Take A Look at Disney

6/21/13

Can We Talk about A Same Sex Couple Appearing on Good Luck Charlie





Hello and welcome back to A Look at Disney.   Today's Can We Talk about is a bit different.   Some set up,  you see I've always maintained the rule "Give every Disney show a chance".  Some, I continue, others I want to fry my brain after watching them. I'm looking at you Crash and Bernstein.  But one show, I've watched from the first episode all the way up to this season is Good Luck Charlie.  This Disney Channel show stands out because like so many of their other shows, it's not about hiding a secret identity or trying to be famous.  It's a show that is about a family that is trying to live their everyday lives.  They just happen to get in awkward situations.   It is admittedly one of my favorite shows to watch.  I've gotten a lot laughs out of this show.   The show is now it's 4th and final season.  And I'm here to talk about the B plot of an upcoming episode of this season.  The Yahoo News article, where I found this does a pretty good job of explaining this.  By the way, here's a link to said article.


Duncan parents Amy and Bob will meet the women when their young daughter Charlie hosts a playdate for a new classmate, in the B-storyline of an early 2014 episode that centers on Teddy’s bestie Ivy heading off to college.


Personally,  I don't see anything wrong with this.   I think it's a good idea.   And neither of the big kids channels that show live action sitcoms have done this.  Nick nor Disney Channel have done this before.  When I read this,   I thought to myself "Why not?"   Because this seems like a good idea.  However,  I made a key mistake in reading this article.  Never read the comments on a Yahoo article as they are filled with hatred, and blindness.   Because we had some people saying that this is pushing an agenda.  Maybe?  But I don't see it that way.   Or my personal favorite some parents claiming they don't want their kids to be brainwashed and so they won't let them watch this episode.  Really, people?!?!?!?!     I would've thought that we would have moved past in 2013! Honestly, I thought we would have moved past that in 2002.  But no, I'm wrong.    How is this brainwashing? Gasp,  a child may see that a family unit isn't always made up of a mommy and daddy.  It sometimes may be a mommy and a mommy or a daddy and a daddy.  Maybe it's because of when I grew up but to me,  if two people love each other, who are we to judge them.  And why not show this on a kid's show.  Some people need to face it,  these families are a part of our society.   These close minded people can choose to shun them but that won't make them go away.  Oh,  there is another comment that I just love and I actually have to quote this one.

Just one more example of how mainstream TV is not actually family friendly any more.


Really,  family values change over time.  Again,  families  aren't always what was shown on TV back in the day.  There is one more comment, that I have to bring up because it incensed me as a Disney fan.

And Walt is turning over in his grave.















Thanks, Charlie.








Uh, you seriously brought Walt into this.   No, no, no, no, no, no, no,no,no,no,NO!!!!!!!   This in no way shape or form involves Mr. Disney and this as *gasp* shocking as it may be did NOT need to  be said.   Look, I love and respect Walt but even I know I cannot speak for Mr. Disney.  Why? He's dead and  I didn't know him personally".  People really need to move away from the "What would Walt do?" mindset.  He doesn't run the company anymore and this show came out after he died.  He had  zip zero notta, no involvement in this.   So, why Mr. Disney's name into this? I'd also like to point out to these so well informed people that this is not the first kid's show to feature a child with two moms.



In 2005, an episode of the Arthur spin off, Postcards From Buster came under fire for featuring a child raised by two mothers. Here's a summation of the controversy from the show's Wiki page.


In January 2005 Margaret Spellings, United States Secretary of Education, criticized the show for exploring same-sex marriage. Episode #33, "Sugartime!", which features Buster visitingHinesburg, Vermont to learn about the production of maple sugar, includes Buster meeting several children who have lesbian parents. Vermont was one of the first states to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples. In the episode, the word lesbian or homosexual is never said, and the episode — like all Postcards episodes — has no sexual content. Buster meets the children and comments, "Boy, that's a lot of moms!"; one girl mentions her "mom and stepmom," adding that she loves her stepmother very much, and no other comments are made about the couple. PBS vice president of media relations Lea Sloan said at the time, "The fact that there is a family structure that is objectionable to the Department of Education is not at all the focus of the show, nor is it addressed in the show."[1] Spellings demanded that PBS return all federal funding that had been used in the production of the episode, claiming that "many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in this episode."[2] PBS decided not to distribute this episode, but some member stations across the country chose to air the episode, including WNET in New York, KCET in Los Angeles, and KERA in Dallas/Ft. Worth, which are flagship stations; and the show's co-producer, WGBH in Boston (which distributed the episode directly to public television stations after PBS's decision). Some of these stations opted to air this episode in prime-time, with some following the episode with a local discussion on the controversy. Shortly after the controversy, PBS's CEO announced she would step down when her contract expired in 2006.[citation needed] Cusi Cram, a writer for Arthur, later wrote a play titled Dusty and the Big Bad World, based on this controversy



Look at that, there was no sexual contact. Duh, it's a kid show and they never even said lesbian. The closest they came was Buster's line...

"Boy, that's a lot of moms!"



Just an observation but as you saw PBS gave in and pulled the show's funding.   Way to stick up for your show guys! Ha.   And I can already tell you that we are going to have some people who are going to protest this episode because they want to "protect the children" from seeing something so wrong.   Excuse me, from something that they don't agree with.  And I am hoping that personally that Disney Channel stands by this episode and does not pull it. Yes, Disney is family entertainment but as I've pointed out,  family doesn't always a mother and father these days.  Honestly,  I don't think something like should stir controversy but it will.  It already has and the episode hasn't even aired yet.  These are just my feelings on this.  I would've thought the world would've made a little more progression regarding stuff like this and this shouldn't be a taboo subject.   That stigma does need to exist any longer and it's slowly going away. Now if we could just get rid of these closed minded nay sayers.  What are your thoughts? Tell me in the comments. Peace!  

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