SIGNAL BOOST: What a crappy, tacky, EMBARRASSING move. Sounds like Jada deserved her prize, and that her school can’t handle a student’s critique!
Signal Boost: From Casey:
From Amazon Watch, please sign this petition to protect the
indigenous people of Brazil by stopping the Belo Monte Monster-Dam:
(there are other petitions to sign on the site, too)
Signal Boost: Time to pass the hat!
What the hell?? Nonprofit sterilizing clients since 1997.
Whitney Houston may not be played by a black actress. What. Maybe they mean Rihanna?
Why I am a Male Feminist
On Misogyny and Rape Culture in Geekdom.
Navajo Nation sues Urban Outfitters. About gotdamn time!
Albany to bar condoms as evidence of prostitution.
From Casey:
From the Daily Mail (more like Daily FAIL), a “controversial” new
study says that having runway models larger than a size zero would
“encourage unhealthy eating habits and worsen the obesity epidemic”.
From Jenn:
Lucy Lawless was arrested along with six Greenpeace New Zealand companions after they boarded a Shell-owned oil-drilling ship to prevent it from leaving port for the Arctic.
From Raeka:
This might be better on What Privilege, but it was such an
interesting link I had to send it.
A story of love!
Oh wow. A series of FB messages from a girl who got a new tattoo. It looks like elaborate trolling.
Response to homophobic, classist, and racist Smith alum rant.
LGBT language FAIL. I’ve interviewed T before here. He responds to reader concerns here.
From Nuri:
I found this kinda sexist…
From Azzy:
New findings suggest that “privilege promotes dishonesty”.
A senator I can get behind!
From Casey:
From Shakesville; Utah has passed a bill allowing schools to abolish sex ed class and those who keep the courses are prohibited from teaching about how to use contraceptives because “sex outside marriage is devastating”.On racebending
The anniversary of the 228 incident
On human trafficking, and immigrant transgender women.
From Casey:
From the Freakin’ Awesome Network Forums, current WWE Champion CM
Punk and Chris Brown are having a “Twitter war”. It’s gotten to the
point where WWE is acknowledging it on their TV programs and website
so people are starting to think Brown will be involved at Wrestlemania
in some capacity.
Does the gender binary still have a place in modern Wicca?
Rush Limbaugh calls a politically active and aware woman a slut. Also he wants to watch feminists have sex.
From Casey:
Bronies on DeviantArt are bawwwing about how awful and MEEN people
are for calling out Derpy Hooves being an ableist character.
From Casey:
Apparently, CBS casted Lucy Liu as as Watson in their own version of
Sherlock called “Elementary” and everyone (besides me) is upset about
it. Basically, they’re saying “I’m not trying to be sexist BUT HOW
DARE THEY MESS WITH TRADITION, ALL THE MAIN CHARACTERS ARE SUPPOSED TO
BE MEN BLARGH!”
Woman denied communion at mother’s funeral.
Gorgeous revamps of Disney ‘ships.
FB lawsuit.
The changing demographics of Christianity.
More on Derpy.
Single parenthood—–> child abuse!!!
I guess entrapment only is a “thing” when you’re legally an adult.
{ 43 comments… read them below or add one }
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HO-LEE SHIT. That Bakhtanians guy is like the (literal) king of the neckbeards if he thinks NOT sexually harassing people when you play Street Fighter is like being in North Korea. And LOOOOOOOOOL at him (and Rea) saying Starcraft is ~so~ much better when it comes to this sort of thing. *coughs and points to the Starcraft2 article on this site*
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
I’ve watched 3 different reality t.v. shows about tattooing actual human beings with permanent images, and somehow shows about “nerd culture” are worse than all of them!
It’s entirely too bad Limauggh didn’t make his request last week, because then I could have made videos of what my periods have been looking like, and get some opinions on whether or not it’s worth paying money to keep that nightmarish business from ever happening again. I’m hopefull month two birth control will make ‘em calmer instead of just predictable, although I’m very sad to report taking contraceptives hasn’t increased the amount of sex I’m having at all.
Of course, no one on his side is saying anything with the least bit of substance beyond screaming at people for being women, so there’s a limited value in engaging at all.
I sort of harumphed at the Lucy Liu casting, but only because it looks a lot like a “quick! add tits!!” move. Well, also because Do we really need make Sherlock all over again just to put it in America?
Byron Hurt is cool!
Quib(Quote) (Reply)
I really hate it when people say that a particular move is like a quick-add-tits or a quick-add-brown when a canonical character is cast as a woman or POC. I mean, have you seen Lucy Liu’s career? She’s not hurting for work. If it was a new character, then yeah, maybe I could see that… or if she was being cast as Irene Adler, who’s now been re-written as an unstable bisexual or as an ingenue. As is? I’m looking at the character bio and seeing that it’s the kind of bio normally presented for a male sidekick; I’m seeing a fairly powerful Asian-American actress cast for the part; I’m seeing fans FLIP THEIR SHIT over a book series they may or may not have read, and a TV series that, to be frank, I KNOW some of my USian friends only fanwank to because of its “quintessentially British nature.” Sooooo… yeah.
Maria(Quote) (Reply)
Jada Williams’s treatment is appalling.
Whitney Houston may not be played by a black actress. What. Maybe they mean Rihanna?
I sure as hell hope they mean not necessarily American rather than not necessarily Black.
I’m seeing a fairly powerful Asian-American actress cast for the part; I’m seeing fans FLIP THEIR SHIT over a book series they may or may not have read
Some of the comments in the linked article are definitely thick with the misogyny. But I have to admit to being pretty purist when it comes to adaptations; I don’t like the idea of a female Watson any more than I like the idea of a modern Holmes, or an Irene Adler who’s in love with Holmes, or a Holmes who ways “elementary” all the damn time.
Those things aren’t alike from a feminist perspective of course, but when it comes to Holmes and Watson, I’d be more intrigued by a version that flipped both rather than just the sidekick.
SunlessNick(Quote) (Reply)
Maria,
The excuses they’ve now trotted out like “IT’S RUINING THE PRECIOUS, PRECIOUS HO-YAY** BETWEEN HOLMES AND WATSON” and “I DON’T EVEN LIKE LUCY LIU ANYWAY, SHE’S NOT EVEN A GOOD ACTRESS SHE’S SO BOOOOOOORING” is just pissing me off worse now.
**How long has the whole Holmes/Watson “ship” been around or teased at in the series, anyway? I thought Sherlock Holmes was asexual.
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Reading the article about how the priest treated Barbara Johnson at her own mother’s funeral just about broke my heart. How do you even begin to justify treating someone like that? I hope she gets a lot of support.
As for the Sherlock casting nontroversy, I can understand why some fans are huffing and puffing but honestly, this is great casting — Liu is fantastic and it’s an interesting take on two characters that, in my opinion, transcend gender. Sherlock is the brilliant detective but with flawed interpersonal skills, Watson is the loyal friend, able to see in Sherlock what no one else can: great humanity. Nothing of that is specifically male OR female. But fanbois will bleat. Bleh.
Isn’t this similar to the fanboi furore over the casting of Idris Elba as Heimdall in Thor? And yet, despite all their nonsense, Elba was easily one of the best things about Thor.
I wish that I could say that Bakhtanians, or people like him, are rare in gaming but they’re not: that rhetoric is endemic. As Casey said, it’s in Starcraft, but it’s also across the entire 360 community, PSN, almost everywhere, basically.
Oh and try to avoid the recent cinema release Project X, it’s utterly horrific by all accounts, complete and utterly male gaze/priveledge focused from start to finish with absolutely NO redeeming message whatsoever. Here’s a review that hints as to why it’s so dangerous: http://badassdigest.com/2012/03/01/project-x-is-actually-pretty-fun-and-thats-what-makes-it-dangerous/
Fairfield(Quote) (Reply)
Yeah, I’ve seen a couple of valid criticisms of Liu’s casting, along the lines of “Oh, so you just happened to cast an Asian woman as the version of Watson that’s a failed surgeon instead of a veteran war medic?” Also, “Why cast a woman in the touchy-feely-caretaker role instead of the unstable-genius role? Or both?”
But most of the criticisms have been exclusively her race and gender, as if Joan Watson was somehow less Watson than John Watson.
~~~
I don’t know if the NY Times article about language trends among young women sexist itself, or if it’s just reporting on a social phenomenon that is sexist. I mean, I pick up a patronizing attitude of “Look! It turns out women aren’t annoying after all!” but I honestly can’t decide whether that patronization is supposed to be directed at women or at people who think women are annoying.
~~~
I “love” how The Pill is inherently sexual to jackasses like Rush Limbaugh, as if there were no possible other reason to take it, but not one peep about Viagra. It really says something when a pill to make uteri menstruate properly, prevent ovarian cysts, clear up acne, and prevent pregnancy is seen as more sexual than a pill to make penises erect.
I’m getting really tired of “sex” meaning “female sex”.
Sylvia Sybil(Quote) (Reply)
How in the world could that lady who made derpy be an advocate for disabled people and yet have never heard the word “ableist”. What bullshit.
NN(Quote) (Reply)
I believe only Rush Limbaugh could take “I would like access to contraception” and make it “I want to be paid to have sex.”
That man has serious logic issues.
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
^ Ugh, I know. Especially considering one of the writers pointed out he uses viagra. I hate these freaking double standards.
Also, all of the comments on the CBS Lucy Liu thing seem to be along the lines of “Great, now there’s going to be sexual tension/DRAMA”. Because you know, that’s all female characters are good for.
Juliana(Quote) (Reply)
Juliana,
Unfortunately, based on previous experience with network TV series, that’s all they think female characters are good for, so I don’t think it’s odd for many to expect it. TV writers rarely see any other way to deal a male and female relationship that doesn’t involve sexual tension.
I don’t really see why they’re bothering to make the connection to Sherlock Holmes at this point. It’s not in London, and Watson’s a disgraced surgeon instead of a doctor and war veteran injured in the line of duty (and a female Watson could have been a doctor in Afghanistan in the modern setting). Why not be like the many other shows who homage it quite openly (House being one of them with House and Wilson’s last names being homages to Holmes and Watson) instead of using the names with one genderflip?
Seems like they’re riding the coattails of the success of Sherlock at this point. I wouldn’t be surprised if they changed the name or lessened the connection to the source even further later on though. They’re getting attention with it now, and that’s what they want.
Since it will be episodic television versus the movie length style of Sherlock, I expect it to be much more procedural, like many other CBS shows. Nothing wrong with that, I watch some of them, but with the potential for 20+ 45-minute episodes versus 3 90-minute movies per season, it’s a totally different game that will be afoot, no matter the genders involved.
Nialla(Quote) (Reply)
Juliana,
But no one’s forcing companies to pay for it, dontcha see?
Eh, Limbaugh is, frankly, a fucknugget.
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
Also, Jada Williams is the kind of student teachers should encourage, not try to stifle, FFS. That her observation was one people didn’t want to contemplate themselves should make them wonder why they don’t want to think about it, which is what education is all about. She, at thirteen, has a firm grasp on something I wouldn’t have even considered until well into adulthood, because of my own privilege.
sbg(Quote) (Reply)
Nialla,
I hear what you’re saying, but you’re ignoring the racialized aspects of fandom responses. When you see images of white, British Victoriana Watson, white British Victoriana Watson, and then Lucy Liu in contemporary clothing with a gun, and the caption reads, One of these things is not like the other? They’re not just talking about her being a girl.
Maria(Quote) (Reply)
NN,
It would definitely be ideal for progressive and activist groups to be visible and pervasive enough that everyone has a chance to be familiar with their messages, but there’s still more work to be done. It isn’t reasonable to expect every person in, or connected to oppressed groups to be aware of all, or even most, parts of related activism.
“Abelist” is kinda specific vocabulary, and while it’s fair to criticize not knowing it, I don’t think it’s any kind of proof of insincerity or lack of involvement.
Maria,
Sorry, I really did not mean to criticize the actress, or her abilities. I’m not sure how best to, or if I can, separate that from “in the process of Americanizing an existing franchise, the production company cast a person known for being exceptionally attractive for a role that is not typically a sexy one, and that looks like an attention grab”.
I also think it’s important to recognize and acknowledge that a person getting a job is not responsible for that job taking advantage of them, or the means or reasons that created that job.
While I’m not following this series beyond reading about it on blogs, it seems like a fair question to ask “Are they giving her this part because they think she is the best possible Watson, or because they think adding her picture will make the series new and sexy?”
And now, I remember the 30 seconds of the Pilot of the American remake of ‘Spaced’ I managed to stomach, and I want there to be a law against Americans copying British t.v. series.
Quib(Quote) (Reply)
Jada Williams is a hero, just for pointing that out.
I loooove the study on privilege and dishonesty. I think while poorer groups have more incentive to lie and cheat, they get worse results for using those methods – often losing hugely. So they learn, “It doesn’t work for me.” Privileged people don’t get bad results from lying and cheating, so they are more likely to engage in those behaviors. It’s not rocket science, but I’m glad these researchers went to so much trouble to demonstrate scientifically something that’s intuitive to any keen observer of human nature.
I also love that they noticed Prius drivers being more unethical than most. My first thought was “cyclists” – while loads of cyclists are careful and reasonable, many drive in ways that are unethical, illegal and even deliberately traffic snarling, and I’ve always suspected it’s because they think they’re saving the Earth, so they should be catered to. They may even think they’re rightfully punishing the horrid car drivers. Of course, a lot of cyclists around here are exceedingly wealthy – they either don’t need jobs, or they were given a company for their 21st birthday so it’s okay if they swan into work looking like they’ve just been bike riding. And of course, you just know they’d fire the receptionist if she did the same thing instead of showing up in a lovely dress and looking cute.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
The sterilization link was interesting. There is a lot going on with that organization, and some of it does seem nefarious. It does need to be investigated, and the organization should consider the changes that have been suggested by CARA (Communities Against Rape and Abuse) and BPP (Black People’s Project). If they are sincere about their mission, beginning that conversation will only help everyone involved.
Yet I think it ties back into the current birth control conversation. Why is birth control so expensive? Who should pay for it?
What if someone wants to have their tubes tied or a vasectomy and can’t afford it? Do medicare or medicaid pay for that? I’m not sure they do. Planned Parenthood could fill that gap, but their funding is continuously under attack. Part of this is also because of the historical abuses that happened in the public sector.
Like the author of the link, I too support the rights of men and women to become parents when and how they choose.
aerin(Quote) (Reply)
aerin,
My problem with paying addicts to get sterilized is that it seems to presuppose that all addicts will forever be unsuitable for parenting. This is not true – a lot of addicts get the help they need to recover, and many recovered addicts can make very good parents. Meanwhile, an awful lot of really horrid parents are NOT addicts. It’s just not the right approach, singling out addicts this way.
I don’t think Planned Parenthood is in trouble for non-profit abuses. I think they’re in trouble because the Republicans need strawman targets like them. It’s usually Republicans, and specifically Skull & Bones types, who run the non-profits that get investigated for abuses. This goes back to the link about privileged people being more likely to be lying, cheating hypocrites than less privileged people.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
I’m quite aware that some responses are based on racial and gender issues, history of the series, etc., but not all of them are. Flip the coin and realize that not everyone is coming from that POV, so please don’t lump them into one. I actually like the idea of having a female Watson of color, but having seen too much American TV, especially broadcast network shows, it doesn’t bode well. I’m seeing a lot of people saying things along the line of “You don’t want a woman/POC in this role because you’re ___ist!” which isn’t accomplishing much other than wank.
I’ve never really cared for any of Liu’s work until she was on Southland, but it was more about me not being interested in the type of stuff she was in than her personally. I think she’s doing an excellent job there, and could do a fine Joan Watson as well, but I’m still very uncomfortable with the change from military doctor to disgraced doctor. There’s no need for that change except to “depower” her in a sense. Maybe the writers will change their mind on that point before filming begins. That would improve things a lot, IMO.
I’d also be a lot more comfortable if American shows wouldn’t adapt foreign shows while the original is still on the air. Once wasn’t a problem, mainly because Americans rarely had a chance to see the original. Now that we do, or at least many of us do (and if not, we can still know details online), it’s rather irritating sometimes. At least this one is using a different title, so I won’t have to be skimming news articles and trying to figure out which show it’s talking about. Sites that use “Being Human (UK)” and “Being Human (US)” in titles or early in articles are much appreciated.
Nialla(Quote) (Reply)
The American Sherlock Holmes series is not an adaption of the British series. I don’t know why everyone thinks it is. Sherlock Holmes is actually a book series, written in the 1880′s by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. (I thought this was common knowledge…?) Both the British and American TV shows are adaptions of that original work, not one from the other. I mean, new name, new character histories, new character demographics…what do the shows have in common, besides the “X set in modern times” trope?
As for why Americans are choosing to make this adaption now, I’m sure the success of the British TV show had something to do with it. I’m also sure the success of the Hollywood films had a lot to do with it, and the fact that crime dramas in general are big right now. It’s overly simplistic to point at a single factor as the main reason for their decision.
Sylvia Sybil(Quote) (Reply)
As a budding cycling enthusiast, I can assure you we aren’t all that bad!
Plus, even if a cyclist is being an asshole and I’m in my car, I try to remember that she is squishy while I am encased in steel. So I am extra careful, douche-iness notwithstanding.
Liking the Dr. Nerdlove site and currently archive binging. I only wish the comments weren’t so infested with “but but but it’s haaaaaard talking to girls like they’re people how will we ever procreate now??” Nice Guys. Oh well.
JT(Quote) (Reply)
Yeah, that’s why I just read the articles and run. The last time I deigned to read the comments, some asshole was wanking about how it’s ~UNFAIR~ they can’t be upset by (presumably negative) blanket statements made about straight white men because “the PC feminist womynz will tell you you can’t be offended because you have fucking privilege”.
Casey(Quote) (Reply)
Sylvia Sybil, because the difference between “homage” and “rip off” is whether you put your own new twist on the old material rather than just re-hashing it. Setting Sherlock in modern times was the British series’ unique twist, and the American version is ripping off that particular idea (as well as adapting the novels). It’s like “the Saracen character” in Robin Hood – the Robin Hood stories have been done a million times and they themselves are not copyright protected or anything, but Robin of Sherwood (UK) created a “Saracen” character who becomes one of the merry men, and then US filmmakers stole that idea for their movies, and then Robin Hood (UK) stole it again (this time with a gender flip, yawn).
So, while you’re right that they are ALL ultimately pulling from very old source material, they’re also ripping off each other’s ideas, and I don’t know how anyone else feels, but I get really tired of the lack of creativity.
JT,
Er, perhaps you missed the phrase in my comment “while loads of cyclists are careful and reasonable”?
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
Jennifer Kesler,
Enh, I disagree that setting something in modern times is a unique twist. That goes at least back to Shakespeare, whose works were often rewrites of older tales/themes. And it’s certainly popular; there are dozens of examples on TV Tropes’ Setting Update page.
I do get that American TV shows have a history of ripping off British shows. But if two different adaptions only have one non-original trope in common (and it’s the only thing I’ve seen that they do) then I don’t see it as a rip-off.
Sylvia Sybil(Quote) (Reply)
Sylvia Sybil,
Setting *something* in a new time period is not unique, but setting Holmes in the 21st century was. And it’s significant because the forensics and profiling Holmes was pioneering is now in relatively widespread usage – that posed an interesting challenge: what could Holmes contribute in a setting where the contributions Doyle originally wrote for him are now fairly standard?
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
It’s more to over all attitude in the entertainment industry of “Let’s do exactly what was just successful!” that’s got me annoyed.
The immediately preceding British series (is it even accurate to say it “preceding” when it’s ongoing, and only in something like its second season?) is the most egregious and easy to criticize, and I do know that it’s not set to be a direct remake, but I think it still counts as copying.
Ironically, I think a direct remake, like The Office is more at liberty to be novel and innovative, where the producers are sort of obligated to put a new spin on the characters and premises, as opposed to an instance where they’re trying to stay true to the same source material.
On the language article, I think where the sexism comes into play is where they talk about “women and girls”, not a subset, or group of female humans, but all or them, and still treat them like small, insular, pocket of society. Even within a specific age group “young women” aren’t a small, outside influence on society, they are society.
Quib(Quote) (Reply)
Setting Holmes in “modern times” isn’t unique to the BBC Sherlock; the Basil Rathbone Holmes solved tons of cases directly related to World War II, and he wasn’t supposed to be 120 at the time—they just hand-waved away his canon age and sent him trotting around the globe on 1940s ocean-liners and what-not. (I haven’t seen all the Rathbone Holmes-in-modern-days films, so don’t know if he ever went on a 1940s-style plane…)
There have been a few other “modern Sherlock” radio, TV, and film incarnations since. The BBC Radio series Second Holmes, for instance (which is terrible). Also props to the animation series Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, in which a cryogenically frozen Holmes is decanted in the future (which is actually kind of wonderful).
I think it is most likely that the BBC Sherlock was the direct inspiration for the upcoming US one with Lucy Liu (whom I love, and who has definitely been very complex and far from “just a glamour figure” in Southland), but I also think the BBC Sherlock is just part of a long history of making Holmes and Watson into whatever we want them to be.
JMS(Quote) (Reply)
I think I can refine the point here. Homages are okay. The problem is, there’s a big power dynamic coming into play when you talk about US film/TV makers ripping off the intellectual contributions of other cultures, inside or outside a framework of “coming from earlier source material.”
Example: Star Wars was very much a visual rip-off of the British Dr. Who of the 70s and a story rip-off of Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. Neither of them sued Lucas for stealing their ideas and adding nothing original (and Lucas considered buying the rights for the Kurosawa film, so he wasn’t unconscious of what he was doing). But then Lucas turned around a year later and sued the hell out of the original Battlestar Galactica for, um, having space ships? He alleged it looked like SW or something… as if SW looked nothing like Dr. Who or Trek or WWII fighter planes, and nobody had ever had a spaceship in their TV show before.
So I guess what I’m really fucking sick of is the American entertainment attitude that it’s okay for us to appropriate the work of filmmakers in less successful entertainment cultures, but it’s not okay for anyone else to engage in ripping off. Especially those heathen movie and music downloaders, who will for sure be the ruination of our society faster than serial killers, the nuclear bomb and those unwed mothers put together.
Does anyone understand what I’m saying? It’s part of American imperialism. We have been ripping off British TV for so long (Archie Bunker, at least, but I think it goes back further), and sometimes we pay them for the privilege. I dunno, maybe it’s part of the Special Relationship now – CIA gives them info, they give us entertainment because god knows nobody in Hollywood has the creativity of an empty pool basin.
But nobody paid Kurosawa for Star Wars (and it really, really IS nearly a shot for shot remake – do not argue with me unless you too have spent about six hours watching a scene from SW and a scene from HF and taking extensive notes). And American film/TV makers routinely scour non-English speaking films for stuff to rip off. Even if there are no real victims here (and in a nod to the current discussion, I’ll happily acknowledge this latest Holmes thang is not the very best example of the problem), it remains that Hollywood thinks they are entitled to appropriate the work of other cultures in the same way that misogynistic men think they’re entitled to order women on the street to smile – we should all be flattered by it, I suppose.
And that’s what pisses me off about this, and why I staunchly support any variation on the argument that Hollywood and US TV makers need to stop “borrowing” from other cultures, and should at the very least be thought of jackasses for doing it.
Jennifer Kesler(Quote) (Reply)
One of my favorite stories about this very phenomenon is what happened to Gilbert and Sullivan when they brought H.M.S. Pinafore to the United States. International copyright law was basically nonexistent at the time* which lead to something like almost 200 unauthorized productions none of which payed a cent in royalties between the official UK premier in May of 1878 and the *authorized* NYC premier in December of 1879. At some point during the US production someone suggested making the H.M.S. Pinafore the U.S.S. Pinafore and Gilbert got his snark on by rewriting the lyrics to “He is an Englishman” on the fly:
He is American!
Though he himself has said it,
‘Tis not much to his credit,
That he is American.
For he might have been a Dutchman,
An Irish, Scotch or such man,
Or perhaps an Englishman!
But in spite of hanky-panky,
He remains a true-born Yankee,
A cute American.
The relevant original lyrics?
He is an Englishman!
For he himself has said it,
And it’s greatly to his credit,
That he is an Englishman!
For he might have been a Roosian,
A French, or Turk, or Proosian,
Or perhaps Itali-an!
But in spite of all temptations
To belong to other nations,
He remains an Englishman!
(emphasis mine)
And yet, the guy who made the suggestion apparently missed the sarcasm and said it was brilliant. *headdesk* A few minutes later (I assume it took Gilbert that long to stop calling him an idiot in his head) Gilbert pointed out that “such words might disturb the friendly relations existing between the United States of America and the United Kingdom” and ended by declaring that “as long as H.M.S. Pinafore holds afloat she must keep the Union Jack flying.”(source)
*(In fact their next one, Pirates of Penzance, opened on Dec. 30 in England and Dec. 31 in NYC and sent 4 touring companies trained by G&S around the US that spring specifically to avoid a repeat of the problem.)
MaggieCat(Quote) (Reply)
Thanks so much for linking to my post!!
Colleen(Quote) (Reply)
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