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The Film “The In-Laws” Made A “Gay Man Will Like Prison” Joke in 2003

Vonnegut

Vonnegut

Banned
May 27, 2018
1,082
I just finished watching the film "The In-Laws," which stars Michael Douglas, Albert Brooks, and Ryan Reynolds.

This film is about a covert deepcover CIA agent, played by Michael Douglas, trying to juggle a secret mission and his son's (Reynolds) impending wedding to the daughter of a neurotic podiatrist, played by Albert Brooks.

This movie is mediocre, at best, with tired cliches and corny jokes.

The main bad guy in the film, Thibodoux, is played by David Suchet (of Poirot fame).

Thibodoux wants to buy a stolen submarine from a Russian bad guy and Michael Douglas is brokering the deal.

Jerry, the mild-mannered podiatrist, gets caught up in this covert mission and is forced by Michael Douglas to act like he's a world-class criminal named Fat Cobra (known for having a large penis).

It becomes clear in the film that Thibodoux oux is a gay man (or at least bisexual) and is attracted to the podiatrist.

He tries to start a romantic relationship with the podiatrist, who is not gay.

Long story short, at the end of the film, the good guys save the world and Thibodoux is arrested by the FBI. As he is being hauled away, Albert Brooks looks at Michael Douglas and says something like, "you know, I think he might actually like prison." And Michael Douglas concurs.

And this movie was released in 2003.
 
DGenerator

DGenerator

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,922
Toronto, ON, Canada
"And this movie was released in 2003."

Were you born that year, or are you genuinely shocked that kind of talk was going on?

For heaven's sake, the TV hero of Summer 2000 was a retired Navy Seal who called a gay man queer all day. Furthermore, that show's all-time hero, Boston Rob, ostracized another man for being queer, orchestrating his exit and is one of the biggest fan favorites to this day.

Velocity:Design:Comfort said:
When do you think people started caring about LGBT issues OP? Obama still had to "evolve" on it even in like, 2012.
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There is a difference between "evolve" and toeing the line between a Supreme Court challenge while openly supporting a union between homosexuals, just not marriage.
 
kris.

kris.

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
3,248
I mean we could be having a conversation if this was released in 2013, but 2003 was a pretty long time ago and that's about par for the course for '03 comedy.
 
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,853
I expected more of the time period that gave us such classy films like Freddy Got Fingered

Next you'll tell me Judy Garland was in blackface in a movie in 1938
 
Finale Fireworker

Finale Fireworker

Love each other or die trying.
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,713
United States
You'd be amazed how often they drop the F slur in Will & Grace, a show that was considered progressive for its time.

The late 90s/00s were a hellscape for this sort of stuff. It is likely much, much worse than you remember it. A lot of network TV and mainstream media had only just begun to desegregate, too.
 
TheGhost

TheGhost

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,137
Long Island
2003 was a long time ago, I feel like public perception didn't fully change until 2015
When people who would normally say shit like "that's gay" or "don't be gay" realized"hey...maybe I shouldn't be saying that"

Granted there are still a ton ofshit stains that do but you see less of it in movies and TV's since then.
 

Deleted member 11413

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
22,961
People make prison rape jokes on this forum in 2019, you think 16 years ago it was better?

Homophobia and ignoring male rape/abuse victims are both massive issues in our culture, and have been forever.
 
MarsipanRumpan

MarsipanRumpan

Banned
Apr 11, 2018
2,437
Sweden
I mean the role model Spider-Man, played by Tobey Maguire in 2002 says something like "cute clothes, did your husband make those?" as an insult, in a child movie. Its bad as hell.
 
caliph95

caliph95

Member
Oct 25, 2017
35,197
I don't know why you're surprised about a joke like that in 2003 it's only fairly recently that we start to evaluate whether it's appropriate to make the billionth "men getting raped in prison lol" joke. We kept doing that joke even in like the 2010s

Also keep in mind this was way before Gay marriage was legalized or before the huge campaign where it was national news in America. I'm not saying that homophobia ended but keep in mind
 
AniHawk

AniHawk

No Fear, Only Math
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,164
i wonder what was the catalyst for these norms to become so outdated so quickly. was it millennials growing up into adults and producing more conscientious media/culture? not that it's perfect, but it feels like even five-to-ten years ago was a different world.

or maybe it's just always been this way? i dunno what people in the late-90s thought about media/culture of the mid-80s.
 
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,853
MarsipanRumpan said:
I mean the role model Spider-Man, played by Tobey Maguire in 2002 says something like "cute clothes, did your husband make those?" as an insult, in a child movie. Its bad as hell.
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Then someone made this
thats-a-cute-outfit-did-your-husband-give-it-to-29741573.png


Edit: beaten
 
wesker83

wesker83

Member
Dec 3, 2018
1,180
That joke probably wouldn't have had people up in arms in 2013. 2003 was ancient times when it came to jokes in poor taste.
 
somerandomweirdguy

somerandomweirdguy

Member
Nov 2, 2017
2,090
Buzzman said:
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Fucking ouch.

Just recently I tried to show my girlfriend a clip of Idiocracy, and out of goddamn nowhere he's dropping "fag talk" a bunch of times. Did not remember anything like that in the slightest. It's crazy the shit that was commonplace in the early 2000s.

If climate change hasn't murdered us all, in forty years I think we'll be surprised about shit even Progressives said in 2019.
 

Deleted member 11413

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
22,961
AniHawk said:
i wonder what was the catalyst for these norms to become so outdated so quickly. was it millennials growing up into adults and producing more conscientious media/culture? not that it's perfect, but it feels like even five-to-ten years ago was a different world.

or maybe it's just always been this way? i dunno what people in the late-90s thought about media/culture of the mid-80s.
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Yes, that and more marginalized people having a voice and an audience now compared to 15 years ago.
 
ElectricBlanketFire

ElectricBlanketFire

What year is this?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,863
AniHawk said:
i wonder what was the catalyst for these norms to become so outdated so quickly. was it millennials growing up into adults and producing more conscientious media/culture? not that it's perfect, but it feels like even five-to-ten years ago was a different world.

or maybe it's just always been this way? i dunno what people in the late-90s thought about media/culture of the mid-80s.
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Personally speaking, as strange as it sounds, it was the "Gay Witch Hunt" episode of The Office (2006?) that made me more aware of "joking" like that.
 
Kitten Mittens

Kitten Mittens

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Dec 11, 2018
2,368
I don't get the point of this thread. Do you think the early 2000s were good in regards to this type of humor and thus the instance you gave us is an aberration? For context, Saturday Night Live made this joke in 2013:

 
DanarchyReigns

DanarchyReigns

Member
Oct 25, 2017
34,809
Realize that LGBT rights weren't as strong back then as they are now.
Hell on early Law & Order SVU they sometimes said "tranny", and that was meant to be a pro-LGBT show.
 
Einchy

Einchy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
42,659
Kitten Mittens said:
I don't get the point of this thread. Do you think the early 2000s were good in regards to this type of humor and thus the instance you gave us is an aberration? For context, Saturday Night Live made this joke in 2013:

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Recently I played Assassin's Creed Odyssey and because that game is long as hell and I liked to do a lot of the mindless activities, I'd also watch a shit ton of SNL videos while playing it. Like, it was nonstop Odyssey and SNL for hours. It was pretty crazy seeing the type of humor they were making up until 2014 that would totally not fly now and that's just a few years ago. I think people forget how much has changed in a relatively short amount of time.

2003 is, like, a lifetime ago for this type of stuff.
 
Finale Fireworker

Finale Fireworker

Love each other or die trying.
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,713
United States
AniHawk said:
i wonder what was the catalyst for these norms to become so outdated so quickly. was it millennials growing up into adults and producing more conscientious media/culture? not that it's perfect, but it feels like even five-to-ten years ago was a different world.

or maybe it's just always been this way? i dunno what people in the late-90s thought about media/culture of the mid-80s.
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I believe it was simply social media and the internet. The rise of the internet allowed minorities and marginalized groups to meet each other, talk to each other, and consolidate in to communities with power. It allowed them to be out and open and engage with media in the same public space as everyone else. This new platform allowed them to be better seen and better heard and a lot of people who were ignorant or turned a blind eye before realized that there were real people out there who mattered.

Bigoted jokes have always been offensive and humiliating. They were just as offensive then as they are today. Black people and trans people and gay people didn't simply appear out of nowhere, you know? Something people often omit (not you) when they say things like "this is just how it was back then" was that there were just as many people back then you were hurt, offended, and degraded by this rhetoric. The difference is that nobody cared what they thought because they "weren't the audience" and didn't have a voice.

If I had to say, 2008 to 2010 is when things really started to change. It is harder to ignore the people you are degrading when suddenly they are loud, proud, and everywhere you look. Inclusivity is also good for business to capitalism did its thing too. Why alienate people you can sell shit to?
 
Br3wnor

Br3wnor

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,982
It's genuinely amazing how quickly it changed in popular culture/media when it comes to being respectful to the LGBTQ community. It's quite literally in the past 5 years that you saw real progress to the point where it's seen as out of line to make jokes disparaging LGBTQ people. Just 10 years ago no one would bat an eye at calling something gay or even calling someone a f** as a joke. And it only gets worse the further you go back.
 
DanarchyReigns

DanarchyReigns

Member
Oct 25, 2017
34,809
Br3wnor said:
It's genuinely amazing how quickly it changed in popular culture/media when it comes to being respectful to the LGBTQ community. It's quite literally in the past 5 years that you saw real progress to the point where it's seen as out of line to make jokes disparaging LGBTQ people. Just 10 years ago no one would bat an eye at calling something gay or even calling someone a fag as a joke. And it only gets worse the further you go back.
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Nowadays it's pretty common to see gay characters in cartoons for kids. A lot has progressed quite quickly.
That's probably why conservatives are in constant freak-out mode. The world is moving faster than they want it to.
 
Thrill_house

Thrill_house

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,627
Yeah, at the time my friends and I would all crack and laugh at similar jokes. Times change, people change. You may want to avoid 80s teen and comedy movies OP lmao
 
Einchy

Einchy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
42,659
Br3wnor said:
It's genuinely amazing how quickly it changed in popular culture/media when it comes to being respectful to the LGBTQ community. It's quite literally in the past 5 years that you saw real progress to the point where it's seen as out of line to make jokes disparaging LGBTQ people. Just 10 years ago no one would bat an eye at calling something gay or even calling someone a f** as a joke. And it only gets worse the further you go back.
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I would love if someone did a deep dive and compiled some data about this. If I had to guess, I'd say 2014 was when things really changed. For a few years before that I was seeing a lot of more PC/Social Justice type stuff online, but that was just on social media and places that were more political, but in 2014 it felt like all of that hit the mainstream hard. Then you had stuff like GamerGate that was VERY anti-social justice and feminism and then a year later you had Trump coming into the public view, who was seen as the candidate that was also anti-social justice.
 
caliph95

caliph95

Member
Oct 25, 2017
35,197
DanarchyReigns said:
Nowadays it's pretty common to see gay characters in cartoons for kids. A lot has progressed quite quickly.
That's probably why conservatives are in constant freak-out mode. The world is moving faster than they want it to.
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It's funny in 2014 Korra wasn't able to be explicit and in 2015 Steven universe was able to have a lesbian kiss and onscreen confirmation
 
Vestal

Vestal

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
2,297
Tampa FL
A product of its time, just like the various movies from the 80s that approved of the rape culture.(see revenge of the nerds). Its a they didn't know any better excuse, but its a reality they didn't.

Go back further and look at how Black characters where portrayed or talked about in the early age of cinema.
 
Izzard

Izzard

Banned
Sep 21, 2018
4,606
You think that's bad? Happens today still. All the time.

And if you think about it, 2003 isn't that far away from 1981, the year homosexuality was decriminalised in Scotland. Northern Ireland was 1982. I was 12 then. Born just 3 years after England and Wales decriminalised it.

And of course it's still illegal in many countries. I've come to the conclusion that, even though things have improved, we will always be hated, always be the butt of people's jokes.
 
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