Why do adults place grown up ideas on children's characters.

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This is sort of a spin off from one of the other threads.

I was looking up Ernie and Bert...from sesame street, and find out there are people who claim Bert and Ernie are Gay.  

Now, everybody knows Ernie is not mature enough for a grown up relationship. (Bert.. maybe)   So, why do adults place grown up ideas on these kid's show characters?  

I'm not being snarky.. I want to understand why a kid's show can't just be a kid's show.. for kids.

[SuburbanHippie]

Because people are bored.

Because thinking about Bert and Ernie being gay makes watching Sesame Street more tolerable when you're 20-40 years old.

Because people think it's funny to make more out of something than is really there.

Because people enjoy conspiracy theories.

Just a couple thoughts.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

Being gay is no more a grown up idea than people having families or being married or having a 'mom' and a 'dad' are 'grown up' ideas. Many children with gay parents/ family/friends also watch tv and to them being gay is as normal and part of life as being straight.

Now talking cars in heterosexual relationships is one of the weirdest things I can imagine, but it seems to make millions of dollars!

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Originally Posted by tbone_kneegrabber 


Now talking cars in heterosexual relationships is one of the weirdest things I can imagine, but it seems to make millions of dollars!

I still haven't seen either of those movies.  I kinda want to.
 

[tbone_kneegrabber]

Originally Posted by nextcommercial 

Originally Posted by tbone_kneegrabber


Now talking cars in heterosexual relationships is one of the weirdest things I can imagine, but it seems to make millions of dollars!

I still haven't seen either of those movies. I kinda want to.

Neither have I but I saw the preview the other day and was like 'huh? Wah?'

[eclipse]

I don't think being gay is a grown up idea, do you? They live without parents, so they clearly aren't meant to be children. They're either in a relationship, or they're roommates. Neither one of those is an "adult idea."

[CatsCradle]

It's all a perceived conspiracy to encourage children to think they want to be gay, or that they want to be gay.  Didn't you hear?  Bert, Ernie, Elmo, all those fun-loving, sing-songin' types, they are designed to promote the gay agenda.  Designed by gays, promoted by gays.  Intended to make our children gay!  Our children are in grave danger!  (shrug and eye roll...sorry my emoticons are not loading right now).

I wouldn't be so snarky if this wasn't an argument that I've heard before (the argument that there's a gay agenda).  It's ludicrous. 

Edited to add that normally when I hear people complaining of the gayness of puppets and characters designed to appeal to children, it is usually in the context of protesting the presentation of the "gay agenda" to children.  As an artist and a puppeteer myself, it just leaves me very cynical.  Even if Bert and Ernie are gay, and that was the intention of the producers, there's no agenda to convert straight children to gay children.  Roommates, gay guys, brothers, whatever.  

Edited by CatsCradle - 6/16/11 at 7:19pm

[Honey693]

Originally Posted by eclipse 

I don't think being gay is a grown up idea, do you? They live without parents, so they clearly aren't meant to be children. They're either in a relationship, or they're roommates. Neither one of those is an "adult idea."

This is what I thought.  Almost all the other characters have parents and they don't.  So I assumed they were roommates when I was little and gay now b/c there's enough straight couples on that show.

[Marissamom]

Originally Posted by Honey693 

This is what I thought.  Almost all the other characters have parents and they don't.  So I assumed they were roommates when I was little and gay now b/c there's enough straight couples on that show.

I'm pretty sure at some point Bert was dating a female character
 

[eclipse]

Maybe he's bi. . .(but I don't remember Bert ever dating anyone)

[Marissamom]

I don't think he's bi, he has lived with Ernie the entire run of the show. I don't think they would have a Sesame Street character living with someone romantically and dating someone else. 

[Chamomile Girl]

I'm pretty sure Burt and Ernie were based on The Odd Couple actually.

As to why ascribe an adult agenda to kids characters?  Well, maybe because they are created by adults.

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by Chamomile Girl 

I'm pretty sure Burt and Ernie were based on The Odd Couple actually.

As to why ascribe an adult agenda to kids characters?  Well, maybe because they are created by adults.

So did people think that the Odd Couple also promoted the 'gay agenda'?

I always assumed Bert & Ernie were brothers. They certainly bickered like brothers.

Can't there just be platonic roommates? To paraphrase a famous psychiatrist: Sometimes a roommate is just a roommate. But I guess some people can't see that.

[MusicianDad]

Originally Posted by nextcommercial 

Now, everybody knows Ernie is not mature enough for a grown up relationship. (Bert.. maybe)  

Curious how we all "know" this since I don't remember either of them being given an age.

[eclipse]

Originally Posted by MusicianDad 

Curious how we all "know" this since I don't remember either of them being given an age.

I assume the PP meant the Ernie is not emotionally mature enough. And was joking.

[Cyllya]

I think she meant his emotional maturity, rather than his age. (I can think of other TV characters who are explicity in grownup relationships without being mature enough, though the only ones who come to mind are not on kid shows.)

Add me to the group that doesn't see homosexuality as a grownup idea. Is heterosexuality a grownup idea? Should there not be any couples in kids shows? I don't think Bert and Ernie are supposed to be a gay couple, but I wouldn't care if they were. (Of course, the show's creators can't make them literally gay because of all the homophobes out there....)

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Originally Posted by eclipse 

 

I assume the PP meant the Ernie is not emotionally mature enough. And was joking.

Thank you.

Yes, I was being sarcastic.  

Anyway.. my point is, as an adult, some kid's shows creep me out.  But, when I saw them as a kid, they were great.. I had no weird feelings about them back then.  But, I look at them through the eyes of an adult, and I wonder "how did I not know HR puffinstuff was a pervert!!??"  (he wasn't..but, I look at things differently now)  I think Yo Gabba Gabba is creepy.  But, I haven't wondered where the characters sleep at night, or who they are sexting after the show.

My point is, why can't Ernie just be Ernie?    

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Are_Ernie_and_Bert_gay%3F  <--OK.... I'll admit.. this was sorta funny... especially the magazines and the puzzles at the bottom.  BUT ONLY because I have a dry sense of humor, and those magazines made me laugh.  

I guess, i'm just now hearing about all this... apparently it's really old news.  

[Linda on the move]

Any other fans of the show Friends?  There was this GREAT episode where Phoebe got a gig singing at a children's program at a library, and she wrote songs for them explaining the world. One went:

"Sometimes men like women.

Sometimes men like men.

And then there are bisexuals, most folks say they are just kidding themselves.

La lala la la la."

It was brilliant. She had another great song farms animals:

"The cow on the farm says moo.

The cow on the farm says moo.

And the farmer hits it in the head.

And that's how we get hamburger."

She was asked never to return to the library again because the parents complained, but the children followed her to the coffee shop, referring to her as "The lady who tells the truth"

[meemee]

wait so let me get this straight.

a kids show IS a kids show right? in the eyes of a child. the kids are not hearing about the characters being gay right?

its the adults having a parallel universe constructing all sorts of conclusions. 

maybe coz they want to link something back to childhood to relate to teh warm and fuzzies. if bert and ernie were gay then gaydom cant be that bad can it?!!!

or you look at it the other way.

remember rev? jerry falwell and tinky winky's purple colour and triangle and dipy's read purse controversy? aaaaaah those teletubbies!!! 

oh no you teletubbies creators are indirectly brainwashing my kids by using gay symbols. i really think Falwell believed that. 

[annettemarie]

I bet there is Bert and Ernie fan fiction.