superman come out, get sprinkled with dust and act stereotypically gay.

Also apparently there were terrible jokes about Sharknado and Kirsten Stewart told by the North Korean leader.

This sounds like a very surreal show...

Yeah, that's pretty much it. It's a riff on whatever gained popularity that year.

I posted the one from last year a bit earlier in the thread if you'd like to check it out for yourself.

 

[Lieju]

I'm not saying the show wasn't filled with stupid jokes in general (judging from the description in the article).

But making being gay the punchline of the joke IS exclusionary to homosexuals.
Or did they also make fun of heterosexuality, such as portaying all hetero characters as obsessed with breeding?

Actually if the description provided in the original linked article is apt...then, yes.

To quote Taete: "I use the term "jokes" loosely here. As they are, generally, terrible, and follow the same formula: Pop cultural reference + pop cultural reference + a reference to sex = LOL!"

If the show didn't make a joke about gay guys being super homosexual alongside jokes about straight people being super heterosexual that would be being exclusionary. By the author's own admission, the treatment is fair and even.

So, what jokes did they make about heterosexuals? What are the heterosexual stereotypes in general? That's kinda the thing with being the majority; you don't get stereotyped.

But that show is just so stupid and offensive to logic and humor in general, the gay-thing is just a part of it.

 

[UberPubert]

So, what jokes did they make about heterosexuals? What are the heterosexual stereotypes in general? That's kinda the thing with being the majority; you don't get stereotyped.

But that show is just so stupid and offensive to logic and humor in general, the gay-thing is just a part of it.

What do you mean the majority doesn't get stereotyped? Have you seen Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure?

In the movie Bill and Ted themselves are stereotypes of white, middle class, heterosexual, loser high school students. They're the Beavis and Butthead of the previous generation (another example of stereotypes). They have a terrible garage band that includes only the two of them that they misspell as "Wyld Stallyns" unintentionally because they're failing at school, neither of them can get girlfriends even though they constantly fawn after "babes", they use terms like "gnarly" without irony or comprehension, the entire plot of the movie hinges on the joke that the two of them have somehow transformed future society into a utopia despite the fact that they're idiots.

I may have missed this year's show but I remember enough from previous showings that the characters have been consistent, and there is nothing non-stereotypical about Bill and Ted.

 

[Gorrath]

I understand why people might be offended by this. What I've never understood is why people feel their offense to something means that the something in question should be changed or should not exist. Some might say that offensive things are inherently harmful, but I don't think that this is true and I'd add that even if it were, just about anything is bound to be offensive to someone, somewhere.

On a personal level, I'd never call for something to be censored no matter how offensive I found it. If we allow ourselves a moral or ethical prerogative to try and remove anything and everything we deem offensive from the public square, the public square will end up rather blank. Of course in this case we aren't talking about the public square in the governmental sense, and thus free speech has nothing to do with it, but rather the public arena with regard to entertainment. There are themes and ideas in media that I find offensive and even morally reprehensible, and yet I cannot conceive of allowing my personal offense to drive me to demand that the company producing that material stop. I wonder if there is a level of conceit at work when such demands are made. On the other hand I think the way to handle media that one finds offensive is to simply not consume it. Chances are there is media out there that does appeal to you that others also find offensive, and I would think that you would prefer they simply ignore it rather than trying to have it cancelled.

 

[Lieju]

So, what jokes did they make about heterosexuals? What are the heterosexual stereotypes in general? That's kinda the thing with being the majority; you don't get stereotyped.

But that show is just so stupid and offensive to logic and humor in general, the gay-thing is just a part of it.

What do you mean the majority doesn't get stereotyped? Have you seen Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure?

In the movie Bill and Ted themselves are stereotypes of white, middle class, heterosexual, loser high school students. They're the Beavis and Butthead of the previous generation (another example of stereotypes). They have a terrible garage band that includes only the two of them that they misspell as "Wyld Stallyns" unintentionally because they're failing at school, neither of them can get girlfriends even though they constantly fawn after "babes", they use terms like "gnarly" without irony or comprehension, the entire plot of the movie hinges on the joke that the two of them have somehow transformed future society into a utopia despite the fact that they're idiots.

I may have missed this year's show but I remember enough from previous showings that the characters have been consistent, and there is nothing non-stereotypical about Bill and Ted.

They are the stereotype of, as you put it, white, middle class, heterosexual, loser high school students.

That's like saying nerd-stereotypes are the same as stereotypes about white people. Is heterosexuality specifically singled out as worthy of ridicule? Are you saying that there is a stereotype that all heterosexual people misspell things?

It's not making fun of heterosexual people, it's making fun of people who happen to be heterosexual.
And that's the difference.
If you had a gay character and the joke was that he liked video-games and was thus a huge nerd, that might be making fun of nerds, but not his sexuality.

 

[anthony87]

Oh look, people are offended/outraged by something......again. Is this what it's come to now? Everytime someone says they're offended by something we just get rid of it or change it?

Shame about the show being canned, peoples jobs and all that jazz. Sounds like kind of a shit show though.

 

[MPerce]

Read the article about the whole show. The gay Superman part is actually the least offensive and funniest joke in the show.

I have no problem with offensive jokes. Comedy should be free to go after whatever it wants. But if you're gonna take on an offensive subject, the jokes better be funny. This show is the antithesis of funny.

There's a bit involving Wreck-It-Ralph, an unconscious Niki Manaj and Ralph's catchphrase that would've made me start throwing tomatoes if I saw this show live.

 

[Lieju]

Read the article about the whole show. The gay Superman part is actually the least offensive and funniest joke in the show.

I dunno, I find the fact that it's so lazy pretty offensive. How hard would it have been to write a joke about how the magic powder makes him go crazy and kill the villain and destroy the city? As in, what was the actual issue a lot of people had with the movie?

The whole randomness in a way makes it worse. "We gotta write a joke about Superman. But how? I know, let's bring in the gayness, that's comedy gold!"

The Wreck it Ralph-thing was really horrid, though.

 

[UberPubert]

That's like saying nerd-stereotypes are the same as stereotypes about white people. Is heterosexuality specifically singled out as worthy of ridicule? Are you saying that there is a stereotype that all heterosexual people misspell things?

It's not making fun of heterosexual people, it's making fun of people who happen to be heterosexual.
And that's the difference.
If you had a gay character and the joke was that he liked video-games and was thus a huge nerd, that might be making fun of nerds, but not his sexuality.

No, nerd stereotypes can be about anyone bookish or inclined towards science and technology, they don't have to be white. But the character of say, Sheldon, from the Big Bang Theory is a collection of stereotypes about a white, well-off, heterosexual nerd. Just because the joke comprises more than one demographic doesn't negate the stereotype.

The character of a horny teenage alpha male sports jock or a lonely perverted nerd are just as much negative stereotypes about heterosexuals as Superman being really happy is a stereotype about homosexuals. In all these instances these characters sexuality is a subject of mockery through the means by which they express it.