# Does Mr. Bean set a bad example? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 22, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090 "2015-12-22T12:50:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/1 "2015-12-22T12:50:39Z")
First let me say I love Rowan Adkisson’s “Mr Bean” series. We have them all on dvd. I’ve wanted to drive his little yellow car (are they real?). However I cannot help but noticing; 1. Mr. Bean never works a real job so I dont know where he makes any money. 2. His basic gag is to make fun of rules, standards, and most parts of civilized society. He cuts in line at the hospital. He sneaks into a parking garage for free. He cheats on a test. He shoplifts in a store. He pokes fun of serious occasions like church services, weddings, funerals, and even visiting the queen. 3. He provides no real benefit to society. His only “friend” is his girlfriend and he treats her poorly. All this yet he gets by just fine. So I have to ask, is this a common theme in British comedy? At least in American comedy the characters hold jobs and follow rules. He really is a poor example of a person to follow. ---
**Author:** ![Torontonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/45deac/32.png) [@Torontonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torontonian)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/2 "2015-12-22T12:59:46Z")
Doesn’t Mr. Bean character work in a museum? ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/3 "2015-12-22T13:02:37Z")
More generally, a strand of comedy that subverts social norms - who knew? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/4 "2015-12-22T13:06:55Z")
His first full length feature film is based on his employment as a [guard at the Royal National Gallery in London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bean_(film)): > [@](#): > > Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) is a well meaning, but hopelessly clumsy and destructive security guard, at the Royal National Gallery in London, though his reputation for sleeping on the job compels the board of directors to attempt to fire him, they are thwarted by the chairman (Sir John Mills) who is sympathetic with him. In order to rid themselves of Bean, the board send him to Los Angeles to represent them at the unveiling of the portrait Whistler’s Mother. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/5 "2015-12-22T13:08:15Z")
I don’t remember the Marx Brothers ever having real jobs. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/6 "2015-12-22T13:17:54Z")
I should certainly hope he sets a bad example. If he willfully followed every social norm he would not be funny. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/7 "2015-12-22T13:33:51Z")
Upstanding goodie-two-shoes usually aren’t very funny. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/8 "2015-12-22T13:39:13Z")
Answer: Yes. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/9 "2015-12-22T13:42:13Z")
Did Cheech and/or Chong have gainful employment? ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/10 "2015-12-22T13:51:21Z")
This is not a series I would follow, but many millions of people over America, Europe and Asia live on family money, or on stocks and shares. I believe in America the latter were called coupon-clippers since allegedly they’d regularly have to send in little dockets to each company, or maybe their brokers, to claim interest. I doubt if they still do, if they ever did. Plus they could pay someone else to do that. However they were just as valuable and useful as anyone else. They were most of the upper classes. Not working is more socially useful than working at wickedness. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/11 "2015-12-22T14:23:01Z")
Bertie Wooster, from P.G. Wodehouse’s _Jeeves_ stories, likewise had no job, and provided no benefit to society (that was practically his _raison d’etre_), and he is one of the great comic creations in the history of literature. Making fun of these ridiculous people is a long tradition in British comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/12 "2015-12-22T14:30:30Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > theme in British comedy? At least in American comedy the characters hold jobs and follow rules. I would never have guessed _It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia_ was a British comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/13 "2015-12-22T14:49:00Z")
> [@Telperion](#): > > I would never have guessed _It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia_ was a British comedy. Or that Kramer was an English character. (And hey, arguably George, who was often unemployed and definitely was not an upstanding citizen.) ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/14 "2015-12-22T15:14:31Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I don’t remember the Marx Brothers ever having real jobs. Wasn’t one of them the president of a country once? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/15 "2015-12-22T15:36:34Z")
The key concept is ‘real’ jobs, although two of the brothers were spies and tutsi fruitsi ice cream salesmen. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/16 "2015-12-22T16:42:44Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > The key concept is ‘real’ jobs, although two of the brothers were spies and tutsi fruitsi ice cream salesmen. The key concept is the character is a clown - it’s Charlie Chaplin, etc. If you want to discuss whether those guys are good career roles models, go for your lives. I hesitate to say this but some people may think you’re being a little too literal; these characters are abstractions. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/17 "2015-12-22T20:04:51Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Wasn’t one of them the president of a country once? 😃 Not to mention an African explorer ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/18 "2015-12-22T20:19:49Z")
Who says a comedic character should be a role model anyway? Do you base your life on the teachings of Laurel and Hardy? ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/19 "2015-12-22T20:53:40Z")
You’re being tongue-in-cheek, aren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090/20 "2015-12-22T20:53:41Z")
Is a character who manages to paint a room by lighting a stick of dynamite in a paint can supposed to be realistic or setting some kind of positive example? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mr-bean-set-a-bad-example/741090.md?page=2)