MovieChat Forums > Bring It On (2000) Discussion > homophobic

homophobic

posted 18 years ago by meganmarybrady
31 replies | jump to latest

I only caught a little bit of this film on t.v. (genre not my cup of tea), but I was surprised to hear two homophobic slurs over the span of 15mins: 'fag' and 'dyke', especially since it's a teen flick. What message are we sending to adolescents? It's okay to insult gay people? In this era of political correctness, I thought that most films have been rid this kind of stuff... or maybe I'm wrong/naive. Are all teen-comedies this anti-gay? I know that homophobia is rampant in schools, etc. But you'd think that film makers would at least try to expel it from their dialogue: there are many other insults out there to choose from!

[–] grooveyem 18 years ago

Obviously the whole 15 minutes of this film you watched you managed to miss the entire subplot of Les the gay character and the rather sweet handling of him approaching a guy he likes at the finals. The film portrays teen life and teen slang and whether we like it or not, words like 'dyke' and 'fag' these days are used all the time in teen language. It's not being homophobic and it's not meant to be too serious.

[–] savagegardenviemex 17 years ago

totally agree...

[–] babelfish1 17 years ago

To the OP, you need to grow up. Yes you are both wrong and naive!

Twelve times did the iron register of time beat on the sonorous bell metal

[–] nickschuyler 16 years ago

then why didn't we hear the "N" word (which, poetically, isn't allowed to be typed here, yet Fag is...the country still has far to go). Is that not something you hear in High Schools, too?

My guess is yes. Very Much So. The director was clueless in his handling of the gay stereotypes - the "forced kiss" with the girlfriend, the gay choreographer in leather who was unoriginal, followed by the cheerleaers (incl the cynical gymnast character played by Dushku) performing a mediocre cheer when they'd won several nationals. People are not that dumb...well, maybe the screenwriter and director were...

Sad, indeed.

On all counts.

[–] snoho 16 years ago

You people need to lighten up. They were just your basic juvenile slurs you hear everyday. You people need to really get off your computer chairs and into real life. This is how people speak, its funny how these films are aimed at TEENS looking for easy and light laughs, not adults that for some strange reason like to watch teen flicks and criticise.

"passion is what keeps us alive, without passion we are truly dead"
formerly MimiLamb

[–] jhray8417 16 years ago

"back then"? what does this story take place in the 1800's?

[–] MusicLovePoetry 17 years ago

first of all back then fag was not considered a homophobic slur, and dyke never was.

[–] jellyjammuffin 16 years ago

what? those have been slurs for so long. at least where i grew up they were. i just like how the mean girls use the "d-word" to be mean and a nice girl uses the "f-word" in a funny way. obviously missy was not trying to be mean to les. courtney and whitney were being mean to missy. i think it's just something that the filmmakers used to make us dislike courtney and whitney even more.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Harvee_Keitel 16 years ago

I want to know when was it ever a good thing for someone to pose with the sword and shield that mommy bought them for their 18th birthday. ---->http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/7778/pic5oh2.jpg

[–] SneakySam32 16 years ago

That most pathetic thing about that photo is the fact that he is wearing his pyjamas. What a fvcking loser.

"The only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased. Unprejudiced. Fair."

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Cuiv 16 years ago

As someone else mentioned, there's a sweet scene at the end when the gay character Les approaches a guy he likes.

But, just as significantly, the characters who use homophobic slurs are not exactly portrayed positively. Courtney and Whitney are the two scheming, evil cheerleaders who want to continue using plagiarized material and then try to overthrow Torrance; they're the only ones who call Missy 'dyke'. And the only people who use 'fag' are the football team members, who are portrayed as stupid perennial losers and some of whom eventually decide that they're actually jealous of the male cheerleaders.

[–] missanthropy19 16 years ago

Above poster said it correctly - the film didn't indicate that the use of these words was good and appropriate, but people do use these words (particularly teens) in their every day language and it would be unrealistic for every film to omit this type of language. The people using the language were portrayed to be bad anyway.. why do people always miss this point?

"Hey don't knock masturbation, it's sex with someone I love" - Woody Allen

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] firstwinsgop 15 years ago

I only caught a little bit of this film on t.v. (genre not my cup of tea), but I was surprised to hear two homophobic slurs over the span of 15mins: 'fag' and 'dyke', especially since it's a teen flick. What message are we sending to adolescents? It's okay to insult gay people?

The film uses homophobic slurs because it is a high school film and that's what happens in high school. I'd also note that not every use of the word "fag" is homophobic. Missy uses the word "fag" in a clearly non-homophobic context. These are common words that have both homophobic and non-homophobic uses. Stop acting like a fag and deal with it.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jefgg 11 years ago

I grew up in the '70s and '80s. Things became more tolerant in the '90s.

[–] diorlouboutin 11 years ago

Whether its politically correct or not, that is the kind of language people - and especially teenagers use.