Shrek character is latest target of anti-gay religious group

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 1:05pm

Oh, for gosh sakes!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20050221/ca_pr_on_en/film_gay_animation_1

Shrek character is latest target of anti-gay religious group

Mon Feb 21,12:15 PM ET

JOHN MCKAY

TORONTO (CP) - Uh-oh!



That other jolly green giant could be in trouble.


Shrek 2 is the latest animated film title to be "outed" by Christian fundamentalists in the U.S.


On its website the Traditional Values Coalition (news - web sites) is warning parents about the cross-dressing and transgender themes contained in the hit DreamWorks feature, now on DVD.


"Shrek 2 is billed as harmless entertainment but contains subtle sexual messages," says the coalition, which describes itself as a grassroots inter-denominational lobby with more than 43,000 member churches.


"Parents who are thinking about taking their children to see Shrek 2 may wish to consider the following."


The article then proceeds to describe one of the characters, an "evil" bartender (voiced by Larry King) who is a male-to-female transgender in transition and who expresses a sexual desire for Prince Charming.


In another identified scene, Shrek and Donkey need rescuing from a dungeon by Pinocchio and his nose, which is made to extend as an escape bridge by getting the wooden boy to lie about not wearing women's underwear.


The TVC report, A Gender Identity Disorder Goes Mainstream', raps DreamWorks for helping to promote crossdressing and transgenderism.


But Charles Keil, a film studies professor at the University of Toronto, says transgendered groups might also have reason to complain about being parodied.


"You have an image within a comic context that could be read either way," says Keil, who adds quickly that such humour is designed for parents anyway and goes way above the heads of the children in the audience.


"If the kids don't get it, it doesn't really matter."


Keil says the whole idea behind the Shrek movies is a general message of tolerance - that outward appearances don't matter and that it's what's underneath that counts - and such complaints defeat that larger, more important message.


"Targeting minuscule elements within a much larger work and then trying to extract from that some kind of argument that borders on the paranoid is really misconstruing the general aim of this entertainment."


So far, the Coalition's gaydar doesn't seem to have picked up on DreamWorks' Shark Tale, in which a shark mafioso, voiced by Robert DeNiro, must come to terms with the fact he has a vegetarian son who likes to dress up as a dolphin.


But the Shrek accusation follows hot on the heels of other cases of animated characters being accused of infiltrating the minds of America's children with pro-gay messages, much to the detriment of traditional family values.


Recently, PBS was upbraided by the group Focus on the Family - and supported by the U.S. secretary of education no less - for an episode of the cartoon series Postcards From Buster, in which Buster the rabbit encounters a couple of kids with lesbian parents.





Christian activists have also targeted SpongeBob SquarePants, Barney the dinosaur and Sesame Street's Bert & Ernie as children's characters who are conduits for a soft-on-gays message.

Just last month, the American Family Association took exception to the makers of a new video being distributed to thousands of U.S. elementary schools and which the organization said used characters like SpongeBob and Barney to indoctrinate children into a homosexual lifestyle.

The video is designed to coincide with National We Are Family Day in March. But what upset the AFA in particular is the We Are Family Foundation's website and a tolerance-for-diversity pledge (including sexual orientation) that children and others are asked to sign there.

It seems all of this began back in 1999 when Rev. Jerry Falwell described that purse-toting Teletubby, Tinky Winky, as a gay role model.

One wonders how far back critics could go, though, in seeing pro-homosexual context in cartoons. Remember when shotgun-toting hunter Elmer Fudd realized Bugs Bunny was in drag? He was furious, but only because he saw Bugs's cotton tail and learned he was a rabbit in disguise.

"There's all sorts of things going on in those cartoons that are pretty suggestive," concedes Keil. "But (the kids) are laughing at the pratfalls, the funny voices, the very basic humour.

"Kids at that age don't even have pre-formed notions of sexuality."

In the recent SpongeBob movie, there is a scene in which the oddball undersea character suddenly pops up in his neighbour's shower (and quickly gets the boot). It's also been pointed out that he holds hands with a pink friend and gets boating lessons from a teacher called Mr. Puff. Creator Stephen Hillenburg assured the Wall Street Journal that the sponge-man was not gay but that the show had become a gay community favourite because of the tolerant attitude displayed by the show's characters.

"Everybody is different and the show embraces that," Hillenburg said. "I always think of them as being somewhat asexual."

Keil wonders what these religious groups would accomplish if they managed to get a law passed banning any representation of untoward social behaviour in children's entertainment.

"It would still be there covertly," he argues. "What would these groups see as the ideal state of affairs?"

-

On the web: www.traditionalvalues.org

[broadway86]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 1:27pm

That is... the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 1:29pm

I wish the people involved would just say 'this is the stupidest thing I've ever heard' rather than give even the hint of credence to this nonsense by trying to address the issues.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 1:31pm

Broadway86, I'd rethink that if I were you. Just give them a chance, they're going to make you think they're even dumber.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 1:46pm

Why are there no mainstream news articles pointing out that the Bible obviously endorses pimping your daughters, and raping your father as a means to impregnate yourself as told in the story of Sodom?

[broadway86]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 1:52pm

bwaysinger-

I woudldn't be surprised. Not in the slightest. :)

[Auggie27]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 2:03pm

Fascinating how in a world where bullying and violence permeates the lives of children, SpongeBob et al merely preach a kind of generic tolerance. Yet tolerance is one thing the Christian Right cannot tolerate. Never mind that such a message is central to any profound understanding of Jesus -- was there anyone more tolerant? What's startling to me is how consistently the quest for "family values" turns into mean-spirited finger-pointing directed at people who merely want to make children smile and laugh before the soul-crushing realities of the adult world turn them into cynics.

Oh yes, the talented, kids-embracing people who create children's television are the REAL PROBLEMS in this society, aren't they?

But this would be laughable if it wasn't so ugly. And by the way -- you could peruse children's literature forever, and find examples of same sex co-habitiation, bonding, etc. etc (Winnie the Pooh's 100 Acre Woods might be a hotbed of such friendships.) To impose sexuality-specific meanings on the most innocent of relationship in stories is insideous.

[son_of_a_gunn_25]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 2:55pm

Where is Roo's father? We want to know! Disney is ruining the traditional family. How dare they portray a single mother! Everyone knows that is immoral! We suspect Kanga is really a lesbian. The low voice, big feet and she doesn't wear makeup! It all points in the same direction folks!

[oxdreaminxo]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 4:11pm

lol son_of_a_gun_25
That's really stupid, I mean honestly, in order to pick that stuff up *sexuality stuff) you'd hafta actually look for it. And who wants to waste their time on that? These people hafta find real jobs...

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 4:34pm

"These people hafta find real jobs..."

I'm sure that is their job....I imagine some of that 700 Club bounty is probably underwriting this.

[MaTakeALookAtMe]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 5:37pm

Yes and Bugs Bunny dressed up in womens's clothes too.

THere were some adult themed jokes in Shrek2, which is one reason I loves the movie so much. It is funny though that they would pick out "gay" references but not the obvious marijuana allusion with PussIn Boot's catnip...hmmm...

[Justice]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 5:39pm

Shrek 2 is rated PG. PG stands for Parental Guidance.

Don't these people who criticize these movies realize this? Or do they just start crap just to start crap?

P.S. I was under the assumption that the "evil bartender" was an ugly stepsister from Cinderella.

I'm surprised that the Coalition has never got on Marci's case for calling Patty "Sir"

Updated On: 2/22/05 at 05:39 PM

[mominator]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 5:44pm

OK. I am speechless, and that is really tough to do.

[La Vie Boheme]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 6:25pm

I heard they are making Shrek into a musical...


Anyone else hear that?

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 7:33pm

Is anyone else reminded of the House Un-American Activities Committee?

It's the Pink Scare!

[feinstein9]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 7:52pm

do be need another "crucible"?

btw with the same groups attacking harry potter, it made me think: if cinderella had been written today, would it be accused of using magiks? that has nothing to do with the gay witch hunt (b*tch hunt?) just a random thought. now i have to go watch a sinful tv show about a single mother, who often is seen sleeping in the same bed as her boyfriend. oh, the horror!

[Justice]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 7:55pm

Let's not forget Sleeping Beauty and her Fairies. It is very unchristian of them to want to help her find true love by changing the colors of her dress.

[Raggy Q poo]

Posted: 2/22/05 at 8:22pm

If Shrek can be gay, then can Simba be gay from the Lion King?

Wait- if Disney movies are considered to be pushing the 'gay limit' then how about teletubbies and Barney. I mean, supposedly Tinky Winky (or whatever the purple's one's name is) has already been determind as gay and not only by this uber-religious people.

I mean, ok...the pocketbook thing may be a little bit eh-eh but what 2 year old is gonna know that? If the adults don't bring it up to the child...I highly doubt that there is even such a thought in their tiny mind.
And since when does purple and a triangle represent gay?