filmov
tv
Rob McElhenney on Bullseye: Regrets about transphobia on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Показать описание
Rob McElhenney on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn! In the first few lines, Jordan is referring to his show Mythic Quest. Full podcast can be found here or on most podcast streaming apps:
Transcript:
Jordan: Is there something that you’ve tackled on the show [Mythic Quest] that was, kind of, particularly difficult or, kind of, challenging to wrap your head around?
Rob: [Beat.] Um. [Sighs.] From—well, no. Not really. I mean, I would say—with Sunny, [chuckles] Sunny, we swim in very dangerous waters from time to time. And I think we take real big risks, with that show. Although, you know, our heart—we believe that our heart is always in the right place and we’ve made a lot of mistakes, over the years, in terms of—in terms of, like, how we approach certain subjects. And then we’ve, over time, tried to ameliorate some of those. But, like, with Mythic Quest—to me—because of the nature of the show and the tone of the show and what we’re going for, it doesn’t feel—to me—as though we’re wading in those same waters.
Rob (Cont): Even though—I mean, honestly, sometimes it—what’s really interesting is sometimes the writers on the show or the actors are—they’ll be like, “Oooh, I—this is crazy. Are we really gonna say that? Are we really gonna get into that?” And, like, I’m like, “Wait—what do you mean?” And they’re like, “Well, that’s like—that—that seems like really out—out there.” And I’m like, “Oh. Right.” Like, my governor—my internal [chuckling] barometer for, like, what’s pushing the limits of what people will accept in a—in a comedy has just been, like, demolished by Sunny. Like, I feel like on Sunny, we got so far—and that’s the nature of the show—that sometimes I forget, like, in a civilized—like if we’re—if we’re—if we have, like—if we’re going for a certain audience, they’re gonna be clutching their pearls a place where I would have no idea what anybody’s talking about.
Jordan: [Chuckles.] Is there something from Sunny—it’s interesting that you mentioned, kind of—now that the show’s been going on for as long as it has, like, you have an opportunity to kind of like… you know, correct some things that you wish you had said differently or done differently. Can you think of any specific ways in which the show has done that? And, yeah, I’d just love to hear a little bit more about, kind of… looking at your past work and either revising it or commenting on it.
Rob: Yeah, well one thing we—[sighs] we have a character that we introduced in the first season, who is a transgender person. And we were referring to her—and, by the way, that—we always went out of our way to make sure that it was very clear that we were always the bigots. We were always the transphobic people, the homophobic people, the racist people, the—because these people are sociopaths. And that, in the end, they always lose. And that when we were presenting any characters—any characters, really, but mostly characters from marginalized groups, that the joke was never, ever on them and that we were, like, bullying anybody—whether on the show or from the show’s perspective, on a macro level. That doesn’t mean we didn’t make mistakes along the way. It just means that, from my perspective, our heart was in the right place, but we were just ignorant about the specifics. And that’s no excuse. We needed to educate ourselves and we didn’t for various reasons. But over time, we started to recognize certain things.
Rob (Cont): And I—one of the specifics was realizing that we were referring to her with a word that we did not think was a slur, that it turns out is and was. And there’s just no excuse for that, other than we were ignorant. So, we can’t retroactively—nor should, I think—nor do I think we should retroactively go back and change anything. It is what it is, and it was what it was. What we can do is, as we move forward—and I think it was, like, I don’t know, five or six seasons ago, we started using the proper pronouns and the proper—where it made sense—and the proper way to address that particular character. Because there was a difference between the characters themselves using slurs and the intention behind it. Because, again, these are homophobic, racist people and they’re going to do that from time to time. But that it was understood that the filmmakers were not recognizing those words as appropriate to say.
Rob (Cont): So, those are, like, the lines that we’re always kind of like making sure that we’re crossing as characters to make a point—because it is a satire—but not crossing those lines as filmmakers or as a show, because then you’re not making any point. You’re literally just making a show that’s homophobic or racist. Or in this case, transphobic.
Transcript:
Jordan: Is there something that you’ve tackled on the show [Mythic Quest] that was, kind of, particularly difficult or, kind of, challenging to wrap your head around?
Rob: [Beat.] Um. [Sighs.] From—well, no. Not really. I mean, I would say—with Sunny, [chuckles] Sunny, we swim in very dangerous waters from time to time. And I think we take real big risks, with that show. Although, you know, our heart—we believe that our heart is always in the right place and we’ve made a lot of mistakes, over the years, in terms of—in terms of, like, how we approach certain subjects. And then we’ve, over time, tried to ameliorate some of those. But, like, with Mythic Quest—to me—because of the nature of the show and the tone of the show and what we’re going for, it doesn’t feel—to me—as though we’re wading in those same waters.
Rob (Cont): Even though—I mean, honestly, sometimes it—what’s really interesting is sometimes the writers on the show or the actors are—they’ll be like, “Oooh, I—this is crazy. Are we really gonna say that? Are we really gonna get into that?” And, like, I’m like, “Wait—what do you mean?” And they’re like, “Well, that’s like—that—that seems like really out—out there.” And I’m like, “Oh. Right.” Like, my governor—my internal [chuckling] barometer for, like, what’s pushing the limits of what people will accept in a—in a comedy has just been, like, demolished by Sunny. Like, I feel like on Sunny, we got so far—and that’s the nature of the show—that sometimes I forget, like, in a civilized—like if we’re—if we’re—if we have, like—if we’re going for a certain audience, they’re gonna be clutching their pearls a place where I would have no idea what anybody’s talking about.
Jordan: [Chuckles.] Is there something from Sunny—it’s interesting that you mentioned, kind of—now that the show’s been going on for as long as it has, like, you have an opportunity to kind of like… you know, correct some things that you wish you had said differently or done differently. Can you think of any specific ways in which the show has done that? And, yeah, I’d just love to hear a little bit more about, kind of… looking at your past work and either revising it or commenting on it.
Rob: Yeah, well one thing we—[sighs] we have a character that we introduced in the first season, who is a transgender person. And we were referring to her—and, by the way, that—we always went out of our way to make sure that it was very clear that we were always the bigots. We were always the transphobic people, the homophobic people, the racist people, the—because these people are sociopaths. And that, in the end, they always lose. And that when we were presenting any characters—any characters, really, but mostly characters from marginalized groups, that the joke was never, ever on them and that we were, like, bullying anybody—whether on the show or from the show’s perspective, on a macro level. That doesn’t mean we didn’t make mistakes along the way. It just means that, from my perspective, our heart was in the right place, but we were just ignorant about the specifics. And that’s no excuse. We needed to educate ourselves and we didn’t for various reasons. But over time, we started to recognize certain things.
Rob (Cont): And I—one of the specifics was realizing that we were referring to her with a word that we did not think was a slur, that it turns out is and was. And there’s just no excuse for that, other than we were ignorant. So, we can’t retroactively—nor should, I think—nor do I think we should retroactively go back and change anything. It is what it is, and it was what it was. What we can do is, as we move forward—and I think it was, like, I don’t know, five or six seasons ago, we started using the proper pronouns and the proper—where it made sense—and the proper way to address that particular character. Because there was a difference between the characters themselves using slurs and the intention behind it. Because, again, these are homophobic, racist people and they’re going to do that from time to time. But that it was understood that the filmmakers were not recognizing those words as appropriate to say.
Rob (Cont): So, those are, like, the lines that we’re always kind of like making sure that we’re crossing as characters to make a point—because it is a satire—but not crossing those lines as filmmakers or as a show, because then you’re not making any point. You’re literally just making a show that’s homophobic or racist. Or in this case, transphobic.
Комментарии