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Monday, January 27, 2020
Rob McClure Addresses Concerns Over MRS. DOUBTFIRE's Impact On Transgender Community At BroadwayCon
www.broadwayworld.com: Rob McClure addressed concerns about how the upcoming Mrs. Doubtfire handles it's crossdressing lead character following media reports of the show seeking advice from GLAAD, amongst other LGBTQ+ advocating organizations. McClure spoke about the issue during the show's mainstage panel at BroadwayCon.
6 comments:
Kaylie
said...
I agree that it is possible for the intention to be that the farce is what makes the show funny, not necessarily the disguise itself, but I do not know if that is something we are ready for. I grew up watching Mrs. Doubtfire. I grew up laughing at those punchlines. Men dressing as women to be laughed at was very much a part of mainstream humor until maybe five years ago. I think people will still laugh at the fact that a man is dressing as a woman. I do not know exactly how long it would take for that to go away, but I believe the time has not come yet. I think it is easy to see that we are not ready for it if you look at the backlash Tootsie has seen. I appreciate what the team is doing, and I think that knowing their intentions helps, but I don't know if we are far enough removed from that hurtful history to 1. not come off as offending the LGBTQ+ community and 2. reinvigorating a set of jokes which has only just begun to be deconstructed.
I am very glad Rob McClure addressed this. Mrs. Doubtfire is something a lot of people grew up knowing and a story that was entertaining, funny, and heartwarming too many. Coming out in the 1990s, I am sure there are many issues that will be found if someone was to go back and read it's script. But the movie wasn't about making fun of a man dressed up as a woman, the movie was about getting a father closer to his children, although there was poking fun at still. Also, including Robin Williams, this popular movie is exciting for many to hear that it gets to become a musical now! I am glad Rob McClure acknowledged that the writers and everyone on the team went out of their way to not make it offensive to anyone because this is something I am concerned about. Either way, this will be a touchy subject for many, so for the show I do hope they stray from jokes towards the crossdressing and maybe even switch up the story a big so it is more accepting. I am curious to why Mrs. Doubtfire is now coming to Broadway, as if there is a reason other than giving fans another take at this story, but either way, I hope it is appropriate, funny, and an overall good time for families to spend together.
This most recent December this show was playing in Seattle before it moves to Broadway later this year. When I was home for winter break, I was able to see it with Rob McClure as the lead. While this show was in Seattle, there was a lot of talk about the show’s impact on the Transgender community and I read many articles and reviews of the show talking about this. I am glad that Rob McClure has spoken out about it because previously it seems like the whole team of the show was avoiding addressing the concerns because I could not find anything any of them had to say about it. I think the show does succeed in never making the punchline “the man is dressed as a woman and that is funny.” The punchline is always very much, this man is caught in so many lies and watching him try to keep all of his lies straight is funny. This is one song in the show that I hope they change before the show goes to Broadway. This song is called “Monster” (I think) and it is pretty much saying that Daniel is now a monster for lying to his children and getting himself so tangled in the lies. But the way the song is staged has every other character dressed as Mrs. Doubtfire surrounding him. I think the visuals of this song imply that Mrs. Doubtfire is a monster, which I don’t think is the intent of the song.
This article leaves something to be desired. The point is to say the team talked to advocacy groups but it emphasizes the wrong thing. The meaningful part of those conversations in action. Did they change anything to address concerns? Did they listen to suggestions? How is the Ms. Doubtfire team going to take those conversations into account in their production. Although I don’t believe there is any mal-intention within these conversations, it definitely frames this conversation as something for the PR manager so if any concerns arrive the team can say “we talked to the transgender community.” I think there is a lot to be said from talking but actions mean so much more than words and I would like to see how this team used those conversations in the show. Upon reading the reviews of the Seattle production it becomes clear that these talks are widely necessary. Between petitions signed by hundreds and reports of equating trans people to monsters, the show literally cannot avoid these conversations. This makes the need for actual change and action even clearer.
This article is interesting because it points out the issues that might arise when talking about cross dressing in a less reverent manner. Because of Rob McClure's reaction to this question, it is clear they had him locked and loaded in case the problem did arise. I think that it is interesting that this is being talked about more than Tootsie when it first came out, even thought the cross dressing part of that show and they way it functioned in the plot was arguably more problematic. That being said, I think that Doubtfire is handling it fairly well. What I don't understand, and I've said it on this site many times before, is why we are reproducing problematic movies on broadway instead of making any original content. Either way, Doubtfire was one of my favorite movies growing up, and I am excited to see what they try to do with this new musical. Hopefully they are as reverent as they think they are.
I really like Rob McClure, and I'm glad he addressed this, but it's not a good look. I just don't get how the movie can be adapted to make it more timely. It's just an old concept. I felt this same way with Tootsie, it's outdated and I don't get what we gain from reviving it (other than money). I get that the immediate cast and the creative team don't feel that this is offensive, but it just has the potential to hurt too many people and I don't think it's worth it. Whether or not they make a huge joke out of it throughout the show, the whole comedy of the show comes from the fact that there's a man dressed up as a woman. Yes, comedies have funny jokes throughout, but there also needs to be a funny core concept for a comedy to be funny. So, honestly the whole conversation about whether or not that's really the joke is kind of ridiculous. I just don't see much of an argument here, that's clearly the punchline. So, it's really down to what audiences are ok with, so I guess we'll see. I don't feel ok with it and it didn't seem like audiences were ok with Tootsie, so.
6 comments:
I agree that it is possible for the intention to be that the farce is what makes the show funny, not necessarily the disguise itself, but I do not know if that is something we are ready for. I grew up watching Mrs. Doubtfire. I grew up laughing at those punchlines. Men dressing as women to be laughed at was very much a part of mainstream humor until maybe five years ago. I think people will still laugh at the fact that a man is dressing as a woman. I do not know exactly how long it would take for that to go away, but I believe the time has not come yet. I think it is easy to see that we are not ready for it if you look at the backlash Tootsie has seen. I appreciate what the team is doing, and I think that knowing their intentions helps, but I don't know if we are far enough removed from that hurtful history to 1. not come off as offending the LGBTQ+ community and 2. reinvigorating a set of jokes which has only just begun to be deconstructed.
I am very glad Rob McClure addressed this. Mrs. Doubtfire is something a lot of people grew up knowing and a story that was entertaining, funny, and heartwarming too many. Coming out in the 1990s, I am sure there are many issues that will be found if someone was to go back and read it's script. But the movie wasn't about making fun of a man dressed up as a woman, the movie was about getting a father closer to his children, although there was poking fun at still. Also, including Robin Williams, this popular movie is exciting for many to hear that it gets to become a musical now! I am glad Rob McClure acknowledged that the writers and everyone on the team went out of their way to not make it offensive to anyone because this is something I am concerned about. Either way, this will be a touchy subject for many, so for the show I do hope they stray from jokes towards the crossdressing and maybe even switch up the story a big so it is more accepting. I am curious to why Mrs. Doubtfire is now coming to Broadway, as if there is a reason other than giving fans another take at this story, but either way, I hope it is appropriate, funny, and an overall good time for families to spend together.
This most recent December this show was playing in Seattle before it moves to Broadway later this year. When I was home for winter break, I was able to see it with Rob McClure as the lead. While this show was in Seattle, there was a lot of talk about the show’s impact on the Transgender community and I read many articles and reviews of the show talking about this. I am glad that Rob McClure has spoken out about it because previously it seems like the whole team of the show was avoiding addressing the concerns because I could not find anything any of them had to say about it. I think the show does succeed in never making the punchline “the man is dressed as a woman and that is funny.” The punchline is always very much, this man is caught in so many lies and watching him try to keep all of his lies straight is funny. This is one song in the show that I hope they change before the show goes to Broadway. This song is called “Monster” (I think) and it is pretty much saying that Daniel is now a monster for lying to his children and getting himself so tangled in the lies. But the way the song is staged has every other character dressed as Mrs. Doubtfire surrounding him. I think the visuals of this song imply that Mrs. Doubtfire is a monster, which I don’t think is the intent of the song.
This article leaves something to be desired. The point is to say the team talked to advocacy groups but it emphasizes the wrong thing. The meaningful part of those conversations in action. Did they change anything to address concerns? Did they listen to suggestions? How is the Ms. Doubtfire team going to take those conversations into account in their production. Although I don’t believe there is any mal-intention within these conversations, it definitely frames this conversation as something for the PR manager so if any concerns arrive the team can say “we talked to the transgender community.” I think there is a lot to be said from talking but actions mean so much more than words and I would like to see how this team used those conversations in the show. Upon reading the reviews of the Seattle production it becomes clear that these talks are widely necessary. Between petitions signed by hundreds and reports of equating trans people to monsters, the show literally cannot avoid these conversations. This makes the need for actual change and action even clearer.
This article is interesting because it points out the issues that might arise when talking about cross dressing in a less reverent manner. Because of Rob McClure's reaction to this question, it is clear they had him locked and loaded in case the problem did arise. I think that it is interesting that this is being talked about more than Tootsie when it first came out, even thought the cross dressing part of that show and they way it functioned in the plot was arguably more problematic. That being said, I think that Doubtfire is handling it fairly well. What I don't understand, and I've said it on this site many times before, is why we are reproducing problematic movies on broadway instead of making any original content. Either way, Doubtfire was one of my favorite movies growing up, and I am excited to see what they try to do with this new musical. Hopefully they are as reverent as they think they are.
I really like Rob McClure, and I'm glad he addressed this, but it's not a good look. I just don't get how the movie can be adapted to make it more timely. It's just an old concept. I felt this same way with Tootsie, it's outdated and I don't get what we gain from reviving it (other than money). I get that the immediate cast and the creative team don't feel that this is offensive, but it just has the potential to hurt too many people and I don't think it's worth it. Whether or not they make a huge joke out of it throughout the show, the whole comedy of the show comes from the fact that there's a man dressed up as a woman. Yes, comedies have funny jokes throughout, but there also needs to be a funny core concept for a comedy to be funny. So, honestly the whole conversation about whether or not that's really the joke is kind of ridiculous. I just don't see much of an argument here, that's clearly the punchline. So, it's really down to what audiences are ok with, so I guess we'll see. I don't feel ok with it and it didn't seem like audiences were ok with Tootsie, so.
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