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Friday 12 August 2011

Hold the Confetti! No Wedding For Bert and Ernie

I confess I am a bit of a Muppets fan, and as a child, like so many generations, I was a big Sesame Street fan. I was therefore pretty thrilled with the campaign to marry Bert and Ernie. Whatever your thoughts on marriage (and I remain in the sceptic camp) I do believe that same-sex marriages should exist and it would be great for children to see two much loved male characters get married.

Sadly, the BBC reports the campaign has not succeeded. A statement from the show's makers said: "They remain puppets and do not have a sexual orientation."

But they conceded that the pair are "male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics".

The confirmed bachelors have lived together for 40 years and sleep in the same bedroom, albeit in single beds.

"Bert and Ernie are best friends," the statement from Sesame Workshop added. "They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves.

If you've had some sort of deprived life and have never seen Bert and Ernie check out the clip below. Personally, they've always struck me as looking like Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell (with wig) - maybe Ernie will one day be found bludgeoned to death by a hammer? As it is, we see a much more gentle relationship in the clip below but I'm sure I'm not the first one to think Ernie was to later say: "this one's really hard Bert, what's in my pants?"


In case you were wondering...Grover was always my favourite character.

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Elly said...

My view is almost opposite to yours!

http://quietgirlriot.wordpress.com/2011/08/13/bert-and-ernie-4-eva/

Elise said...

Lol I wrote an award-winning play about Orton and Halliwell, which in retrospect emphasized the Bert and Ernie relationship far more than the Lahr film did! Did Joe and Ken know they were a comedy double act? (Except the ending.) Bert and Ernie meet 'Waiting for Godot,' basically.

Chris Ashford said...

That's brilliant Elise! I've just ordered a second hand copy off Amazon but seeing as it's being shipped from the States, it will be a few weeks before I get my hands on it :-) Really looking forward to reading it!

Elly - I can completely see your view as well (which seems to be the prevailing one) - I just think IF you were to have two male gay characters, it would have been nice to use these established characters, but I don't have particularly strong views on this.

 
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