Since everyone else is weighing in on this topic, I figured I’d throw my two cents out there.
In case you haven’t heard, Ron Howard’s new movie The Dilemma has a trailer in which star Vince Vaughn calls a car “gay.” This seems like a fairly regular occurrence these days; someone will use the word “gay” in a pejorative way. In fact, even in liberal New York City, I hear that term thrown around by tens of people a day – gay and straight – to refer to something that is not homosexual. In my opinion, using the word “gay” in that manner is inappropriate and wrong and I try my best not to use it in such a way. But, I’m not about to say that characters in films can’t use it.
There has been such an outrage over Vince Vaughn’s stupid line in a trailer for a (probably) stupid movie that they have removed the word from the trailer. Yay for equality? The issue here, for me, is that just because a character in a work of fiction is racist, homophobic, sexist, etc. it does not mean that the creator of that character is. If you disagree with the character’s use of the word, then it’s your right to not like that character. We hear things we don’t want to hear all the time and if we want to, we can be offended by everything we encounter. But once you start censoring what characters in films and literature can or cannot say, then what is the next step? Are we going to go back and remove the name “Nigger Jim” from every copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? Are we going to edit out the whole “do you know how I know you’re gay?” section from The 40 Year Old Virgin?
What I’m trying to say here is that art shouldn’t have to adhere to the standards of society; that’s why it’s art, it should stand outside of it. Now, one could make the argument that The Dilemma is hardly art, but who gets to be the arbiter of that? Art is subjective. If people want to get up in arms over the use of a possible slur in a film that will probably have no influence on their life? That’s their prerogative, but it seems like an awful waste of time.
