I want to boycott that new movie with Adam Sandler and Kevin James, the one where they pretend to be a gay couple to get marriage benefits. I want to boycott it for two reasons (based solely on the previews, I should add):
1. It's unrealistic. It's set in New York, so they're not going to get any benefits by getting married because they can't get married.
2. It stereotypes gay men for the purpose of laughs, as if we're the joke of society.
Okay, three reasons:
3. It just doesn't look funny.
I was at the movies a couple weeks ago with Charlie (yes, we've been spending a lot of time together), seeing "1408" when the preview for this piece of crap played. We were seated behind two couples, the males halves of both being large and burly. I'll do my own stereotyping and say they were your typical outer borough blue collar guys. That's just the vibe I got. And, of course, they laughed heartily at the parts that really were not funny to Charlie and I. We looked at each other and rolled our eyes, silently agreeing that this was not a movie that we wanted to see or even remotely approved of.
I'm pretty surprised that I haven't heard of any gay rights groups getting up in arms over their depiction of a serious community-wide struggle as a source for comedy. It kind of sickens me a little.
Granted, I haven't seen the movie and it very well may have a pro-gay marriage message, but the concept and the previews and the commercials all smack of exploitation and marginalizes the issue. I'm curious if anyone else has had this reaction or if any of my gay readers plan on seeing the movie.
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3 comments:
Not that i'm defending the movie at all, but since it is set in new york city, and all NYC agencies and any company that does work with the city is legally required to provide domestic benefits to same sex couples, I don't think they are getting married. In NYC you go down to city hall and register as a domestic partnership, which entitles you to all the domestic rights as any other married couple in nyc. Even heterosexual couples in the city can register for these benefits, without getting legally married. I believe the movie is going by this principle.
Also, GLADD apparently saw it and said it sent a positive gay message, not that i always agree with GLADD.
I have to agree that the previews did nothing to move me to go see it.
T3NL could not agree with you more. on the otherhand, it amazing how "the gay factor" sells sells sells these days. and we expect sales continue to pick up in this regard. times have change a lot, but we still have a way to go as a community.
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