What with the video by hiding in public dissecting all those popular old Steven universe rant videos I feel like this couldn’t have come at a better time what with how the original videos criticized SU and Rebecca sugar for not telling an absolutely perfect queer story. Intentionally/unintentionally saying that the whole burden fell on their shoulders and how you either have to right great rep or stay in your lane and write none at all. Hiding in his own video as well as you here land on the some point on how it’s important to demand and be critical of stories representing minorities. It’s also important to go easy on them, try and see things from their perspective and actually point fingers ar the right people rather than scapegoat. It’s understandable for minorities to not want to be represented by crappy content. I’ve heard horror stories from people on the spectrum and how young Sheldon/the Big Bang theory tarnished the way people see them Or split with DID or 13 reasons why with depression and anxiety. And also how all that can collude with bigots who do nothing but move the bar and sell this idea that our only way to exist is by justifying our existence by appealing to their standards. Sometimes people go into public bathrooms and just trash the place. They do it because they’re hurting and they want that anguish to leave some kind of effect physically because they can’t just do it to their parents, or their boss, or the president or their oppressor. Under that lens, it’s easy to understand where they’re coming from, but being perfect is impossible so we should at least try and direct that frustration towards the people actually responsible vs it being dealt on the people just trying to get by the same as us. An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind, so let’s at least try to leave the toxicity of the crab mentality behind.
Honestly, it's adorable to hear Leela's squeal of excitement! This woman is a girlboss and she celebrates like a teenager, this moment of hers is very cute! I love Leela so much!
I love The Boondocks and Atlanta and they both cooked Tyler Perry. I'm not sure if it was out of spite or if he was an easy punching bag, but they can't deny that he was really good in Gone Girl.
True but the boondocks satarized/parodied a bunch of figures. Institutions etc. from back pop culture bet, sway, usher, hell they had a whole episode dedicated to Ed rummy, and Riley tryna kidnap opera Tyler Perry was fairly big at the time so it made sense they would comment on him in some way
I've always thought a lot of the weaker Futurama episodes are the ones about gender, as they always seem to have a weird "men are from Mars, women are from Venus" attitude. I'm... not gonna say this video is going to make me suddenly love A Leela Of Her Own or anything, but it's definitely an interesting perspective on it, so thank you.
I’ve always thought of doing a full Tyler Perry film retrospective, but I’ve feared doing it. Now I shall embark on this heroing journey. I shall report on my progress whenever Tariq decides to drop another vid. Peace.
You're totally right; about the episode and about Tyler Perry. Like, I haven't liked a single thing Tyler Perry has made. But that doesn't mean I don't respect him for going out there and actually makes movies that make it to theaters. Sometimes I think studios will ship a bunch of garbage off because someone with a big name was attached, but I guess all those big names had to start somewhere. Making movies and television series is what I want to do with my life, so I can't fault someone else for not only living that dream, but overcoming a lot of prejudice to do so.
Lmao nothing says being Black and being into the arts/entertainment like an older relative telling you to contact Tyler Perry at least once (my auntie once told me to email him my manuscript like yep I'll send this man _a book_ somehow lol)
@malikamaybe oh gosh, my dad did the exact same thing. But my dad was JUST STARTING writing. Yeah, like this established man is gonna run with the idea of some literal who. His assistants most likely threw out the manuscript the moment they even got it.
It's not unrealistic lmao, he rents out his studios to small filmmakers so hey fuck it, send him something maybe he'll make a movie out of it. On second thought..
Tariq: “I’m gonna to do a loosie on a random Futurama episode.” Also Tariq: “I’m gonna use this episode as a way to have people be nicer to Tyler Perry.” CLASSIC TARIQ! Great video man!
This episode does so much to honor Jackie Robinson’s accomplishments without even mentioning him directly. The guy had to be damn near perfect as a player and a man for black ballplayers to get a serious chance in MLB for the simple reason that he was the first. And Hank Aaron is such a great guest appearance, probably my favorite in the whole show. As a baseball fan, easy 10/10 episode.
Yeah, point taken how Leela should not put the weight of the whole galaxy on her shoulders because of how the system takes advantage of her tokenism and representation and even shouldn't take the heat from it. It goes to show how all of us regardless of what our intersectionality is that we could be either good or bad at something and we can learn some mistakes from ourselves or from the system that did so much more wrong than any individual.
When you talked about your family member wanting you to get in touch with TP...I fealt that. I'm a designer and my mom STAY telling me I need to work for him....like ma'am, I don't even like his stuff like that😭😭😭
This reminds me a lot of the Steven Universe backlash. We (mainly the LGBT community) put it on a pedestal for its representation only to tear it down because it wasn't always perfect. I still have a lot of love for the show, even as it stumbled, and it irks me that it became a bludgeon in this culture war. I can only hope the impact of Steven Universe is going to outlast its failures and the haters.
Rest assured, it will. Those whiners are just the loud minority. It's easy to tell the difference between legitimate criticism and senseless bellyaching.
A lot of queer people attached to SU as a proxy for their own beliefs just cuz it was the only show about queer people rebelling they watched, and then got mad that the creator used it to teach children about conflict resolution and changing for the better instead of delivering Marxist theory. Rebecca Sugar holds specific beliefs about conflict that some may disagree with but she's absolutely allowed to share them in her show.
I feel like a good portion of the "backlash" came not necessarily from Steven universe itself but the extreme fringes of the fandom which were responsible for some pretty sucky situations all that said while I never enjoyed the show I can acknowledge Steven universe was a bit overrhated for the most part (although I would argue a lot of 5hks came not from the lgtbq+ themes which certainly didn't help but with some fundamental issues the show had but I digress)
the nature of futurama and it's plethora of 2000isms always makes it very surreal when you do see an episode with some form of moral/message and walk away from it thinking 'hey, that was actually a salient take'
Morals existed in the 2000s. Just because of the indefinite stick-up-ass attitude people take on now doesn't mean we have to look back on that decade as unclean. It had an odd wholesomeness to it
hun, there's nothing wrong with finding 2000's to be annoying as shit the humour of the time which was prevalent in all cartoons (ie. men are dumb, women care about things and we should hate them, stereotypes A-Z are funny for some reason) tiresome as all hell not even in a 'this upsets my morals' sense but just in a 'these jokes are lame af, these idiots are wasting my time' sense I'm allowed to find them annoying what I was referring to though was futurama's specific habit of doing episodes with morals that often ended up being undercut by the writers having very limited understanding around the shit and people they're talking about ie, conflating sexuality with race or just not understanding the basics around how gender works their morals basically rely on you having no experience with what those morals relate to, which kinda made them bad even at the time just as one example, there's something like a dozen episodes whose entire point relies on you thinking gender essentialism is real which fall apart the moment you realize it's not. it's for that reason that I say it's weird to see a moral episode in futurama that has actually aged well, cause it generally is that doesn't mean I hate the show, I just don't take it's attempts to moralize to it's liberal audience seriously @@egg2520
as someone with autism this represents the *exact* issue I have when its done in media... like at all. Its a kind of complicated condition, "spectrum" in this instance doesnt mean "very autistic" to "sorta autistic" or anything like that its different symptoms and aspects at different levels, sometimes even in the inverse. From my understanding the only thing that makes it a disorder is due to those symptoms effecting life negatively enough that an individual needs more help than the average person. This means representing autism is very difficult as is. But when they do it its just... "look at this person they are really smart, like unbelievably intelligent, genius beyond your comprehension. But they do be a lil' quirky tho" thats just not what autism is. Like at all. Sure autistic people can be more intelligent than the average person... but they can also be less intelligent or even average. Autistic people arent even always socially awkward. Sure they tend to be but you just cant put all this into a box. I just... dont want them to even try. Along with the current cultural philosophy of "I was born this way so I cant choose what I want to do with my life" any representation of autism will just repeat that. Directly or indirectly. Sure they'll phrase it like "treat people with autism differently and make sure you accommodate anything they might need" but... Its just to defeatist. No, I dont accept that idea. Being born a certain way puts the burden on every one else to deal with it... that's stupid. Ill deal with it myself. I can. Dont underestimate me like that.
My younger sister is autistic. My mom was constantly having people tell her they related because, "I have an autistic (fill-in-the-blank-person)." Her response was always, "Cool, you know one person with autism." Everyone is an individual, no matter what characteristics they might share with someone else.
I view that accommodation towards autists as an over-correction of sorts. Now you're steering the ship in an ostensibly better direction, but the steering is so sudden and lacks finesse that it's still uncomfortable. Those kinds of solutions lack nuance because the problems they're intended to solve also lacked nuance. Just as it is with token representation in other forms. Extreme tokenization in the present follows extreme ostracization in the past. I don't agree with it, but I understand why it happens
Made the mistake of watching The Predator a few weeks ago. It was basically a checklist of how not to represent autism; as well as any other type of mental disability.
i sometimes feel like characters who weren’t necessarily intended to be autistic end up inadvertently being great autistic representation - the belcher family comes to mind for me (even tho they make the autism joke with tina the first episode). like, ALL of them are autistic imo (i also suspect gene & linda have adhd on top of the autism) in ways that feel very authentic. the blade runner parody eps hit really damn hard
As for Tyler Perry, I don't like his films, but not only he paved the way for other filmmakers, he did the same for actors casted in his works like Jill Scott and China Anne McClain.
It would be incredible if marginalized people could just pursue their passions in their own lane without being made into a spectacle if they fail. Great video 🤟🤟
GOD DAMN, thank you so much for this take!! It's always been so frustrating to me when someone says "well this one woman sucks at this, so that just goes to show you how all women suck at this." It's so unfair.
Really good video. I've had people say to my face that they used to hate people like me but meeting me convinced them they were wrong to be so prejudice. And I can't help but wonder "how in the hell is that a compliment?" If I was terrible I guess that means their bigotry is justified? People should be allowed to suck as much as possible or be as great as possible, it should never reflect on anyone but themselves, but it's rarely that simple.
I swear, I thought I heard you say “tolkienized” at 7:36 lmao. I went back and heard it correctly the second time, but if you had done this, that would have been one of the best and most subtle South Park references you could’ve made.
I just listened to the episode of Cartoons That Curse about Futurama Season 3 and you mentioned wanting to make a video about A Leela of Her Own. I came to RUclips to see if you did, and I’m very pleasantly surprised!
I love both your channels and the podcast! A very minor thing to point out is both you and Johnny interpreted Leela’s line about being “an even more boring Truman Show” as insulting the real movie “The Truman Show” but I think they’re insulting the in-universe show that tracks Truman Burbank within the movie. The joke is that sitting down and watching an average person’s life in real time would be a really boring TV show in practice, and that her life is even more boring than Truman’s. Though personally, I think a one eyed mutant traveling through space is a little more interesting than Truman shaving 😂
This video changed my mind about Tyler Perry. So glad I found this channel. It feels so rare to see adult animation takes on the internet that are professional and insightful!
@ 8:21 there’s a good reason why she wouldn’t be representing mutants: at that point in the story, mutants weren’t allowed on the surface, they we’re basically second class citizens (which is rather fucked up).
7:44 yeah but that's basically been the hiring practice for western entertainment for a while now. I'm hispanic but I've felt a billion times more represented by stories in anime and manga by people who look nothing like me than anything by u.s. entertainment today where the pbs representational rhetoric is so obvious that it turns me away, on top of the publicity that feels more in service of pumping air to their already big heads.
I'm not a fan of Tyler Perry's work, but I can say he is doing thing. Being the first or most well known minority person is a lot of pressure on a person. I imagine that most underrepresented scientist, lawyers, doctors with varying intersections feel that way. What this episode highlights for me is regardless of the world's opinion Leela did make a difference, just not in the way she likely expected.
Just got out of watching American Fiction and the main point of the film reminded me of this vid a lot while in the theater, especially during the fantastic scene of Jeffrey Wright and Issa Rae talking at the table
Amazing video as always! This episode had a weirdly nuanced and real lesson that I’m glad someone else appreciates. There’s a lot to analyze in Leela as the “empowered woman” character too.
The podcast episode where you talked about this episode was released 2 years ago, but I recently just started listening to the podcast, so this video came out at a nice time for me
There’s always that weird Mandela effect when the video title changes cuz I swear this was not what it was called when I first added it to my Watch Later.
This gives me a new perspective on an episode I never liked much. To be fair, I didn't dislike the storyline or anything, I just never thought it was very funny, but you're right that the message about representation is a lot more thoughtful than Futurama usually is about that kind of thing.
This is why I often roll my eyes when people bring up representation to excuse companies doing token raceswaps. I do not hate the actors (at least until they start opening their mouths and saying dumb shit but that's the case with all actors not those tossed into token roles). I hate the corps that are using them as a gimmick. I hate that I can see that they don't care about that representation, but they pretend that they do because they know others do and will reward them with money and support. And I that people so caught up with the idea of representation think people love, relates to,or should appreciate it. Example I have plus sized relatives, one of lizzo's tour stops was in her area, she was asked if she was going to see her and why not when she said no. This story was recounted to me by the other party who sounded offended that my relative didn't worship at the shrine of lizzo like she's supposed to because they were both big girls and lizzo was a positive representation. Now that news of her behavior (how was that really a shock?) got out she no longer is a beacon of rep but just Lizzo.
man I love Futurama, but I totally forgot this episode existed. when I think about this show and representation I usually think of the trans Bender episode that just reinforces bad stereotypes and all the weird sexism. its good to know the show had some good messages about minorities too
I've been waiting for a video like this ever since I first heard your defense of the episode on CTC. Some people really dislike this episode for how it depicts Leela's struggle, but that's exactly why I like it. Like you said, it sucks to be marginalized and have so many expectations placed onto your work to represent a very broad category of people. Leela is fascinating as her character can be used to explore sexism, but also disability and xenophobia. This episode basically has her disability affect her ability to be taken seriously as a female player, which is something that resonates with me as an autistic woman. "The Cyber House Rules" is another episode that is really interesting to me from a representation perspective as it feels very much about ableism and fixing yourself for other people. I think many people overlook these depths to Leela and her struggles, so I'm so glad to see you talk about them in depth.
I think this is pretty well said, although I think it sucks that the ending of the episode kinda says "Stop trying and get out of the way for everyone else who is inherently more loved than you to be the only ones doing the thing you want to do" it does at least explore the idea enough that it's clear the people who are treated as representation probably shouldn't have the pressure of being expected to be good representation on top of the pressure and expectations to just be good.
I loved this episode especially, not only the main plot involving Leela but also the representation of an immigrant family just trying to get by. It’s really nice to see these perspectives of how it feels to be a sort of symbol of inspiration, while also how to support others.
I love this analysis of the episode. The show has some great representation in aliens, humans and robots. I would love to see you cover the episode between Amy and Bender
This is exactly like the situation with the girl who joined Faze Clan (Grace Van Dien for those who want to research), and didn’t know anything about gaming. Purely there as representation, whilst girls in the gaming community that really know their stuff don’t get the same opportunity.
Hey, I have a very valid excuse for not knowing what you look like, or seeing everything you mentioned. I am actually legitimately blind. Before everyone asks, I use an iPhone, it has built-in accessibility called voiceover. It tells me what’s on the screen when I tap on it. If you want a better explanation, look at pretty much any blind RUclipsr.
This brings an interesting question "is bad representation better then no representation" it kinda reminds me of when lil wayne had that auto tune era and a loud group of people hated it. Eventually overtime we got artist that used his sound and created a sub genre that has there own fan base. The "bad representation" was allowed to grow and become its own thing
Use code TOONRIFICTARIQ50 to get 50% off your first Factor box at bit.ly/3OUCzXk !
"Maybe instead of blaming the face for what they do in their time in the spotlight, we should blame the system that tokenizes them." BARS!!!!
🥹🥹🥹
Those are bars that need to be said more.
What with the video by hiding in public dissecting all those popular old Steven universe rant videos
I feel like this couldn’t have come at a better time what with how the original videos criticized SU and Rebecca sugar for not telling an absolutely perfect queer story.
Intentionally/unintentionally saying that the whole burden fell on their shoulders and how you either have to right great rep or stay in your lane and write none at all.
Hiding in his own video as well as you here land on the some point on how it’s important to demand and be critical of stories representing minorities. It’s also important to go easy on them, try and see things from their perspective and actually point fingers ar the right people rather than scapegoat.
It’s understandable for minorities to not want to be represented by crappy content.
I’ve heard horror stories from people on the spectrum and how young Sheldon/the Big Bang theory tarnished the way people see them
Or split with DID or 13 reasons why with depression and anxiety.
And also how all that can collude with bigots who do nothing but move the bar and sell this idea that our only way to exist is by justifying our existence by appealing to their standards.
Sometimes people go into public bathrooms and just trash the place. They do it because they’re hurting and they want that anguish to leave some kind of effect physically because they can’t just do it to their parents, or their boss, or the president or their oppressor.
Under that lens, it’s easy to understand where they’re coming from, but being perfect is impossible so we should at least try and direct that frustration towards the people actually responsible vs it being dealt on the people just trying to get by the same as us.
An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind, so let’s at least try to leave the toxicity of the crab mentality behind.
At least half of America refuses to blames systems over individuals for some reason.
@@theradionicrevival8068lovingly, respectfully, this is unreadable
This video was all a ruse to show that Tariq loves Tyler Perry movies.
Speak a little truth and people lose their minds.
@@ToonrificTariqspeak a little lie, society... Society goes wild
Not really a ruse
Dude put Madea in the thumbnail
Js attention to detail pays
@@ToonrificTariq doesn't sound like a no 🤔
did this man really just use futurama as a springboard for getting people to understand tyler perry better 😭
No it's about how Tyler Perry can make bad movies and not have it reflect poorly on all black people lol
@@milliondollarmistakeit was a joke, dawg.
He likes wearing dresses and fat suits. Not sure there's much depth there to understand.
Honestly, it's adorable to hear Leela's squeal of excitement! This woman is a girlboss and she celebrates like a teenager, this moment of hers is very cute! I love Leela so much!
Oh she's wonderful! The voice actress did a legendary job.
The fact that you made this video two years after making a one-off comment in a podcast is a level of dedication that I immensely respect 👑
I paused a Tariq video to watch this lmao
Which video of his?
@@Scott_plush_productions The Heart of Family Guy lol
@@theepoetrygod great video man lol.
The Tyler Perry analogy felt pretty fitting.
I feel like a proud mom every time you put out another thinker. Excellent work as always, you make all of us Patreon people proud, full stop.
I love The Boondocks and Atlanta and they both cooked Tyler Perry. I'm not sure if it was out of spite or if he was an easy punching bag, but they can't deny that he was really good in Gone Girl.
True but the boondocks satarized/parodied a bunch of figures. Institutions etc. from back pop culture bet, sway, usher, hell they had a whole episode dedicated to Ed rummy, and Riley tryna kidnap opera Tyler Perry was fairly big at the time so it made sense they would comment on him in some way
I've always thought a lot of the weaker Futurama episodes are the ones about gender, as they always seem to have a weird "men are from Mars, women are from Venus" attitude. I'm... not gonna say this video is going to make me suddenly love A Leela Of Her Own or anything, but it's definitely an interesting perspective on it, so thank you.
I honestly think that’s super fair lol every episode dealing with gender, womanhood, etc. is borderline dogshit. So I can’t blame you.
I’ve always thought of doing a full Tyler Perry film retrospective, but I’ve feared doing it.
Now I shall embark on this heroing journey. I shall report on my progress whenever Tariq decides to drop another vid. Peace.
God's speed
You're totally right; about the episode and about Tyler Perry. Like, I haven't liked a single thing Tyler Perry has made. But that doesn't mean I don't respect him for going out there and actually makes movies that make it to theaters. Sometimes I think studios will ship a bunch of garbage off because someone with a big name was attached, but I guess all those big names had to start somewhere.
Making movies and television series is what I want to do with my life, so I can't fault someone else for not only living that dream, but overcoming a lot of prejudice to do so.
Lmao nothing says being Black and being into the arts/entertainment like an older relative telling you to contact Tyler Perry at least once (my auntie once told me to email him my manuscript like yep I'll send this man _a book_ somehow lol)
😂😂😂😂😂😂
@malikamaybe oh gosh, my dad did the exact same thing. But my dad was JUST STARTING writing.
Yeah, like this established man is gonna run with the idea of some literal who. His assistants most likely threw out the manuscript the moment they even got it.
It's not unrealistic lmao, he rents out his studios to small filmmakers so hey fuck it, send him something maybe he'll make a movie out of it.
On second thought..
@@ToonrificTariq We just want Tyler Perry to make GOOD movies
My gramma told me to go be a PA for one of his movies. Like yea ill just go do that walk in with my afro as my gate pass thanks.
Tariq: “I’m gonna to do a loosie on a random Futurama episode.”
Also Tariq: “I’m gonna use this episode as a way to have people be nicer to Tyler Perry.”
CLASSIC TARIQ! Great video man!
This episode does so much to honor Jackie Robinson’s accomplishments without even mentioning him directly. The guy had to be damn near perfect as a player and a man for black ballplayers to get a serious chance in MLB for the simple reason that he was the first.
And Hank Aaron is such a great guest appearance, probably my favorite in the whole show. As a baseball fan, easy 10/10 episode.
Yeah, point taken how Leela should not put the weight of the whole galaxy on her shoulders because of how the system takes advantage of her tokenism and representation and even shouldn't take the heat from it. It goes to show how all of us regardless of what our intersectionality is that we could be either good or bad at something and we can learn some mistakes from ourselves or from the system that did so much more wrong than any individual.
When you talked about your family member wanting you to get in touch with TP...I fealt that. I'm a designer and my mom STAY telling me I need to work for him....like ma'am, I don't even like his stuff like that😭😭😭
Omg. 😂😂😂
This reminds me a lot of the Steven Universe backlash. We (mainly the LGBT community) put it on a pedestal for its representation only to tear it down because it wasn't always perfect. I still have a lot of love for the show, even as it stumbled, and it irks me that it became a bludgeon in this culture war. I can only hope the impact of Steven Universe is going to outlast its failures and the haters.
Rest assured, it will. Those whiners are just the loud minority. It's easy to tell the difference between legitimate criticism and senseless bellyaching.
@@pestoandpizza22 must have been raining lol
A lot of queer people attached to SU as a proxy for their own beliefs just cuz it was the only show about queer people rebelling they watched, and then got mad that the creator used it to teach children about conflict resolution and changing for the better instead of delivering Marxist theory. Rebecca Sugar holds specific beliefs about conflict that some may disagree with but she's absolutely allowed to share them in her show.
I feel like a good portion of the "backlash" came not necessarily from Steven universe itself but the extreme fringes of the fandom which were responsible for some pretty sucky situations all that said while I never enjoyed the show I can acknowledge Steven universe was a bit overrhated for the most part (although I would argue a lot of 5hks came not from the lgtbq+ themes which certainly didn't help but with some fundamental issues the show had but I digress)
the nature of futurama and it's plethora of 2000isms always makes it very surreal when you do see an episode with some form of moral/message and walk away from it thinking 'hey, that was actually a salient take'
Morals existed in the 2000s. Just because of the indefinite stick-up-ass attitude people take on now doesn't mean we have to look back on that decade as unclean. It had an odd wholesomeness to it
hun, there's nothing wrong with finding 2000's to be annoying as shit
the humour of the time which was prevalent in all cartoons (ie. men are dumb, women care about things and we should hate them, stereotypes A-Z are funny for some reason) tiresome as all hell
not even in a 'this upsets my morals' sense but just in a 'these jokes are lame af, these idiots are wasting my time' sense
I'm allowed to find them annoying
what I was referring to though was futurama's specific habit of doing episodes with morals that often ended up being undercut by the writers having very limited understanding around the shit and people they're talking about
ie, conflating sexuality with race or just not understanding the basics around how gender works
their morals basically rely on you having no experience with what those morals relate to, which kinda made them bad even at the time
just as one example, there's something like a dozen episodes whose entire point relies on you thinking gender essentialism is real which fall apart the moment you realize it's not.
it's for that reason that I say it's weird to see a moral episode in futurama that has actually aged well,
cause it generally is
that doesn't mean I hate the show, I just don't take it's attempts to moralize to it's liberal audience seriously
@@egg2520
Simpsons Cree Summer is wild 😂😂
as someone with autism this represents the *exact* issue I have when its done in media... like at all.
Its a kind of complicated condition, "spectrum" in this instance doesnt mean "very autistic" to "sorta autistic" or anything like that its different symptoms and aspects at different levels, sometimes even in the inverse. From my understanding the only thing that makes it a disorder is due to those symptoms effecting life negatively enough that an individual needs more help than the average person.
This means representing autism is very difficult as is. But when they do it its just... "look at this person they are really smart, like unbelievably intelligent, genius beyond your comprehension. But they do be a lil' quirky tho" thats just not what autism is. Like at all. Sure autistic people can be more intelligent than the average person... but they can also be less intelligent or even average. Autistic people arent even always socially awkward. Sure they tend to be but you just cant put all this into a box. I just... dont want them to even try. Along with the current cultural philosophy of "I was born this way so I cant choose what I want to do with my life" any representation of autism will just repeat that. Directly or indirectly. Sure they'll phrase it like "treat people with autism differently and make sure you accommodate anything they might need" but... Its just to defeatist. No, I dont accept that idea. Being born a certain way puts the burden on every one else to deal with it... that's stupid. Ill deal with it myself. I can. Dont underestimate me like that.
My younger sister is autistic. My mom was constantly having people tell her they related because, "I have an autistic (fill-in-the-blank-person)." Her response was always, "Cool, you know one person with autism." Everyone is an individual, no matter what characteristics they might share with someone else.
I view that accommodation towards autists as an over-correction of sorts. Now you're steering the ship in an ostensibly better direction, but the steering is so sudden and lacks finesse that it's still uncomfortable. Those kinds of solutions lack nuance because the problems they're intended to solve also lacked nuance. Just as it is with token representation in other forms. Extreme tokenization in the present follows extreme ostracization in the past. I don't agree with it, but I understand why it happens
this is so correct
Made the mistake of watching The Predator a few weeks ago. It was basically a checklist of how not to represent autism; as well as any other type of mental disability.
i sometimes feel like characters who weren’t necessarily intended to be autistic end up inadvertently being great autistic representation - the belcher family comes to mind for me (even tho they make the autism joke with tina the first episode). like, ALL of them are autistic imo (i also suspect gene & linda have adhd on top of the autism) in ways that feel very authentic. the blade runner parody eps hit really damn hard
As for Tyler Perry, I don't like his films, but not only he paved the way for other filmmakers, he did the same for actors casted in his works like Jill Scott and China Anne McClain.
"This video is about Tyler Perry."
There, I saved you twelve eyeless minutes.
But the man is right!
It would be incredible if marginalized people could just pursue their passions in their own lane without being made into a spectacle if they fail. Great video 🤟🤟
GOD DAMN, thank you so much for this take!! It's always been so frustrating to me when someone says "well this one woman sucks at this, so that just goes to show you how all women suck at this." It's so unfair.
"wait, so is the moral of this video 'be nicer to Tyler Perry'? That doesn't sound right..."
gahahaa
This episode of Futurama was way ahead of its time. Excellent analysis as alway Tariq, thank you
I freaking love Futurama. Always good to hear some analysis
Really good video. I've had people say to my face that they used to hate people like me but meeting me convinced them they were wrong to be so prejudice. And I can't help but wonder "how in the hell is that a compliment?" If I was terrible I guess that means their bigotry is justified? People should be allowed to suck as much as possible or be as great as possible, it should never reflect on anyone but themselves, but it's rarely that simple.
I swear, I thought I heard you say “tolkienized” at 7:36 lmao. I went back and heard it correctly the second time, but if you had done this, that would have been one of the best and most subtle South Park references you could’ve made.
Makes me wish I did lol.
I just listened to the episode of Cartoons That Curse about Futurama Season 3 and you mentioned wanting to make a video about A Leela of Her Own. I came to RUclips to see if you did, and I’m very pleasantly surprised!
Wow, you listened at the right time because it took me like two years to be this! 😂 Thank you for listening AND watching!
I love both your channels and the podcast! A very minor thing to point out is both you and Johnny interpreted Leela’s line about being “an even more boring Truman Show” as insulting the real movie “The Truman Show” but I think they’re insulting the in-universe show that tracks Truman Burbank within the movie. The joke is that sitting down and watching an average person’s life in real time would be a really boring TV show in practice, and that her life is even more boring than Truman’s. Though personally, I think a one eyed mutant traveling through space is a little more interesting than Truman shaving 😂
@@CactusCanonBut to a person from the year 3000 it would just be a show about a UPS driver
@@skarloey1214 You’ve got a point 😂
Damn I always leave these videos really considering a different perspective. I never thought it would be Tyler fucking Perry lmao.
This video changed my mind about Tyler Perry.
So glad I found this channel. It feels so rare to see adult animation takes on the internet that are professional and insightful!
unlike leela, tariq doesn't miss 🙏🏾 another banger video. keep em comin !!
THIS IS SUCH A GOOD VIDEO
i always loved this episode and the comparison to Tyler Perry Movies is perfect.
@ 8:21 there’s a good reason why she wouldn’t be representing mutants: at that point in the story, mutants weren’t allowed on the surface, they we’re basically second class citizens (which is rather fucked up).
7:44 yeah but that's basically been the hiring practice for western entertainment for a while now. I'm hispanic but I've felt a billion times more represented by stories in anime and manga by people who look nothing like me than anything by u.s. entertainment today where the pbs representational rhetoric is so obvious that it turns me away, on top of the publicity that feels more in service of pumping air to their already big heads.
Finally a Futurama video!! 🎉
I love that line that Peter said, so freakin' funny!
Thank you Tariq for showing me that Leela is Tyler Perry... I think that was the message of the video...
Wonderful! Would love to see more Futurama episode deep dives from you.
Man, this was a really good introspective. I seen this episode like 100 times and never thought of it like this
i never thought of tyler perry this way.....and great video.
Always hitting it out of the park with the content, Tariq. No pun intended.
I'm not a fan of Tyler Perry's work, but I can say he is doing thing. Being the first or most well known minority person is a lot of pressure on a person. I imagine that most underrepresented scientist, lawyers, doctors with varying intersections feel that way. What this episode highlights for me is regardless of the world's opinion Leela did make a difference, just not in the way she likely expected.
Just got out of watching American Fiction and the main point of the film reminded me of this vid a lot while in the theater, especially during the fantastic scene of Jeffrey Wright and Issa Rae talking at the table
GREAT movie and GREAT scene!
Star Trek the next Futurama just did this episode, how serendipitous!
Amazing video as always! This episode had a weirdly nuanced and real lesson that I’m glad someone else appreciates. There’s a lot to analyze in Leela as the “empowered woman” character too.
You completely changed my view and gave more nuances I wasn’t aware of. Thanks man
This video was actually really eye opening on a topic I would have otherwise really had no idea about. Thanks, Tariq!
“I was pitching instead of belly inching”
“You have that to? I think a rash is going around” *itches belly*
Appreciated my shoutout in this video tariq
The podcast episode where you talked about this episode was released 2 years ago, but I recently just started listening to the podcast, so this video came out at a nice time for me
This was such a great analysis and comparison!!!! Sent immediately to my program analysis and criticism professor
There’s always that weird Mandela effect when the video title changes cuz I swear this was not what it was called when I first added it to my Watch Later.
It wasn’t but it’s flopping so, I had to act fast. 😂😂
Saying Tyler Perry was good in Alex Cross is the equivalent of saying Ben Affleck was bomb in Phantoms 😂😂😂
I ain’t even seen Alex Cross, dawg. 😂😂😂😂
This gives me a new perspective on an episode I never liked much. To be fair, I didn't dislike the storyline or anything, I just never thought it was very funny, but you're right that the message about representation is a lot more thoughtful than Futurama usually is about that kind of thing.
wowie i relate to what you are saying. working in a male dominated field ive had experiences that are parallel.
I feel called out for asking about the music haha
This is why I often roll my eyes when people bring up representation to excuse companies doing token raceswaps. I do not hate the actors (at least until they start opening their mouths and saying dumb shit but that's the case with all actors not those tossed into token roles). I hate the corps that are using them as a gimmick.
I hate that I can see that they don't care about that representation, but they pretend that they do because they know others do and will reward them with money and support.
And I that people so caught up with the idea of representation think people love, relates to,or should appreciate it. Example I have plus sized relatives, one of lizzo's tour stops was in her area, she was asked if she was going to see her and why not when she said no.
This story was recounted to me by the other party who sounded offended that my relative didn't worship at the shrine of lizzo like she's supposed to because they were both big girls and lizzo was a positive representation.
Now that news of her behavior (how was that really a shock?) got out she no longer is a beacon of rep but just Lizzo.
man I love Futurama, but I totally forgot this episode existed. when I think about this show and representation I usually think of the trans Bender episode that just reinforces bad stereotypes and all the weird sexism. its good to know the show had some good messages about minorities too
Let's Go!
Great video Tariq! I has no idea where it was going to go with the ideas but I enjoyed as always 🙌🏻
I knew this was gonna be a classic when you had Llyod in the beginning… LLYOD!!!!
You know what would be a good idea for you Tarriq. It's to rank all of Family Guy's Road to episodes
I’ve actually been planning that one for a while!
That Hey Arnold video is great. People who haven't should watch it.
I wonder if any Futurama fans have ever had a go at recreating Blernsball?
The toughest part might be finding a giant 10 foot spider
@@ccricersYou need a 10 foot spider?,
I can get you one for 1.500$
When it comes to seeing Spotify info/Patreon info/your face, we're all Johnny Tight Lips... we didn't see NOTHIN
Oooooooooohhhh. oooh wow
Two Words, Tyler Perry
I've been waiting for a video like this ever since I first heard your defense of the episode on CTC. Some people really dislike this episode for how it depicts Leela's struggle, but that's exactly why I like it. Like you said, it sucks to be marginalized and have so many expectations placed onto your work to represent a very broad category of people. Leela is fascinating as her character can be used to explore sexism, but also disability and xenophobia. This episode basically has her disability affect her ability to be taken seriously as a female player, which is something that resonates with me as an autistic woman. "The Cyber House Rules" is another episode that is really interesting to me from a representation perspective as it feels very much about ableism and fixing yourself for other people. I think many people overlook these depths to Leela and her struggles, so I'm so glad to see you talk about them in depth.
ahh yes Van Peebles he played Dick Hollaran in the 97 Shining TV movie which had Gus Griswald's voice as Danny Torrance.
I think this is pretty well said, although I think it sucks that the ending of the episode kinda says "Stop trying and get out of the way for everyone else who is inherently more loved than you to be the only ones doing the thing you want to do" it does at least explore the idea enough that it's clear the people who are treated as representation probably shouldn't have the pressure of being expected to be good representation on top of the pressure and expectations to just be good.
Intro is amazing..
Awesome I was needing a new podcast
I loved this episode especially, not only the main plot involving Leela but also the representation of an immigrant family just trying to get by. It’s really nice to see these perspectives of how it feels to be a sort of symbol of inspiration, while also how to support others.
absolutely excellent video!!!
Leela only throw gas no split no curve straight gas
Years ago, a very intelligent sista once told me "tokens get spent" that shit still sticks with me
Everytime you drop 🔥
I love this analysis of the episode. The show has some great representation in aliens, humans and robots. I would love to see you cover the episode between Amy and Bender
Another good episode on representation
this channel goes hard af
The self roast with the Fat Albert movie poster had me weak😂 i most definitely broke down when i watched that video
Holy shit!
The fact that this kind of shit is still a thing is mind-blowing.
Look up the story of the girl who wamted to plsy football.
Lol, isn’t that just what that Ice Cube and Keke Palmer movie is based on?
Tariq your videos bring me so much comfort you’re the goat of this RUclips shit bro
Thank god. I needed a Tariq video today
Thank you the Truffle Butter reference shit killed me 😂
I wish Tyler Perry got to play Baxter Stockman more.
This is exactly like the situation with the girl who joined Faze Clan (Grace Van Dien for those who want to research), and didn’t know anything about gaming. Purely there as representation, whilst girls in the gaming community that really know their stuff don’t get the same opportunity.
Hey, I have a very valid excuse for not knowing what you look like, or seeing everything you mentioned. I am actually legitimately blind. Before everyone asks, I use an iPhone, it has built-in accessibility called voiceover. It tells me what’s on the screen when I tap on it. If you want a better explanation, look at pretty much any blind RUclipsr.
You’re right lol that is EXTREMELY valid. You and anybody else with a similar excuse are good in my book lol.
Great video
This brings an interesting question "is bad representation better then no representation" it kinda reminds me of when lil wayne had that auto tune era and a loud group of people hated it. Eventually overtime we got artist that used his sound and created a sub genre that has there own fan base. The "bad representation" was allowed to grow and become its own thing
Excellently said 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾
I rock with the video but you also have my instant respect for putting Chenayder as the music. Love seeing lesser known artists music in videos
8:13 - She's put in the same position Wonder Woman is often placed in.
We eatin good
*Tyriq* making another cult classic.
I comment as sacrifice to the Automated Instruction deities, Algorithmia