Don’t Accept HATE as COMEDY.

*********TRIGGER WARNING********

 I can’t remember the last time I walked out of a movie while it was still going. I have done it before, but it has been years. Last weekend my slave and I went on a Deadpool binge. If you haven’t seen it- then shame on you. Go out and give that bisexual, fireball of a super “hero” your money! OMG!!!  COME ON!!! There is a pegging scene!!!!   We LOVE Deadpool and saw it twice over the weekend.

At one point I really pushed for us to see Zoolander 2.  We had both really enjoyed the first Zoolander.  It was camp, fun, gay fabulous, sex positive, and only slightly fat phobic but it is a movie about fashion. What counterbalanced the fat phobia was that the stupid was so incredulous that it picked fun at the fat phobia.  So I was excited to see the second one. 

Even though I had gotten a random warning from a random co –worker that the movie was up for a Razzie. I thought “well- the tailors look OK- let’s give it a try, and if it is truly awful then we have Deadpool to fall back on”.  So we went in. Me with a hopeful heart, and my slave with an “I hope that I don’t have to divorce her after this” heart. 

Spoiler alert- she was right.  

I would like to say that it is 2016 and our film industry has caught up with our complex and growing needs as consumers.  Come on- stop laughing. Dreams can come true, pink monkeys can fly out of my butt. 

So Zoolander 2 not only took Trans phobia to the next level,   the looks-ism and classism were truly uncompromising, and the fat phobia was blatantly through the roof.  

The trans phobia centered around the introduction of “ALL”.  A trans character who was used as a comic point when it was asked if the main character, Zoolander, would be happy and proud if his son brought “ALL” home. Assuming that Zoolander’s son would be engaged to “ALL”. I was stunned, that piece went on for about 4 minutes or so, as Zoolander tries not to squirm and vomit. 

 At one point one of the main charters, Hansel, took off a mask covering his eye and part of his cheek. Zoolander went ballistic about how hideous Hansel was and begged him to recover his unspeakable features. They then panned to the scarred face.  I knew it was coming- it was a tiny “Z” shaped scar. Almost invisible, completely beautiful, and without a single jagged edge. I got a little nauseous.

I have had to come to   terms with the 4 inch scar on my forehead. I haven’t thought of it as hideous in a long time. And it usually doesn’t occur to me that others would- 

We stayed. I don’t know why, as it continued to go downhill.  

It was soon after that when Zoolander and Hansel actually said OUT LOUD that Zoolander's kid being fat made him a bad person. AND because of that Zoolander was not willing to take his own motherless son out of an orphanage, and had to be talked out of walking away from his own son completely. 

Because his son was fat.  That is the only reason. 

From there the overriding premise was that the bad guy was doing Zoolander the most amount of damage by making sure his son was fat. Not that his son had lost his mother at an early age, not that he was taken away from  Zoolander by foster care and force to live in an orphanage.  Those things were all  massive unimportant in comparison to his being fat. 

 I wanted to leave right there, but honestly, I was in denial about what I was seeing.  

It was when the bad guy kidnapped Zoolander's son  and was going to  force him  to  eat pasta, when we got up and walked. 

I am still trying to shake this message. This horrific message.  

I know the other end of the argument: “ It is a comedy about fashion, what did I expect? Didn’t I set myself up for this by going in the first place?” 

Those are fair points.

If you are an idiot. 

Why does me wanting to see a comedy about fashion mean that trans, looks, and fat phobia are a given?

  A comedy shouldn’t automatically be hateful.

Deadpool  was amazingly funny, telling,  and brilliant. It was comedy that made you think, snort, and want more. 

Not that made you walk away feeling like there was something wrong with you.

We came home and watched Spy with Melissa McCarthy. It was healing. 

I think my overall message here is:  

Don’t ACCEPT HATE as COMEDY. Not in the movies, not in your daily, lives, not in your online interactions, and especially not from each other.

Hold each other accountable.

Now.