Why Is Sesame Street Such A Controversial Lightning Rod?

[muppet maniac]

...and the same goes to the "Veggie Monster" nonsense.

 

[jvcarroll]

Yes, Bert & Ernie are both puppets so they don't really have specific gender identities. I really wouldn't call them straight or gay. Those sorts of issues are far too advanced for Sesame's curriculum of letters, shapes and numbers. Maybe one day Sesame will be ready to have a cast member who openly identifies as LGBT, but they won't likely be a puppet.

I just find it mildly offensive that some fans are upset by the mere idea of Bert and Ernie being gay. Why would any tolerant person care? The answer...a tolerant person wouldn't!

 

[Drtooth]

I just find it mildly offensive that some fans are upset by the mere idea of Bert and Ernie being gay. Why would any tolerant person care? The answer...a tolerant person wouldn't!

It depends on character interpretation. I could care less if they are, but... well... I have an obscenely dark interpretation.

They're full grown adults, and something terrible happened to Ernie (or he saw something terrible) that caused him to have a mental episode, leaving him in a state of regression that gives him a permanent mental childhood. Ernie used to be capable of living by himself, but Bert had to take him in and actually take care of him, as Ernie can no longer be independent in his childlike state.

Now, THAT would offend someone. I've interpreted the characters as Fridge Horror.

There are two camps when it come to not liking the Ernie and Bert being gay meme/alternate character interpretation. Those who are offended by homosexuality, sure... but those who just don't see it and don't like what drunken frat boys/bullies that like to taunt anyone who likes anything come up with ruining their childhood memories. Especially when there are so many thing that are actually much funnier and obvious. Ren and Stimpy? They shared the same bed, there was huge amounts of obvious Ho Yay (Son of Stimpy had a HUGE one)... and then they let the subtlety out of it in Adult Cartoon Party and had them boink. Heck I've seen some SpockXKirk stuff, and Kirk was famous for seducing women.

Then there are those who see Ernie and Bert as children who oddly enough live alone, and adding any sexuality, gay or otherwise kinda an icky spot. And of course there's the rare camp that thinks Ernie enjoys his Rubber Duckie a bit too much.

 

[Drtooth]

I hate double posting but...

I don't see why more people drop the implications Ernie and Bert and go for the extremely obvious Ho Yay in Bunsen and Beaker. I mean, it's not even subtle..

 

[beaker]

Not sure if posting youtube videos yelling the F word is appropriate for this site.
Though I am not one to censor.

But moving on, WHAT ABOUT the controversy over Rosevelt Franklin and his sad removal from Sesame Street or "the warning" on the Old School Sesame Street set?
See not all the controversies are started by Republican politicians. A lot of it is by yuppy overbearing parental groups who have no connection to reality.

 

[robodog]

Because people love to look for darkness in the light. Same reason there were rumors that Cabbage Patch Kids were modeled after what mutants would look like after a nuclear war and rumors that people were finding papers containing Satanic phrases inside Beanie Babies. People tend to think that if something's mega popular there must be some underlying darkness behind it.

 

[D'Snowth]

Roosevelt Franklin aside, the disclaimer on the Old School DVDs were misinterpreted - they were meant to say that the content was meant for grown-ups for nostalgic reasons, and may not meet the educational needs of today's preschool children. The show has changed so much from those older days, the show was slower paced back in those days... do I really need to bring up that "Hey Cow, I See You Now" film and risk Drtooth having another nervous breakdown? Today's kids aren't going to want to sit through a seven-minute film about milking cows (as I said in another thread, in rewatching THE THREE CABALLEROS a couple of months back, I'm wondering how I ever watched it as a kid, it was like taking films like "Hey Cow, I See You Now", and cobbling them into a movie with wraparounds featuring Donald Duck). Again, it was misinterpreted, and THAT was blown way out of proportion.

 

[Drtooth]

Roosevelt Franklin aside, the disclaimer on the Old School DVDs were misinterpreted - they were meant to say that the content was meant for grown-ups for nostalgic reasons, and may not meet the educational needs of today's preschool children. The show has changed so much from those older days, the show was slower paced back in those days...

I'll say this for the first episode. I'm glad the series didn't end up entirely like that.

But the disclaimers were nothing but pre-emptive Butt covering to root out the parents that would just buy anything with the Sesame Street label on it so they can use it as a baby sitter. I've said this a quintillion times already, but there were so many amazon reviews that said "Such and such didn't entertain my 11 month old" as they expect kids that young to not run around in any situation. Big Yellow Bird/Red Monster on the screen or not. That wasn't so much a case of yuppies, but a case of not wanting bad word of mouth from lazy parents. Besides... there's dozens of Elmo only DVD's available, this was for US! Because we couldn't shut up about wanting it. The real disclaimer should have said "Here it is! Happy now?"

 

[Drtooth]

But moving on, WHAT ABOUT the controversy over Rosevelt Franklin and his sad removal from Sesame Street

You know, the more Roosevelt Franklin Elementary School skits I watch, the more painfully obvious it was that they had to stop them. And the more I realize it has nothing to do with race.

The kids wisecrack, they throw papers and pencils... that bit at the end where Hard Head says that Tina has elephant feet? Imitable acts. That kinda encourages kids to be rude to the teachers and each other. Then you look at other school segments they have had since, and the kids are always well behaved. If you can't have a song writer bang his head on the piano, you sure can't have a bunch of school children throwing stuff around.

 

[beaker]

Roosevelt Franklin aside, the disclaimer on the Old School DVDs were misinterpreted - they were meant to say that the content was meant for grown-ups for nostalgic reasons, and may not meet the educational needs of today's preschool children. The show has changed so much from those older days, the show was slower paced back in those days... do I really need to bring up that "Hey Cow, I See You Now" film and risk Drtooth having another nervous breakdown? Today's kids aren't going to want to sit through a seven-minute film about milking cows (as I said in another thread, in rewatching THE THREE CABALLEROS a couple of months back, I'm wondering how I ever watched it as a kid, it was like taking films like "Hey Cow, I See You Now", and cobbling them into a movie with wraparounds featuring Donald Duck). Again, it was misinterpreted, and THAT was blown way out of proportion.

That's because today's society and youth are so brain addled with an ADHD world woven around them. I see a lot of children aping the twitchy text and smart phone compulsions they see high schoolers and adults engage in 24/7. Post millennial kids shows and entertainment in general is mostly just bloated, empty calorie garbage that is so far removed from the organic artistry and warmth of kids shows and entertainment from just 15 years ago and older.

Now it's not like these Sesame Streets were like the Dutch versions, which included scenes of things I won't even reference. But it's like oh no, showing inner city kids playing in...well the inner city circa 1975. Everything has to be coddified, Disneyfied, disposable and sterile now days.