This is just bloody silly… After seeing an advance screening of “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” GLAAD is giving ultra-fanboy Kevin Smith, perhaps one of the most gay-friendly men on the planet, a bucket of grief over that movie.
It’s my site, darnit, so I’m gonna editorialize now…
Lest I be accused of less-than-impartial journalism, here’s GLAAD’s “Point By Point” describing what they think is wrong with the movie, and Kevin Smith’s take on the whole thing, and an almost-impartial news story on the above.
“I agree with this post.”
I was about to write a long detailed rant on just what’s wrong here, but then I re-read Kevin Smith’s post a couple times. Just read it, then come back and comment.
Why is this here? Well, it’s my site, as I said. (Heh.) Also, while not strictly SF/fantasy/whatever, Kevin Smith has a lot of fans who are also genre fans. And because this is just goofy enough that I think it needed the publicity.
Thanks for indulging me.
publicity coat-tailing
I think it’s important to see this controversy as what it really is: Someone’s attempt to get “GLAAD” printed in as many newspaper and website articles as possible.
EXACTLY!!!
though, i don’t think it’s JUST GLAAD’s deal, here.
if you look at how both parties dealt with each other,
it’s obvious that there ISN’T a big scandal here…
it’s far more likely that the ‘entertainment news media’
would LIKE for there to be a scandal, so they’re presenting
this situation as such.
and it doesn’t stop there…check out the sci-fi wire
regarding “Burton steals APES ending from Kevin Smith.”
but then, i guess if it were MY job to report on entertainment industry news, i’d make the most of this stuff, too.
Re: EXACTLY!!!
Not the best parallel, since Kevin Smith is the one making the big deal out of that one. He said he was considering a lawsuit a few days before it was reported on the Wire, etc.
NOT SO…
it IS a decent parallel…
this from the wire:
my POINT is that the MEDIA are really, REALLY trying to milk all the controversey out of this movie that they can…not just GLAAD.
allow the resident bi/confused elf to comment…
… i should probably wait until i’ve seen the movie, but here’s my take on what’s been said by both parties so far, after having read the article on glaad.org, viewaskew and yahoo. now, i am a huge fan of kevin smith. i disagreed with all of the bashing of dogma by the catholics. it was very obvious in its humor/satire. i am assuming “jay and silent bob strike back” will be similar. in which case, glaad is having a serious knee-jerk reaction. however, i can see where they are coming from, in that, there is so much stereotyping of the gay community that one little thing, even obviously meant as humor, can cause large setbacks. especially with people who can’t observe the satirical nature of the film and think that behavior such as using the word “gay” to mean stupid etc by the characters is a good role model. did i even make a point here? i’m not sure. i’ll think about this more and wait till i see the movie.
The Definitive Answer
When in doubt, ask your resident lesbian.
Fortunately, I live with two of ’em. :-)
I asked the girls to look over the relevant Web sites, and to yield their thoughts. I can’t reprint most of them, sadly, but they agree that on this issue GLAAD has in fact gone over-the-top.
The girls aren’t the biggest fans of Kevin Smith’s movies, but they’ve seen ’em (except for Mallrats, but that’s not necessarily a big loss).
If you can’t trust lesbians, whom can you trust? They say GLAAD is in error, ergo they are, Q.E.D. and all that stuff.