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A gay misstep on "How I Met Your Mother"?
I'm a day late on this, but was anyone else vaguely annoyed by the minor "gay" sub-plot on Monday's episode of How I Met Your Mother? Desperate for money, Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) decide to try to sell Lily's paintings. They have the usual sitcom-y back luck ... until Lily manages, to her delight, to sell a painting to the arbiters of truly good taste, a "GAYCWK" — a Gay Couple Without Kids. But Marshall loves the painting and wants it back, so he goes to visit the gay couple's apartment. After Marshall inquires about the painting — "the one in the nice frame" — one of the gay guys says (in a queeny, lascivious voice): "Talk about a nice frame! You are a big one, aren't you? My, my. And you're married to that little bit of a thing. How does that work? I'd like to find out." The show pretends that Marshall, an obviously married, heterosexual man, would flattered by this creepy, totally inappropriate sexual attention, rather than having him give the correct response, which would be to tell the gay guy to go f*#& himself. I confess: I hate gay-guy-hitting-on-straight-guy humor. I hate it when frat-boy comedies cement the rock-solid heterosexuality of their main characters by having them get hit on by, and then rejecting, some queeny stereotype of a gay guy. (For the record, I also hate it when drag queens get cheap laughs by making double entendres to the hapless straight guy in the audience. Passive aggressive much?)
Anyway, you can tell who has the real power in Hollywood by looking atwho the sexual predators tend to be in movies and one television: women and gay men. Um, yeah, cause that's the way it is in real life. This whole thing was beneath How I Met Your Mother, which, after the brilliant new Robin Sparkles video "Sandcastles in the Sand" a few weeks ago, had been on something of a winning streak. I mean, the gay couple wasn't just creepy-lascivious, they were literally limp-wristed! I refuse to blame Neil Patrick Harris for this — hey, he's just another actor on the show. But did the whole thing strike anyone else as a series of gags straight out of the 1980s? Submitted by on Wed, 2008-05-14 11:29. |
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Actually I thought it was pretty funny
Thank you; I was about to
It wasn't my favorite
That might explain their
Agreed. Besides, they were
Agreed. Besides, they were somewhat mean and limp wristed in Lily's story too (and I got the impression that that one was supposed to be closer to the truth; besides, why would Lily and Marshall have the same wrong perception of the couple?).
I think just the over the top worship of Marshall was supposed to be Marshall embellishing the story.
Then Ted has the same idea too
Yes indeed. Both Ted and
Yes indeed. Both Ted and Marshall came off as very creepy in that scene in their own way in their pursuit of recognition. (ad did Lily with her own type of fawning)
If it was supposed to be funny, it certainly wasn't, not just because of how the couple was but also because of these weird and really quite inappropriate reactions the regular characters had to the couple.
It was appalling
It really struck me as odd
It really struck me as odd too because from that point on the episode went off in a slightly bizarre way. In fact from the moment Ted is told he is "Pulling Off" the red cowboy boots I was convinced it would turn out just to be a story the guys made up. It still could turn out that way I guess. HIMYM does sometimes set up a joke in one episode that gets paid off in a later one.
Regardless it was still creepy seeing such a dated stereotype played.... well i dont want to say 'straight' but you know what I meen.
I agree with you. I didn't
I agree with you. I didn't like it when I saw it, and it really wasn't funny. And also it didn't feel like HIMYM, it felt like it was from another sitcom or something. The whole episode was pretty boring as well, and I blame Britney for that.
Yes, I was annoyed too
You know, I could "almost" stomach the stereotipical way the couple was represented, lets face it there are queeny limp wristed guys everywhere. But what really got me was the way the guy hit on Marshall, it seemed too delliberate. I agree, VERY creepy and lascivious.
I mean, there would be nothing wrong with letting Marshall know he is attractive and him taking the complement like he did, almost to show that there is no need to freak out or that doing so is not ok. Was this supposed to show that, even if the come on was so extreme? Or, am I just trying to justify the brain spasm of some idiotic writers? Either way it was wrong.
Anyway, I found it strange and very disappointing, specially from this show.
It Was Very Disturbing
I wonder if this is how the writers think gay actor Neil Patrick Harris behaves when he is away from the set or off camera.
That`s It!
I officially stop watching this show from this episode on.I`m so shocked and offended that the writers of this show think that a gay couple like this would be "funny".
I mean,I would have stop watching a long time ago if it wasn`t for my hot 100 pick Mr.NPH.This "Comedy" isn`t that funny to begin with.A lot of the episodes are incredibly lame,with maybe one or two in a very long time just so so.And Britney`s so-called "Acting" is way beyond bad.
You know, I actually agree
You know, I actually agree that the characters were a little stereotypical. However, I just can't get on board with the comment about Marshall.
As I said in another comment; Marshall being flattered and casual about getting hit on is a nod to continunity. But what I forgot to mention is that during a very very early first season episode, Marshall got the idea that some guy was hitting on Lily. So he got jealous and threatened and called the dude out for a fight, when Lily said that no, the guy was gay. Marshall immediately grabbed the guy in a hug and said with relief that he had never been in a fight before so thank god!
Then the guy's boyfriend showed up, also jealous, and tossed Marshall away. Heh.
My point is, Marshall is awesome. And the show doesn't always have the gay characters be stereotypes, so it's easier for me to give it a pass.
Thats why
It was really random
"How I Met Your Mother" is one of my faves, but that particular episode just wasn't very good. I wasn't offended or anything. Just didn't find it funny. And the gay guys were totally gross.