Small examples of diversity, as seen in entertainment, offen not remarked upon.

Cafe Society
1

I was just looking through the back archives of Popular web-com, Kevin and Kell. As seen here, a new character is introduced. Either she is intended as part of a romantic triangle storyline, or I am reading to much into the story. Judging from the caption beneath the first story, I am not.

spoiler for the end of that storyline: This leads me to believe she is a lesbian. Now, perhaps she just saw her actions as an attempt to be friendly, but if so, that isn’t germane to my point. I was on the fan’s usenet group at the time this particular strip premiered. (Anyone here read that group?) The vast majority of the talk was about how people liked her as a character and wanted to see more of her, as well as discussion about the meaning of her name. Nothing controversial was brought up, as I recall.

Also, I saw an episode of Card Captor Sakura. One episode involved “Sakura noticing a strange painting that seems to move, and a mysterious little boy who is trying to destroy the painting” Huh. Turns out that Yuuki is actually a girl. Well, she might just be a girl who simply doesn’t care that people mistake her for a boy, or she might turn out to be more comfortable with a male identity than a female one. Really, it could go either way. Considering other examples of sexual identity in the anime, I am sure that CLAMP knew what they were hinting at, however.Thanks to CCU Tenchi, of cardcaptors-uncensored for refreshing my memory.

Anyway, I was wondering what other examples people know of, as seen in all forms of entertainment. Was there a Michael Crichton book where the hero’s side-kick was revealed to be a lesbian, with no relevancy to the plot, and without it’s having been brought up besides one paragraph? Any thing else that has slipped under Rev. Wildmon’s radar? Football stadiums filled with people singing “YMCA”? And for crying out loud, has anyone else noticed that Kim Possible has a glamour shot of Shego taped to her locker door, just as Plato (of the film Rebel Without a Cause) had a picture of Alan Ladd inside his?

[Seamus, the peg legged (and armed) sea captain from Family Guy]

I guess the main point I am trying to make, the bullet point, if you will, is this:
**
What subtext and text have you seen in popular entertainment that other people miss, or don’t think is worth remarking on?**

[/Seamus, from Family Guy]

2

In Modern Times, there is a character incarcerated with Chaplin that is obviously intended to be homosexual (he’s mincing around in the 30s “gay” stereotype). The thing is, no one ever notices, because you have to take your eyes off Chaplin to see it and everyone watches Chaplin.

It’s also an interesting comment on prison homosexuality; few films, if any, of that vintage even acknowledged it existed.

3

Speaking of which…

My boyfriend, the Kim Possible fanatic, insists it’s a mugshot. I’m not sure if that really resolves the question, though.

4

That, and the next comic made me LOL. But really, this close up and this distance shot of the picture in question clearly shows, it ain’t a mug shot. :smiley: (Pictures are curtesy of Kigo fans Clayton and Wotan-Anubis.

5

Oh, and how many Dolph Lundgren fans talk about this film?

Here is a link to Amazon.com

I haven’t seen it, but based on what the reviewer said, it sounds like a lot of people missed it, if was there at all. :smiley:

6

A fairly minor examples…

In Bring It On, there’s a hilarious conversation between two female cheerleaders and two male cheerleaders that goes something like this
FC: (the guys only want to ogle us)
MC: (Well, at least you don’t have guys questioning your sexuality)
FC: And what is your sexuality, exactly?
MC: Well, Jan’s straight, while I’m… controversial.
FC: Are you trying to tell me you speak fag?
MC: Oh, fluently.
FC: And Whitney and Courtney… Dykedelic?
The way it’s presented is very casual… it’s something they’d be curious about, but if Whitney and Courtney turned out to be Dykedelic, it would be an interesting piece of gossip, but not something to be horrified about. Which I think is perhaps the very best way for sexuality to be featured… something to be talked about, but not something either bad or Special And Precious.

7

Two very good posts. Quality over quantity. However, I am surprised that with so many Kim Possible fans over here, only one has chimed in. (Well, two actually.) What’s the matter, afraid to face the truth? :wink:

Maybe if I bump this thread. [suB](Or maybe if I stop making such narrowly defined threads. But I can’t, they are so :cool: )[/suB]

8

Wulp, I just thought of two more examples. Last night I watched the popular Nickelodeon cartoon “Danny Phantom.” The titular character’s friend Tuck was being hassled by a bunch of dumb jocks. Now, normally, when I see people being hassled by dumb jock, they are big hulking white guys, wearing letter jackets.

However, this time, one of the two big jerks was Asian. Sure, he had the build of a football player, and the jacket, but he was Asian. Viva la’ difference. It’s as if the producers were saying “Hey, we can portray horrible people of all groups, since people come in all types.” Interesting.

9

I supposed no one has noticed the tension between Race Bannon and Dr. Quest? :smiley:

10

I take it you haven’t seen that episode of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law?
:wink:

11

Then there’s Peppermint Patty and Marcie.

12

In the Kevin Costner film “No Way Out,” the head of the computer lab, played by George Dzundza, was disabled and in a wheelchair. His disability didn’t seem to be a plot point, but just part of the character and it didn’t affect his ability to do his job.

13

Then there’s the survellience guy on Las Vegas, who is also in a wheelchair. It’s never mentioned.

14

I’ve never seen to much focus on the Coroner having artificial legs on CSI either.

15

Cowboy Bebop has a young girl character who is always mistaken for a boy. But less obviously, they do the old cliched chase scene in one episode,where they run through a bedroom interupting a couple having sex. Just in this case the couple are both men, with no comment or any other sign that it is strange in any way.

16

Ep Title, Number, and DVD volume, please.

17

I remember that, nopw that you mention it! :eek:

Isn’t it on the first volume?

No, I guess not. I am looking over scripts on this site, and I don’t see it yet.

18

Garibaldi has a line in one of the later episodes of Babylon 5 in which he slams Sheridan: “He’s not the Pope. He doesn’t look anything like her.”

Not something you hear every day. Unless you watch Babylon 5 a lot.

19

Frasier had a few episodes with gay characters, but where the gay situation was the point of the episode. One featured Patrick Stewart, and one of the funniest shows had Martin pretending to be gay to impress to cover up a lie (pretty cliche’d plot but very well done.) Anyway, in one later season episode, Niles and Daphne have a dinner party and there are a few couples that show up. One of the couples happens to be two men. But nothing is never mentioned; they are just like the other couples, every guest has a couple of lines, just nothing at all unusual about it. I thought it was done just right.

20

OH damn I hoped noone would ask, I’ll have to watch them all again. :wink:
I don’t think a script will help, as there was no dialogue during the chase.