Will SuperTed reboot offend gays?

Discussion in 'Gay & Lesbian Rights' started by WJV, Sep 6, 2016.

  1. WJV

    WJV Banned

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    superted1.jpg

    Back in the 90s when I was a teenager and way too old to be watching cartoons, I used to watch this really cool cartoon with my younger brother that was called SuperTed. SuperTed was one of my little brothers favourite shows for a while and the only reason I knew about it was because of him watching it. I have never heard of another person watching SuperTed and I never hear the cartoon mentioned or referenced anywhere. So for me when I think of the cartoon SuperTed I think of my little brother and how he had pretty good taste in cartoons. And I associate SuperTed with my little brother and us sharing something that had nothing to do with anyone else, because like I said, I dont know anyone or have ever heard of anyone that has ever even mentioned SuperTed.

    So SuperTed popped into my head the other day for some reason and I decided to internet search it and read about it. It turns out that the SuperTed story is a great story. SuperTed was created in 1978 by this Welsh guy called Mike Young who wrote a series of SuperTed story books to help his son overcome his fear of the dark. The SuperTed character is able to overcome his fear of the dark and other things by whispering his secret "special magic word" that transforms him into a superhero. So after some unsuccessful attempts Young convinces a local printer to publish his SuperTed stories. After Young had gotten his SuperTed books published his wife suggested that they produce a stuffed SuperTed toy as well, and they do in 1980.

    So Mike Young ends up publishing over 100 SuperTed books and SuperTed is doing so well that American company Warner Bros made Young a £250,000 offer for SuperTed film rights. Mike Young wanted to keep SuperTed Welsh to create local jobs and to prove that all the talent was not in London. Mike Young also wanted to make sure that SuperTed remained something that he felt was good for children. So Young and his wife set up their own production company with the help of a new local Welsh tv station and they make the cartoon series themselves. The first SuperTed cartoon were shown in Welsh on Welsh tv in 1982 and the next year in 1983 it was dubbed into English and broadcast throughout the entire UK on BBC.

    So like I said, it wasnt until the 90s that my brother and I were watching SuperTed. In my lifetime most of the cartoons we get on Australian tv have been American but we get a few British cartoons on a station called the ABC ( Australian Broadcasting Corporation ) which is basically Australias version of the BBC, and essentially state-tv. The ABC shows a lot of BBC programs and I guess they didnt pick SuperTed up until the 90s because like I said, I never saw any SuperTed when I was a kid or heard it mentioned. I dont know if you have ever heard of Captain Pugwash or Banana Man but these are about as good as I thought British cartoons could get until I saw SuperTed.

    So I had never heard of SuperTed before my before pre-school age younger brother introduced me to it back in the 90s, and I have not heard anyone mention SuperTed since. So today when I was reading up on SuperTed I was kind of surprised to learn that there is a SuperTed cartoon series reboot in the works.

    Most franchises that get rebooted for modern audiences have a gay character included to make the franchise more progressive and suitable for modern audiences but the SuperTed reboot doesnt need a gay character because it already has one of sorts. The main villain in SuperTed is a guy called Texas Pete and he has two henchmen in the characters Skeleton and Bulk. Skeleton is an effeminate character that wears pink slippers and seems kind of gay. Part of the humour of the SuperTed cartoon was to make fun of Skeleton for being so effeminate, but this kind of thing will not play well with modern audiences that are no longer ignorant in relation to gender and sex role stereotyping. In our modern progressive times that we live in today it is no longer funny to make fun of a male for being effeminate and many would consider anyone that did so to be guilty of committing some kind of hate crime.

    superted.jpg

    Personally I do not see how SuperTeds Skeleton character is any gayer than the gay seeming snowman from popular recent Disney hit cartoon Frozen but I guess there is no specific and pointed mocking of the gay Frozen snowman for being so effeminate and gay ( It is fine for the gay snowman to call the pleby hero a "pungent reindeer king" though.. We can still make fun of the lower classes so that is good.. Gay people are especially allowed to make fun of the lower classes. The "pungent reindeer king" probably didnt even have a university education. And I wouldnt be shocked if he was a Donald Trump supporter. Poor people smell bad. Like a pungent reindeer. They are dirty. And that guy got the "ordinary" Princess did he? Hmm. He seemed perfect for Elsa. They both like ice. ) . As far as I can tell it would be fine to leave Skeleton as an effeminate character that wears pink slippers just as long as there is no pointed or direct mockery of the character for its stereotypically gay traits. One solution may be to make the rebooted Skeleton character a transgender skeleton that is respected for his courage for being who he really is inside. If the rebooted Skeleton was transgender then this would tick some boxes for progressives and it would solve the gender-role stereotyping problem because the effeminate nature of Skeleton would be explained by the fact that Skeleton identifies himself as a female skeleton. Of course this may offend some Tom Boys that will then say that girls dont have to be girly and effeminate but they will have to take that up with transgenders and progressives.

    Another concern for the SuperTed reboot is the fact that part of the SuperTed humour is to make fun of Texas Petes other henchman Bulk for being so fat. In the informed modern times that we live in it is no longer acceptable to shame a person for being fat - or to 'fat shame' a person. The original SuperTed is guilty of fat shaming poor villain Bulk and this is another thing that needs to be changed for the SuperTed reboot to be acceptable for modern audiences. One option is to slim Bulk down but then his name wont make any sense, so maybe it would be a good idea to make him muscular instead of fat and that way he could keep his name and it would still make sense.

    Another problem is the fact that the main villain Texas Pete is a cowboy that has pistols, and with gun violence being so bad in USA in modern times it is no longer acceptable for a cartoon character to have guns. The original SuperTed cartoon avoided hardline violence but in 2016 we cant be having animated guns in childrens cartoons even if the character is an evil cowboy from Texas named Texas Pete.

    Another concern that progressives have for SuperTed is the fact that the SuperTed cartoon only has one female character apart from Mother Nature - Blotch. Blotch is an alien and the sister of SuperTeds friend and companion Spotty. In modern times we like all of our media to include half black people and half females so for SuperTed to only have one female character makes SuperTed a highly sexist cartoon. The solution for a reboot like the recent Ghostbusters reboot was to make all of the male characters from that male dominated movie into females, and this is what feminists and modern progressives believe to be gender equality. So if we use the Ghostbusters reboot formula, all of the male characters from SuperTed - SuperTed, Spotty, Texas Pete, Skeleton and Bulk would become female - and Spotty's female sister Blotch would become Chris Hemesworth.

    I know it sounds a bit drastic to make all of the main characters of SuperTed into females but that is what the Ghostbusters reboot did so why should SuperTed be any different? Like feminist fans of Ghostbusters said - "This is what gender equality looks like!" Imagine how all of those little girls felt growing up in the UK in the 80s having to watch a SuperTed that only had one female character? Shouldnt we turn the tables and give little boys a dose of that medicine by turning SuperTed into a girl? Turning SuperTed into a girl is what modern gender equality is all about.

    In my opinion we should go through all of the best loved cartoons, shows and movies, and we should reboot them all like the Ghostbusters reboot so that all of the characters that were previously male are rebooted as female. I want a He-Man reboot where He-Man is a girl, and I want a She-Ra reboot where She-Ra is a man. And why stop there? We could reboot every popular white character as a black character like they did with the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four movie. I would really like to watch a reboot of Gone with the Wind where all of the white characters are black and all of the black ones are white. I want to see a reboot of Boyz'N'da'Hood that has white gang members instead of black. All of this equality in movies that progressives care so passionately about could end up being a lot of fun. I mean at the end of the day a reboot doesnt change the original. Just because you may be disturbed by a modern Star Wars being made by a guy that wrote the tv show Felicity - or the feminist Paul Fieg Ghostbusters movie does not change the original that you love so much, especially if you do not acknowledge the reboot as being connected to the original, which is easy if the reboot is made in a way that is opposite to the original or if different people are making the reboot. It is very easy to just ignore modern reboots and to see them as being separate and not connected to the original that you loved so much.

    As far as the SuperTed reboot is concerned we have the original SuperTed creator Mike Young still in charge so unlike many other modern reboots we can relax knowing that SuperTed is in good safe hands. It is Mike Young himself that brings up these gay shaming, fat shaming, and gun concerns that he has for the SuperTed reboot, and it is good that he wants to make SuperTed more progressive and make sure that it doesnt offend anyone for any reason, but I think we can be sure that Mike Young will make a SuperTed reboot that will embrace both old as well as new fans of SuperTed. I think that it is a great idea to update media to make it more progressive, just as long as it is done in a way that does not abuse the original fans, like some modern reboots seem to have done. I do not think that any of us SuperTed fans were watching SuperTed cartoons back in the 80s or 90s because we hate girls or gay people, and being a SuperTed fan does not make us bad people even though the SuperTed cartoon is not particularly progressive by todays progressive standards.

    Are you a fan of SuperTed? What changes do you think Mike Young and his team should make to SuperTed for the reboot? Would it be a good idea to change SuperTed into a girl in the name of gender equality? Should SuperTed be lesbian? What do you think?

    [video=youtube;tERFidV8z4I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tERFidV8z4I[/video]

    And what should be done with Skeleton in your opinion? Do you agree that making him transgender would keep gays and trans people happy?
     
  2. Polydectes

    Polydectes Well-Known Member

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    You type way too much.
     
  3. DoctorWho

    DoctorWho Well-Known Member

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    Methinks he dost typ-eth too much, reminds me of medical crams and reading 1000 pages of medical, except that was easy reading compared to WJV.

    I could not read most of it, it bored right through my skull like a whining dental drill.
     
  4. Fugazi

    Fugazi New Member Past Donor

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    The OP poster is a troll.
     
  5. Junkieturtle

    Junkieturtle Well-Known Member Donor

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    If cartoons aren't non-inclusive and teaching kids to make fun of others people's differences then those cartoons need to just get the hell out of America!
     
  6. Pax Aeon

    Pax Aeon Well-Known Member

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    `
    a - Congratulations for being the first poster on this this thread to address the topic with no adhoms.

    b - The concept of a transgendered bear might work better if it's Yogi or BooBoo bear.
     
  7. clarkeT

    clarkeT Well-Known Member

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    In response to the OP...blah, blah, blah.
     
  8. crank

    crank Well-Known Member

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    They should leave it as is.

    Because girly men and enormously fat people are still funny.
     
  9. DoctorWho

    DoctorWho Well-Known Member

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    Yes, I agree, you are very funny, ha ha......
    Double plus good !
     
  10. Perriquine

    Perriquine On hiatus Past Donor

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    Not a fan of reboots. Not a fan of changing characters just to make a franchise more inclusive. Introduce new characters if that's the goal, instead of adding this trait to established ones.
     
  11. DoctorWho

    DoctorWho Well-Known Member

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    It is the no one loses idea, everyone gets a medal, everyone wins, yay PC mentality.
     
  12. clarkeT

    clarkeT Well-Known Member

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    YAWN!!! (If that doesn't put a person to sleep, nothing will)
     
  13. WJV

    WJV Banned

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    Hey thanks for reading.

    One of my little brothers favourite movies when he was 4 was 'Hey There, Its Yogi Bear!' I liked it too. There is a bit at the start where Yogi tricks two guard dogs into getting into a speed boat and then he starts the speedboat and sends them off into the lake - and as they disappear into the darkness they are barking at him. It is hilarious.

    I think BooBoo would make a better trans bear than Yogi. Yogi is in love with Cindy Bear.

    [video=youtube;LHOgIIgltwA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHOgIIgltwA[/video]

    [video=youtube;zk-mzHggJ3U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk-mzHggJ3U[/video]
     
  14. DoctorWho

    DoctorWho Well-Known Member

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    Most boring post award time, 3 yawns and a ZZzzzzzzzzz... :deadhorse:
     
  15. WJV

    WJV Banned

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    I disagree. There is a lot going on there.

    I would not be aware of those Yogi Bear songs if I was not a fan of the movie - Hey There, Its Yogi Bear. And I am because it was one of my brothers favourite movies when he was 4 and he would watch it on video all the time. The part where Yogi tricks the dogs into getting into the speedboat is indeed hilarious and humour that is more in the style of WB than Hanna Barbera. Which makes sense because there were a few WB people working on this film including Mel Blanc and Friz Freeling. Which is pretty interesting.

    The movie Hey There, Its Yogi Bear was the first feature length cartoon film based on a television show. Which is interesting. What better way could you respond to a Yogi Bear reference than how I did with this Hey There, Its Yogi Bear reply?

    Plus how many can come up with a flirty Yogi Bear song to post? That James Darren song is pretty good.

    Obviously I am trying to flirt with/interact with a female member of this forum with the Hey There, Its Yogi Bear post. That is mostly what was going on there.

    Thanks for reading.
     
  16. btthegreat

    btthegreat Well-Known Member

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    I'd have to watch several episodes to know whether there is enough of a pattern of stereotyping and marginalizing, that becomes offensive. Its not something that a description can tell me.
     
  17. DoctorWho

    DoctorWho Well-Known Member

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    Watch some of the oldest and banned Loony Tunes cartoons, lots of sub text and sexual innuendo, I still laugh, I do not find it offensive, I find it humorous, you have to look closely.
     

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