I saw a quick shot of an apparently gay marriage in a promo to a story on the upcoming Mass. gay marriage court-mandated legalization & the couple were of indeterminate gender, I’m pretty sure they were both women but I wouldn’t bet my paycheck on either. And that made me think of the Julia Sweeny character “Pat”… was there any outcry by any TG persons or groups about “Pat”?
“It’s time for androgyny- it’s just Pat!”
Don’t know the answer to the OPs question, but…
“Pat” was not meant to be a Gay, Bi, TG or transvestite, but simply a person of unknown gender; the ambuguity of the character is the basis of the comedy.
I thought “Pat” was pretty funny, but then, I’m not a whole “community,” and I’m not as easily offended as I used to be. Plus, I love Julia Sweeney.
(I just thought the whole nose-runny-sniffly thing was kinda gross)
I kind of got a kick out of Pat as the SNL skit. But when they made the full-length movie, I thought it was too much of a good thing. I never looked at it as a transgendered thing. Just ambiguous.
Incidently, after pondering this subject for a loooooong time, I’ve decided Pat is probably a woman. Did anyone else come to a different conclusion?
I liked the movie, and I think so did Kelly, though I am sure she is glad the angrogynous characters names were Pat and Chris, not Kelly.
Not to say that there aren’t movies that are offensive to TG folks. That one Rachel Welch one comes to mind.
Lee, I don’t know what movie you’re talking about. Rachel Welch? I know that name but I can’t place her.
i think Lee is probably referring to the move “Myra Breckinridge” (sp?), based on the book of same name. Rachel was playing the sex-changed version of the protagonist Myron.
never actually saw the movie–just read the book.
It was my understanding that Pat was not transgendered but was very ambiguoulsy androgynous in appearance. That tends to create awkward social moments particularly when service professionals get confused but must maintain their very courteous decorum.
Clerk: “May I help you, sir - ma’am - sir - madam!” :smack:
Pat: “Yes I’d like to buy some trousers.”
Clerk: “Yes, s-s-sirmaam. Step right over here to the men’s fashions… er… uh…” :smack:
I suppose it might annoy people who are androgynous-looking, but then I’ve seen those awward moments happen in real life.
A funny one is on video, when Ellen Degeneres was in concert and did a question-and-answer session at the end. Gazing out in to the audience (albeit with bright lights shining in her face) she addressed a question oa a “young man” in the audience. When her mistake was revealed Ellen’s reaction was priceless. She collapsed onstage saying “…awwwwwwwwwww, noooooooooooooooooo…” The audience roared, the “young man” thought it was funny too and it all ended with a very touching, teary-eyed, moment because the woman got all choked up telling Ellen how she got the courage to come out.
There was an episode of “Mad About You” with a very Pat-like character. Much jocularity ensued.
Damn, it’s enough to make a TG climb a tree and commit lewd acts and demand vanilla diet Pepsi in protest!
I bought It’s Pat! The Movie when it came out on laserdisc, in letterbox format, because the character of Pat looked like a hermaphrodite I was dating at the time.
Personally, I thought Pat was funny, and I liked the movie. Pat wasn’t transgendered, though – she was obliviously ambiguous.
However, I did note that after the character showed up on SNL, the number of transsexuals who chose to take the name “Pat” seemed to drop.
Apparently Pat was a LOT more disgusting before SNL – more (and more blatant) self-groping, etc. He/she had to be “cleaned up” even by SNL standards.
Julia Sweeney said that a fan came up to her with indisputable evidence concerning Pat’s gender (apparently people do that a lot but bear with me). This person said that when Pat was on the deserted island with Harvey Keitel and they kissed, Pat took the woman’s head position for the kiss. Julia Sweeney said she never thought about that, and agreed that Pat must be a woman.
I personally think that Pat’s a man. In the movie, Chris is upset because Pat doesn’t have a job and Chris has to support them both. I think that more women would have this complaint, that they are supporting men they aren’t even married to, as opposed to a man complaining that he’s supporting a woman that he isn’t married to. Hey, I never said I had a good reason
Although I guess determining Chris’ gender does not automatically determine Pat’s gender. Ahhh, who knows!
Yes, it would. Pat is definetly not gay, and gets upset anytime anyone asks if she has “a, uh, boyfriend. Or… girlfriend?”
I’m not transgendered, and I always thought Pat was a little annoying (the voice! the sniffling!) but also sometimes funny. I can see how some transgendered folk might consider Pat offensive, but Pat could also be considered a positive figure. Although Pat is clearly not transgendered, s/he is a person who is comfortable with his/her rather unconventional gender identity. Pat is androgynous in appearance and behavior, but never feels the need to change the way s/he looks or acts to better conform to societal expectations. Pat is happy being Pat. It’s obvious that it’s the rest of the world that has a problem with people they can’t easily pidgeonhole as unambiguously “masculine” or “feminine”.
“Pat” was simply a horrible film.
I worked at a theater where Julia Sweeny did a wonderful, one-woman show.
She only mentioned the film VERY briefly and you knew she felt it was not her shining hour.
But I don’t think her character, or the film, meant to portray transgendered people. Ambiguous was the key. The joke was a SNL bit that was taken too far by having a film made from the character…like many other SNL characters in multiple bad films.
I think ya’ll are talking about Raquel Welch not Rachel Welch.
As for “It’s Pat”, that sketch made my life a living hell for approximately six years.
I wear my hair very short. My whole life, it was very straight. I got it cut for one summer, and it became curly, LITERALLY overnight.
So I had this close cropped, super kinky curly dark brown hair.
I was called “Pat” so many times I started to vomit at school just to get out of class.
So… no, I didn’t like it.
Of course, now I’m wondering about FilmGeek’s gender.
My aunts’ names are Pat and Chris. :o They are both recognizably female, though.