Comments on: Is Penny Arcade homophobic?

By: Thefremen

Thefremen — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 09:47:06 +0000

It’s a really REALLY horrible commercial.

“This pain is only a fraction of what you will feel while watching the commercials meant to spur a purchase. It may be best to stick to the reflected, abstract torment of the reaction videos.”

Also, he’s not a ‘cute guy’ at all. He’s some dude from some movie. Nobody gave a shit about the dude from Harry Potter until he was the dude from Twilight, but to people like Tycho and Gabe (and quite frankly myself and many other gamers) this cordon blue dude is just a dude, the Twilight dude is just a dude (from a very bad adaptation of an OK novel) and so on.

If it isn’t immediately apparent that this is comedy through exaggeration than you must have never ever read a Penny Arcade comic before: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/11/17/ http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/5/26/ there’s others of course.

As far as being homophobic it took me all of five minutes to find this gem: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/11/19/

Also, as has been mentioned: Dickerdoodles.

By: Bonnie Ruberg

Bonnie Ruberg — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:03:14 +0000

Two girls one cup reference = understood :). More soon…

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:49:14 +0000

Wow, talk about cluelessness…I think that the comic speaks to my own “ill grasp of popular culture.” I had no idea what on Earth they were talking about and clicked away from the site within seconds of the page loading. *sigh* I must work on my cool factor.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:01:01 +0000

I also thought it was a comment on how AWFUL those commercials were, and yes, I got a 2 girls 1 cup reference from it too.

By: Steven

Steven — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:11:07 +0000

The comic seems to be referring to the commercial’s ill grasp of popular culture. I don’t think they’re disgusted by the image of a cute pants-less man, I think they’re disgusted by the pure unhidden market-thought behind the commercial, the same kind of thing that makes you throw up in your mouth whenever you see a commercial for Barbie: Fairytopia.

By: That Fuzzy Bastard

That Fuzzy Bastard — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:49:04 +0000

Yeah, I agree with the above—judging from the newspost, they’re reacting to the corporate lameness of the spot, both in its Corbin Bleu and its Heidi Klum versions.

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:12:33 +0000

I’m pretty sure it’s a 2 Girls 1 Cup reference, and isn’t meant to be homophobic. Gabe is coded pretty heavily as being bisexual, if not outright gay — several comics reference him being sexually attracted to Spider-man and Patrick Swayze, and neither Gabe nor Tycho seem to think anything is wrong with this. Plenty of one-off characters are also implied to be in same-sex relationships, and again, the comic never passes judgment on this. I’m normally on high alert for anything that hints of homophobia and get angry accordingly, but this doesn’t strike me as homophobic at all.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:06:35 +0000

I think you’re beyond reaching. When I read the comic, I assumed it was about the absurdity of playing Guitar Hero on a DS. Taking two seconds to read the newspost for the day pretty much confirms that assumption.

By: Gus Mastrapa

Gus Mastrapa — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:12:11 +0000

Just so we’re on the same page: we’re all aware that they’re equating the Guitar Hero: World Tour commercials with 2 Girls One Cup, right? I’d say that’s the proper reaction to anything crafted by Brett Ratner.

By: Punning Pundit

Punning Pundit — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:01:40 +0000

I do see where you’re coming from, but having seen the ads (from your links), I must say they’re pretty horrid. The ads seem to be trying too hard. The Tom Cruise thing they’ve got going on… I mean, I get the joke. It just isn’t funny. And goes on about 30 seconds too long…