I’ve been feeling down lately and I started re-watching futurama for some good nostalgia, but it keeps making transphobic jokes which is kind of just making me feel worse. Anyone have any suggestions for comfort shows to watch?
You must log in or register to comment.
30 Rock is my comfort show - it’s on Hulu rn. It’s definitely a little dated, but is still very funny! Also Bob’s Burgers is pro lgbtq+ and has over a dozen seasons, so plenty to keep on all the time! Also on Hulu
Bob’s burgers is kinda nuts. The quality of the show has never dipped. I don’t think they have a bad episode. In my mind it’s still “the new show” but the Simpsons was already going down fast at season 10
Trailer Park Boys
To add what has already been mentioned: She-Ra and Steven Universe.
Steven, especially the first few seasons is super feel good low impact chill show.
Gravity falls is also pretty great for this.
My partner and I were going to rewatch Futurama soon, since we wanted to watch the old ones before getting into the reboot. I’m not going to enjoy that as much as I thought I would, am I?
As for recommendations, I don’t know if I would call it a comfort show since it can get really disturbing at times, but Doom Patrol is a great show, lots of fun and super queer.
Hearing Brendan Fraser swear kills me every time
There are a few episodes where being trans is almost the entire premise.
There are two different “Gender Bender” episodes where Bender is either cross dressing to act as a heel in pro wrestling, or surgically altered to become a fembot and compete in sports.
There is another episode where an alien removes the gender differences for the crew, and then changes the gender of the crew. They shoot a saucy pin-up calendar.
And then there’s the Dungeons and Dragons episodes where Hermes is a hermaphrodite centaur.
Oh, and the mind swapping episode where everybody changes brains, but that’s more Freaky Friday than gender swapping.
Pardon me if it’s rude to ask but do you mind explaining why those episodes are transphobic? Specifically the Bender gender swaps, I don’t remember the other examples you mentioned.
The wrestling one is just somewhat off kilter? It’s not outright transphobic, more just kinda silly. It doesn’t reference gender as an identity as much. More so gender as performance I’d say. It’s a comparatively brief portion of the episode compared with the Olympics based one. The rest of the episode is pretty great tho and is all about a misogynistic asshole getting his comeuppance from a downtrodden woman who’s always been told that fighting is for boy’s. It’s actually a great episode.
The Olympics one is self evidently transphobic. The premise is he’s not actually a woman, he’s doing it to beat fembots at the olympics. In the episode he undergoes hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery… well the robot versions of those things. He is portrayed as having done this purely to win at sports. There has long been an established hate conspiracy narrative about trans women transitioning to beat women at sports. It was around back then, and this episode plays into the narrative quite a lot.
Futurama is my favorite animated show of all time. I love it with all my heart and for literally about a decade I skipped the gender bender Olympics episode every single time it came up. But I’ve come to appreciate some aspects of its very transphobic very misogynistic narratives. It’s not something I’d sit and watch for fun, but as time as passed some small moments have stood out to me as being kinda interesting deconstructions of what gender is and the complexities of personal identity. Like when bender struggles with the idea of “detransitioning”, even if it’s for the wrong reasons and doesn’t accurately portray any kind of transfeminine struggle in a genuine light. You can tell they sorta had half an idea what gender identity was and the ways in which trans people struggle with it. But the motives are never gender in and of itself, it’s never about who bender is but always what he gets from gender performances.
Make no mistake though. It’s among the worst. Not because it’s the most hateful vile episode of any animated show ever, but because it’s Futurama. I hold that show to a very high standard, as do a lot of people. They punched down on trans and gender diverse people there. They had no reason to do that. They played into a frankly insane amount of misogyny to make it all fit together too, in a way they hadn’t done as much with other episodes. Look at Kif, look at all his episodes and the many ways his character deconstructs gender and sex in positive ways that show tolerant and informed viewpoints. It’s not like they didn’t know how to handle gender complex characters.
But with that one episode they just really gave a big fuck you to gender diversity, to gender diverse people, to trans women, and broadly to gender and sexual minorities as a whole. The whole thing is profoundly disappointing to me to this day. It’s not enough to ruin the show for me, I love the show way too much for that. But it’s embarrassingly bad and dishearteningly bigoted from a show that I expect so much more from.
Well, I still don’t entirely understand what specifically about the episode makes it transphobic but I appreciate you taking the time to respond.
This is a weird grey area for me. I see it as a silly episode where bender does some reprehensible shit, sort of learns his lesson but than continues being a shitty person. I don’t remember anything about the episode that makes it stand out from other episodes where he similarly exploits some facet of society (foster kids, soup kitchen, pimp are a few that come to mind). However, given my perspective it’s very likely I’ve overlooked aspects of it and I am not trying to defend the episode just understand what I’m missing.
Again, I’m sorry if I’m being rude or this is not the place to discuss something like this. Feel free to ignore me or tell me to go away.
This is a weird grey area for me. I see it as a silly episode where bender does some reprehensible shit, sort of learns his lesson but than continues being a shitty person.
That episode really bothered me – decades before I realized I was trans it was my least favorite episode of the entire run. It just came off as too mean spirited, and relied too heavily on the man-in-a-dress “joke”.
Core egg memory unlocked, I was obsessed with the Freaky Friday remake with Lindsay Lohan And Jamie Lee Curtis and would watch it again and again wishing I could wake up and be a girl in about 7th grade.
I’m sure most guys spend this amount of time and energy on that thought hehehehe
Oh my…
Is that why I enjoyed this movie so much??
Maybe? What were your thoughts on the movie The hot chick? It was another one of those movies from that time in my life. I liked that Rachel’s kid brother would crossdress and when the parents found out, all dad had to say was “If you’re gonna wear heels, you gotta learn to walk in them”.
Also, obvious “wake up a woman “ theme aside.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen The Hot Chick
But yeah, something about swapping bodies has always kinda fascinated me, now that I think back
I don’t think I’ve ever seen The Hot Chick
Dear God, It’s a Rob Schneider Adam Sandler flick. Sure it was during their golden years, but even their good stuff is pretty middle of the road garbage. Not that it’s a bad thing, you should just know when you’re gonna go dumpster diving to have a fun time.
I like shit fest movies like the Room and the weird B movie Lloyd Kaufman films like Poultry-geist from time to time, but rewatching some of those is hard.
Yeaaah, okay. I’m not gonna bother warching it then, that’s not the kind of movies I’m after rn
What transphobic jokes are in Futurama? I can’t seem to remember anything specific.
The Good Place is a great series.
Stranger Things perhaps.
Avatar Last Airbender and Legend of Korra
Bob’s Burgers
Futurama had that one Episode “Bend-Her” where bender decides they suck too much to compete in the mens robo-lympics so he gets gender reassignment to crush all the fembots and get a gold medal… If they made that full length episode, i’m sure there are plenty of one offs and side gags throughout that didn’t stick out to me at the time.
I hated that episode. That type of premise felt out of date when it was released.
It was surprising to me because they had a really early episode where Leela beat up her sensei really because he was sexist so it was so weird that “Bend-her” was a choice.
I’ve been rewatching Futurama and honestly there is a lot of jokes even in the first season that made me uncomfortable. Mostly sight gags of horribly depicted trans femmes played for laughs. I wouldn’t call it a safe show.
Bob’s was the first thing that popped to mind.
Here’s Marshmallow’s greatest hits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAnkDYwfhVs
The Owl House
Adventure Time
Tuca & Bertie
Over The Garden Wall
holy , i gotta rewatch over the garden walll. that was so good
Owl House, yes!
Sold!
Steven Universe
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
I’ve heard good comments about Orange is the new black, although I’ve never watched it.
I just remembered The Last Of Us series came out, but I forgot to check it out.
I rewatched Sailor Moon not too long ago, and it’s pretty LGBTQ+ friendly for something out of the 90s.
Whatever you do avoid the dic dub at all costs.
The VIZ dub is pretty good, but the DIC dub is garbage.
The originals can get repetitive at times.
The reboot has better pacing with a less helpless main protagonist, but some of the story bits made more sense to me in the originals.YMMV
Holy shit. Orange is the new black is great and I like the show, but the biggest trigger warning in the world for trans femmes. There is some incredibly disturbing, and accurate depictions of trans hate crimes. :/
Ah thanks didn’t know about that and the person recommending it to me didn’t mention it either.
My ultimate comfort show is Star Trek: the Next Generation. If it’s just me in the house and nothing good in my video queue that’s what I’ll turn on for noise.
Schitt’s Creek and Ted Lasso are great feel good shows with inclusive themes.
Like @Froyn said, Bob’s Burgers is super cozy.
pushing daisies!! ❤️❤️
also my so called life
oh and schmigadoon if you have apple tv :)
Bluey!
It’s cute, it’s short, and it’s great for de-stressing! I put it on almost any time I’m feeling anxious or depressed
It’s written so wonderfully, and can be fully enjoyed by adults just as well as kids
To tack on “kids shows that are just fine thank you very much” I really enjoy “Tinga Tinga Tales” The animation is crazy, music beautiful, the stories interesting (folk tales) and the characters fun. Great way to wind down for 20 minutes, finding out Why Frog Croaks.
Came here to say Bluey!! My partner and I (both grown ass adults) watch it together and cry tears of joy as we let it re-parent us!! Such a wonderful show!
The good place :)
Ted Lasso
Adventure time
Steven Universe
Out Flag Means Death
The Good Place
What We Do In The Shadows
I assume that you are in the US - and I don’t know if this is available- but the BBC show ‘The Detectorists’
You can use a VPN for BBC iPlayer. All you need to provide is a postcode for which you can use any random address
Just make sure you pay your TV license at tvlicensing.co.uk, other wise the license officers might pay you a visit and charge you a fine of £400 with their “TV detector” vans. /s
Well I thought that was self explanatory ;)
the deal is that bbc stops being institutionally transphobic and racist and ill pay my tv licence again :)
Oh heavens, you do what your conviction tells you, I’m just a cheeky American that grew up with RuneScape and an endless supply of British media that wanted to be in on the joke.
One of my favorite episodes of the Young Ones was when the TV license officer comes to inspect their house and they’re trying to hide the TV.
it’s on acorn if you have that too :)
