MovieChat Forums > Adventure Time (2010) Discussion > BMO/Football episode about transgender?

BMO/Football episode about transgender?

posted 9 years ago by mrspecialinthehead
9 replies | jump to latest

I just watched the episode with Football and wondered if anyone else thought that it was indirectly talking about being transgendered? It seemed like it was done on purpose and I just thought it was a really cool idea.

*minor spoilers*

Football's speech about how it was a really hard decision for BMO and that he hopes that they treat her(Football) as nice as they treated him(BMO). The writers clearly made it a point to differentiate the him/her.

And the fact that Football spent the rest of the episode being haunted by any mirror/reflection.

There were a few other things (like Finn and Jake trying to remember to say Football instead of BMO) and it just seemed like a really cool way to cover the idea of gender identity. I thought it was an awesome episode.

[–] ToHelenBackAgain 9 years ago

I'm halfway through it now as I reply, and so far, I don't think so. BMO's always been gender-fluid, I'm not seeing anything new there.

It's a hell of an identity crisis.

ETA: Okay, having finished it, still no. It's an open question whether or not BMO's fantasies are real, given the context, but the gender play seems to me the same as it's always been. BMO sometimes identifies as male and sometimes as female, but I see no expression of a desire to change either status. Just BMO's usual escapism.

Which is in itelf interesting...

"I hate everyone. Can we go now?"

[–] Deadpool_vs_theLeprecorn 9 years ago

No, I didn't get that. But if we really want to analyze it, I would say the episode was more about Multiple Personality Disorder/Dissociative Identity Disorder.

But personally, I think it was just another episode showcasing BMO's active imagination.

[–] Satan2016 9 years ago

There is no reason AI to have gender identity, story writers are projecting. I thought it was just fantasy about reflections, like Lewis Carroll's work.

[–] mrspecialinthehead 9 years ago

I don't think the episode was literally about BMO being male or female, that would be heavy-handed and awful.

I was just saying I noticed a lot of parallels between this episode, and what a person in that situation might be going through. Just wasn't sure if the writers did that on purpose or not.

[–] Ray_BLOODY_Purchase 9 years ago

I get what you meant. I do see the parallels, but then again the parallels are also vague enough that it could relate to just about anything not a social norm a person needs "accepted" to feel whole. If not being born the wrong sexual gender for your brain, then homosexuality, or even being an atheist in a religious family.

To me, I saw a bit of a homosexuality parallel because of some of my personal thoughts on things. BMO is the 'straight' persona everyone defaults to, while Football was the closeted homosexual attraction of the individual. Upon accepting that closeted aspect, there's sometimes an internal "revolt" and that person wears their homosexuality not just as a facet of who they are, but their entire personage (The guys we all know who come out and immediately afterward become a 100% walking talking gay stereotype regardless of what kind of person they were before).

And in the end, again, sometimes the person accepts both sides of themselves. You can't hide from an element of yourself, but that hidden element shouldn't overtake everything you are, so the switch back symbolized that acceptance and resigning to letting both personalities through. The "hidden" element is no longer locked away in shame and exists in as beautiful a world as the main element.

That's my take-away that sort of parallels my own life, I think.

There's always a bit of a personal thing in how we interpret stuff.

B: LOCATE THE DOCTOR
L: PERHAPS HE IS IN THE PUB
B: I WILL EXAMINE THE PINTS
L: Excel-hic-lent

[–] MrBubblegum 9 years ago

BMO has always been gender-fluid, I always call myself BMO for that reason.

[–] Daniel_Klugh 9 years ago

There's also the fact that English lacks gender-neutral singular pronouns. That's a problem with translating over Japanese TV shows to english. Some characters never get ascribed a gender. That works in Nipponese because they have gender-neutral versions of him/her and he/she.
In summary: we tend to just call characters like BMO (like Warlock from the New Mutants) "he/him" just like we use "men" to refer to men and women.

--
Daniel Klugh

[–] Steveomac385 9 years ago

[–] killian_d 9 years ago

Be careful, you could pull a muscle with a stretch like that