Have any of you seen this skit on a recent episode of SNL, where MacGruber’s son is gay? If not, you can see the skits here. Pay attention to the theme songs too.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=33997265
Is SNL anti-gay, pro-gay, or what? I know homosexuality is a big theme in many skits, but sometimes I wonder if they’re making fun of it or supporting us. Do you know which is true? Pro-gay or anti-gay? Thanks :-]
they pretty much joke everything, not just sexuality. i don’t think they are anti-gay.
I think as long as a show makes fun of everything equally and doesnt consistently poke fun against one thing over another its fine. South Park is a PRIME example of it being ok to totally rip on gay people.
Gays are always the butts of jokes. It’s easier to get away with spoofing gays, because it’s not near as frowned upon in society as say, racial jokes. So I wouldn’t take too much offense to the skits.
no …..but it’s funny
“MacGruber” !!
Shia Labeouf is sooooooooo hot!
SNL attempts to appeal to the widest audience possible and get laughs at the expense of as few people as possible… these particular skits seem to make fun of the MacGruber character’s homophobia and are more pro-gay than anti-gay.
As a gay person, I was not offended at all and thought that they were funny.
The history of SNL has shown that it is mostly pro-gay. It’s creator, Lorne Michaels, also started “Kids in the Hall” which, in my opinion, is one of the funniest pro-gay shows that has ever existed.
I don’t think they have a motive regarding being gay either way but I do think that the skits involving being gay are actually helpful. It is extremely hard to hate something that makes you laugh and putting gays in common situations in everyday life is helping people who aren’t around gay people a lot adjust to the concept and learn to accept us. Beside the fact that joking about stereotypes helps integrate people and makes people more comfortable than having the “elephant in the living room, that no one will talk about.” I equate it to the black friends I have, we joke about racist stereotypes all the time and it helps us to realize what is true, what isn’t and how everyone should get along regardless of our differences.
and I have seen the MacGruber skits and thought they were funny as hell, people don’t give Shia Lebough enough credit.
They try to joke about everyone and everything. So I don’t think anyone should take it personally.
I grew up in the early 80s when the macho heroes of Knight Rider, Miami Vice, the A-Team, MacGuyver, Terminator and Mad Max always killed the scumbag goons, foiled evil plots, and got the girl at the end. These heroes we’re all dirt, blood, sweat, grease, and explosives, and they ALWAYS got the girl in the end. After three decades of fighting evil, MacGruber’s estranged son just happens to be more into guys, and this is just a complex notion to older MacGruber, a super-straight man’s man. Actually, homosexuality was a foreign notion to almost all 80s television action shows in general. I’m just happy that we can watch this clip today, and find the humor in how everything was so hetero-oriented in the early 80s, and how much television has changed into a more gay-friendly medium. I’m gay, and I loved this sketch. I don’t think SNL is either pro-gay or anti-gay. It’s a comedy sketch show. They poke fun at everything on the social and political table. If anything, SNL and NBC have been one of the front-runners to making network television more gay friendly. If you’d let yourself see things from both a hetero- and homosexual male’s point-of-view, you might see where the two ideals clash, as well as the brilliant humor in it all as well. With no time to spare until sure death, father MacGruber still makes it an issue to question/change his son’s orientation, something a lot of hetero father’s with gay sons still do in America. This skit took it to the extreme and made it super-macho MacGruber’s son (a take on MacGyver), and I found it hilarious. Notice the MacGruber mullets, flannel shirts, and Vicky’s poodle perm circa 1980s?