Jake In Drag??

[MaineWriter]

The two "cowboys" in the front row were actually cast members:  Will Forte and somebody else. 

Shows how much I have watched SNL in recent years if I can't even recognize a cast member! LOL

What bothered me, after the reference to Jake's "new fan base", was when he asked them if they were gay cowboys, they answered, "no, just regular cowboys" in a macho voice.  And then, gigled and carried on during the drag number, which Jake said he thought his new fan base would like.

I don't really think this was a parody of Ennis's denial of his being gay.  Couldn't help but take it as a bit of a slam on us Brokies.  Perhaps I'm being too sensitive.  Can we laugh at ourselves?

I don't know if it is laughing at ourselves as opposed to being hyperaware. The whole thing seemed to go by so fast. I suspect that 95% of the people who watched it had forgetten it by morning.

When some of us dress up in cowboy/cowgirl attire, I guess that's a kind of drag also.

And by the same token, wearing LL Bean boots, a fleece top and turtleneck would be Maine drag in Wyoming? LOL

L



[/quote]

[serious crayons]

SNL's demographic is not well-educated, mostly-liberal, unusually compassionate and intelligent people who know a great movie when they see one.  It's basically the very people who irk the crap out of us at the imDb board.

Good way to put it, Barb. The segment was pandering to that lowest common denominator -- the same way Leno and the others do.

They don't need to do it. I think the SNL demographic must overlap quite a bit with the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert demographic. Yet those guys are able to make jokes that refer to homosexuality but don't pander.

Leslie, as I watched the beginning part where they play the jazzy music and show NYC nightlife scenes and name all the cast members, I listed to my sons which ones I'd heard of before. I knew maybe three or four out of the -- what? -- 12 or so people?

[Lumière]

Not completely OT because here was someone who fought stereotypes..


Happy Martin Luther King Jr Day, people. 


Added:
I remember when Heath's "teapot stance" thing was debated back and forth for what seemed like forever .. lol.. I didn't see the big deal with that,  but that's another story.  I think we can get sensitive because we are very close to the characters that are Jack and Ennis and obviously, Jake and Heath and we expect them to behave a certain way.  Others have talked about this on this thread already.  My point:  this too will pass. 

[ednbarby]

You're right, Lucise.  Ultimately, as someone else said here, Brokeback Mountain was a job for Jake and Heath.  They did wonderfully well at it - so much so that those characters seem like real people to those of us the movie really touched.  But at the end of the day, that's all it was - a job.  I don't hold Jake responsible for what SNL wrote for him to do any more than I hold him responsible for all those lame-ass gay jokes Jay Leno's people felt it was necessary for Jay to tell the night they had Jake on last year to promote the movie.

And like I've said, I do give whoever was the biggest influence on the decision some credit for not milking the Brokeback thing any more/longer than they did.  It certainly wasn't nearly as cringe-inducing as that Lance Armstrong/Espys debacle last year, and it is a parody show, after all.  But I also agree that it's a shame they don't have their shit together nearly as much as The Daily Show/The Colbert Report does when it comes to satirizing the stereotypers instead of the stereotyped.  Then again, that's why The Daily Show has won - how many now? Five? - Emmys in the last decade and SNL hasn't won any, in like, four score and seven years.  You get what you pay for.

It's still a career coup to get to host SNL - it's still a pop culture phenomenon, even if in name only - and I'm happy for Jake that he got to do it and did so well with it.  I guess I was just prepared to cringe all the way through it, so when I didn't except for one aspect of the very beginning, I was pleasantly surprised.

[serious crayons]

I don't hold Jake responsible for what SNL wrote for him to do any more than I hold him responsible for all those lame-ass gay jokes Jay Leno's people felt it was necessary for Jay to tell the night they had Jake on last year to promote the movie.

I do, however, blame Jay. Especially because Jay Leno tells lame-ass gay jokes all the time, whether Jake is on or not. At least, I gather he does. I rarely watch his show, but when I saw it on Easter weekend -- i.e., four or five months after the movie came out -- and counted four (4!) BBM jokes, I assumed it was a pretty regular thing.

Then again, Jay tells lame-ass sexist jokes, too -- of the "men are Neandrethals who burp, can't ask directions and hog the remote" and "women get stuck with all the housework and worry about whether clothes make their ass look fat" variety. I find those offensive, too. And they're certainly based on tired, tired stereotypes.

The one thing I've never heard him tell is a racist joke. I wonder why he doesn't get the difference.

[ednbarby]

The one thing I've never heard him tell is a racist joke. I wonder why he doesn't get the difference.

I think it's because it's no longer socially acceptable to be a racist, but it still is to be a homophobe and a misogynist.

[dot-matrix]

Screen Cap of Uncle Jake in his Ramona shirt for anyone who missed it. 

[Scott6373]

I'm not sure if this is a debate or not, but, while I am certainly not a person who would be considerred "politically correct", when it comes to offensive humor, there is a very fine line between what is funny and what is based (albeit subconsciously) in hate and fear.  Also, it has, in recent years, become a socially accepted behavior to poke fun at marginalized factions of society in order to make them feel "like one of the gang".  The problem with this (especially in the case of GLBT people) is that the humor is often derived from amplifications of stereotypes that, I am sure, we would all rather not be associated with.  Now, the gay community is not blameless on this.  We are as intolerant a group of people as any other, and in some cases more so.  Jake in drag?  Who cares?  I can tell you one thing however.  He did that skit, much for the same reason that "Casanova" was released on the heals of BBM.  Career, money and a continued fear of being objectified and pigeon holed into a certain type...a certain STEREOTYPE.

[serious crayons]

Quote from: latjoreme on Today at 02:33:05 PM
The one thing I've never heard him tell is a racist joke. I wonder why he doesn't get the difference.

I think it's because it's no longer socially acceptable to be a racist, but it still is to be a homophobe and a misogynist.

Clearly. And most of the audience doesn't seem to mind. But I think Jay Leno is, appearances notwithstanding, a fairly intelligent guy. And his wife is a feminist global activist, right? You'd think this stuff would cross his mind from time to time.

[delalluvia]

Then again, Jay tells lame-ass sexist jokes, too -- of the "men are Neandrethals who burp, can't ask directions and hog the remote" and "women get stuck with all the housework and worry about whether clothes make their ass look fat" variety. I find those offensive, too. And they're certainly based on tired, tired stereotypes.

Just a thought.  If he was an equal opportunity offender on stereotypes, does it count?  Haven't some comedians made a living on offending pretty much everyone?