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Oh, Ron Howard. You are pretty good at directing Americana movies, producing good looking red-haired children, and overcoming the career curse often afflicting child actors, but you suck at understanding how linguistic culture works.
You may have heard at Howard’s new movie, The Dilemma, is under a bit of cultural scrutiny at the moment. See, in the film (and the trailer), Vince Vaughn’s character mocks an electric car by saying “It’s gay.”
Various members of the LGBT community have stepped forward to vocalise their discontent with the use as ‘gay’ as a derogatory term, including Anderson Cooper. The public upset caused Universal Pictures to pull the trailer, but has refused to pull the ‘joke’ from the film itself.
To tell his side of the story, Ron Howard wrote in to LA Times journalist Patrick Goldstein.
“So why was the joke in the movie? Our lead character of Ronny Valentine has a mouth that sometimes gets him into trouble …
… and he definitely flirts with the line of what’s okay to say. He tries to do what’s right but sometimes falls short. Who can’t relate to that? I am drawn to films that have a variety of characters with different points of view who clash, conflict and learn to live with each other. THE DILEMMA is a story full of flawed characters whose lives are complicated by the things they say to and hide from each other. Ronny is far from perfect and he does and says some outrageous things along the way.”
Okay, Ron Howard. So you’re trying to portray an imperfect character, who sometimes says offensive things. I understand that, and I understand how comedy can rely on pushing the boundaries of comfort in order to generate laughs. HOWEVER – this joke is not really pushing boundaries, or revealing the complexity of an imperfect character. It is just using a word which has been subverted into the mainstream to mean something negative. People use the term ‘gay’ to give derogatory meaning to plenty of things, and this is an issue in the same way that using ‘retard’ to refer to someone you think is stupid is a problem, or calling a woman a ‘slut’ just because you’re angry with her. It’s taking a set of actions, applying a negative label to them, and then applying that label to any thing else you may associate with those unrelated actions. This is a problem because it furthers the original negative stereotype, but subverts it into a means where it seems like offensive. And it’s not less offensive, which is wherein the problem lies. By incorporating these terms into everyday language, we are furthering their original intents, and that is problematic.
Now had the character Ronny been overtly offensive, Howard’s response would apply. If Ronny retorted with “Only faggots drive electric cars,” well then I would see how the character was constructed to be offensive and imperfect. But he isn’t really trying to be offensive, he’s trying to be funny. Replace to word ‘gay’ with stupid, dumb, foolish, ridiculous, tragic, etc., and the meaning of the joke remains the same. And I don’t think Howard gets that. I think he legitimately thought the line was funny, and didn’t think any further than that. Though he claims he had far more intellectual intent, he must be a fool to think that the majority of audiences will reflect upon his use of the word, and think Ronny complex and intricate because of it. They will simply laugh, and file the joke away just as if he had said stupid, dumb, or a multitude of other negative labels. And it is the removal of this word from its true meaning to something casually negative that is problematic. The casualty leads to incorporating the word into everyday speech, and I can see how some find this alarming (I shudder when I remember how many of my male friends brought the term ‘motorboating’ back into conversation after watching Wedding Crashers).
We of course know that calling something gay doesn’t mean that we think all gay people are stupid, dumb, or some other undesirable term. But the association exists whether we like it or not, and think our use of language requires reflection in terms of origin, meaning and use. I could cite a multitude of studies on how language constructs the way we think, but I think it might be more valuable to take into consideration how our words can effect others.
In terms of LGBT battles, I do understand how some can see this as trivial. In my own opinion, the outrage is a result of the line being in the trailer – chances are if the line had just been in the movie, most people wouldn’t have even noticed. But it is in the trailer, and presumably that’s because the film’s creators found it particularly funny. Which it could be, if they hadn’t inadvertently stumbled upon a linguistic landmine. I am not advocating censorship, but I don’t buy Howard’s explanation either. Own up to it, Opie. Then we can all move on, and meet up at Arnold’s for a root beer float to discuss how unfunny The Dilemma looks anyway.
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Gay people call things gay.
I just can’t care that much about this.
This article is gay, very, very gay.
The 40 Year Old Virgin came out in 2005 & had a scene wherein Seth Rogen & Paul Rudd had an extended game of “Y’know How I Know You’re Gay?” while playing video games. I thought it was bullshit then, but nobody else seemed to care. NOW everybody is up in arms over this Ron Howard movie? WTF? I guess we’ve become more aware (particularly in the last few months) as far as LGBT issues are concerned in this country & that is a good thing, but Vince Vaughn et al are not the first people to not fucking get it. I wonder how many assholes will go see this now just on asshole principle?
1. I do not like Vince Vaughn. He is a terrible, horrid chubby actor who always ends up with Jenifer Aniston-esque actresses and it irks me.
2. Saying that something is gay is one of my biggest pet peeves. It also really irks me, even more than Vince Vaughn.
Laura,
Have you seen the movie? Is the statement that you are referring to in context with relationship to the nature of the character that said it?
Or is this a knee-jerk “I’m offended for the sake of being offended” article?
I understand your point of view on this, however, I don’t think you see the big picture. Sure, your offended now. You’ll be offended tomorrow. But further on down the line, when everyone is offended and, for the sake of not offending anyone, we all stop talking and opining and creating…. we will cease to be the nation of freedom loving people that enjoy just being. We now have to be overtly careful lest we unintentionally offend. We will continue to be divisive and petty… these are things that make us look weak to other nations that want capitalize on our perceived weaknesses. Your desire for language to be regulated spells the demise of the basic freedom to be human. It weakens us all in mind and spirit and makes us that much more bitter towards one another… and your cause.
Think about it.
-River
@River, see now you have offended me! Maybe the Alliance and I should have a little palaver over the issue of 200,00 credits, see how offensive that seems, dong-ma?
River, no I have not seen the movie. It is not scheduled to be released until January of next year. I was rather specific in my argument that the uproar over this scene is particularly because the line was included in the trailer. In the actual film, Vaughn’s character could have a heart to heart with another character about how inappropriate his use of the word gay is (which he clearly doesn’t, or I’m sure Howard would be quick to point it out) but that is all irrelevant because it is used without context to generate laughs in the trailer. I think by outlining the ways in which attaching negative meaning to labels is harmful, I have shown this was not a knee jerk reaction, but a thought out one.
I was also very clear that I do not believe this is a censorship issue. I don’t believe the film should be censored, but I do believe that people need to take notice of how words can affect others.
You can call the issue petty, but language is integral to the construction of culture, and the nature of a society’s culture simply cannot be brushed off as a fringe issue.
[...] Ron Howard, if you want to talk about censorship issues, here would be the topic to springboard off [...]