But now, 30 years later, as society gains a better awareness of gender identity, actress Julia Sweeney is revisiting “Pat,” the character she created and performed on “Saturday Night Live.” She touches on the situation in her one-woman show, “Julia Sweeney: Older & Wider,” which she will bring to the Neptune Theatre on Feb. 1.
4 comments:
It’s so fascinating to me just how quickly times have changed! I’ll watch Cheers and cringe at a lot of the jokes/plot lines because... geez! How was that ever allowed?! The 80s sure were a super different time, even though it wasn’t even that long ago! I feel the same about Friends, even, and a joke that always comes to mind is the one where Ross does Rachel’s makeup really badly, and she says something like, “I’ll just sit next to the transvestite in purchasing.” It makes me cringe. I find Sweeney’s defense of her character interesting. She admits that it’d be in very bad taste today but is still grateful for the character and seeks to maybe make Pat a little less controversial by defending them? I think that in a lot of ways, we should appreciate the older characters and plot lines we see that’d never be shown today as evidence of how far we’ve come, and perhaps maybe as a warning that comedy comes in all forms and maybe we should seek to not take it too far with our restrictions as a society. In all, I’m glad Pat is not a character today, but I am glad that they once were.
I really don't know how this article makes me feel. Part of me understands that it was a different time, and I totally agree that its not like she was meaning to offend anyone who now identifies as gender non-binary, since everyone was just so uneducated back then. However, I think that Sweeney in this article is a little to chill about the way that that affected people. She seems to not really care about the weight of her actions. I think that the character, while problematic, also was on SNL, where lots of things are often problematic. The thing with sketch comedy shows like that is that the line of offensive and defensive is very thin. For instance, they will over characterize politicians who are democratic and fighting for what the cast members (I assume) believe. There are lots of characters on there that aren't super okay, but because of the context of the actor it is less offensive. I don't think that this character is an example of that, especially since Sweeney's defense is more denying the chraracter was even non binary. It was just a weird read to be honest.
I really like the openness here, it's a really important conversation for us to be having right now. But, the way this article is worded makes me kind of uncomfortable. On one hand, you have Sweeney obviously critically thinking about the character she played, but refuses to apologize. I don't understand how she can be "glad" that she played this character who was such a negative representation of gender non-conforming people. The idea that the concept of the character wasn't "targeted" is kind of ridiculous. I think here intent doesn't matter. SNL is so influential that there's no way to pretend it isn't. It's impossible for a show of that caliber to not be "targeted," so I think that the writing staff needs to think more critically. I understand that Pat isn't really a current character, so I hope they take this as a learning experience. I agree a lot with the idea that one of the most problematic things about the character is not that they're androgynous, but that they're androgynous and portrayed as "unattractive." So, I think there's a way for SNL to portray gender non-conforming characters without being so incredibly offensive.
This article reminds me of the current debate around the musical coming to broadway Ms. Doubtfire. This musical centers around a man pretending to be a female nanny in order to see his kids. I noted, in particular, one similar argument from the two characters about why they aren't offensive. Both say their characters are actually heterosexual males or females. I thought this was an interesting point but there can still be offense even if you are not technically representing someone who is trans or non-binary. Mostly because you are effecting public opinion and allowing there to be assumptions that negatively effect trans and non-binary people. Jokes about gender are not tasteful these days. I thought it was interesting that there was so much resistance to apologizing for creating Pat. I can understand a lack of regret for making a character that brought you success, but I feel like you could apologize for the hurt it brought to people regardless.
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