Gay overtones?!?
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Kastore — 16 years ago(August 09, 2009 07:02 PM)
I grew up on this show and never picked up on any of that. The examples you mention were intentionally done to either set up a joke (prime example - the skit where Alisdair is naked in the library while studying body parts) or to fit with the scene (the boys were actually fairly well covered-up in the dungeon scenes).
So no, no gay overtones that I can detect. Although one could make a definite argument for WAM fetishism underlying the slime/water gimmicks.
If I ever go down, I hope I don't get the Potato Judge. -
BruciferTX — 15 years ago(April 03, 2011 06:48 AM)
You didn't mention your age at the time you were watching the show, but if you were, like I was, a teenager, about the same age as Alasdair (odd spelling!) or better yet Kevin Kubusheskie, then no, you were not a freak. You were, as you said, 'just a homo' teenage boy, who enjoyed seeing shirtless boys in a very male-oriented atmosphere (locker room) or in a vulnerable situation (dungeon). Not sure what year I discovered it, but when it first aired (Feb 1979) I was 11 years old. And I know for a fact that I knew I was gay by the end of that school year. Well, I knew I liked boys instead of girls - not sure if I knew yet that the word 'gay' also had that meaning, in addition to the usage in the Flintstones theme song. LOL!
But I know I discovered the show sometime between then and finishing high school, and I know ONE of the reasons I liked it so much was that it DID show cute boys with their shirts off, and sometimes chained up or tied up (in front of the firing squad) and that that appealed to me beyond the humorous element. And I DEFINITELY remember having a MAJOR crush on Kevin with his beautiful long hair! And I think I probably saw Christine (Moose) as the 'best friend' type of girl considered (I would learn MUCH later in life) as a 'f*g-hag'. [SERIOUSLY, though, we REALLY need to come up with a better term than that! Maybe 'Fruit Fly'?] ANY way, I digress.
I have to agree with the prior comment about the content not being intentionally written with a 'Gay Overtone' (or undertone), but it definitely had a homoerotic element for me, just like this new 'Ultimate Fighting' show on Spike! LOL! -
coreydude — 14 years ago(July 16, 2011 06:40 AM)
as a gay teen myself in 1980s i certainly enjoyed those hot shirtless boys showing some skin. no way you can make a childrens show today that has a cute bare chested 14 yr old boy chained spreadeagled to a dungeon wall. the nanny state would go balistic.
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chrbubb-386-447636 — 12 years ago(June 16, 2013 06:13 PM)
I've been watching the formerly "missing" episodes from the original 1979 season and there are a few gay overtones in some of those episodes.
In one episode
Gordon Smith: Dad, can I take the Corvette to the dance tonight?
Lance: Don't you wanna take a girl instead?
Gordon: Aww, but Dad (brief pause while he lets his wrist sort of dangle in a "stereotypically gay" manner)
In another, the kids announce a disco dancing contest for couples only, and Kevin Somers mentions (albeit in sort of a joking way) that same-sex couples are welcome to participate as well "if that's what you like" or something like that. -
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carrowsboy — 9 years ago(April 20, 2016 06:44 AM)
The show certainly had an undoubted level of kink to itespecially to be centered around kids.
Little boys in drag, an alcoholic politician for a father, a sleazy stage manager always talking about going to see a "dirty" movie to a group of kids aged 8-12, etc
I mean the show was originally titled 'Whatever Turns You On.'
That had to have raised a few eyebrows. -
crakker_jakk — 9 years ago(May 22, 2016 09:39 PM)
I don't know that there was anything necessarily intended to be gay.. I wouldn't say there's anything "freaky" about it, I just think gay kids will be attracted to cute boys the same way other boys probably had crushes on the girls on the show. Combined with the fact that the target demographic (as well as the cast) was adolescent kids, it probably just sticks in ppl's minds as having a sexual slant because 80s kids were developing sexually when they watched it.