An IDOJ Ripoff...

[rythmicjea]

[quote author=subspace board=general thread=1170866928 post=1170894893I agree completely, jeannietonyfan. I was just surprised that that sort of stuff is done with I Dream of Jeannie... a classic TV family-safe sitcom from the '60's![/quote]

Okay, I really find nothing wrong that someone did a dance dressed as Jeannie strip-tease or not. When I was 18 I performed in a drag show (I was the only female and actually sang but that's beside the point). Drag Queens and Transsexual performers do skits and choose songs because they ADMIRE the content. I bet you ANYTHING that the performer, "Jeannie", is a fan of the show. And it's just like Dr. Bellows said in Episode one "You saw a beautiful girl on a desert island, it's the ultimate fantasy".

And as for "Family-Friendly". Yes, the innuendos are cleverly disguised but in the "Americanization of Jeannie" (at least I'm guessing it was this one) Tony's maid looks at the mess and asks if he had an orgy the night before! (My boyfriend is STILL realing about that one.)

So even if you aren't sure about transexuals and/or drag shows think about this. When I was in the sixth grade I danced to the IDOJ theme for my school's talent show would you call that "offensive" and/or "weird"? No. Why? Because I was a sixth grader. But I was still dancing to the theme just like this particular performer. To me, there is no difference.

[jeannietonyfan]

Well, I personally find a huge difference between a sixth grader dancing and an older person dancing inappropriately as Jeannie. It's not the transexual thing that really bothers me, it is the fact that someone is stripping in a Jeannie costume. With a sixth grader, it's cute, and shows that younger kids are fans of the show, which is great. I have no trouble with a woman, man, transexual, whatever, dressing in the Jeannie costume... but the problem becomes when it becomes inappropriate, like the transexual did. I'm sorry if our posts offended you, but the fact that someone was doing something overtly sexual with the Jeannie costume is the thing that made us all uncomfortable. And that's just our opinion.

[rythmicjea]

jeannietonyfan said:

Well, I personally find a huge difference between a sixth grader dancing and an older person dancing inappropriately as Jeannie. It's not the transexual thing that really bothers me, it is the fact that someone is stripping in a Jeannie costume. With a sixth grader, it's cute, and shows that younger kids are fans of the show, which is great. I have no trouble with a woman, man, transexual, whatever, dressing in the Jeannie costume... but the problem becomes when it becomes inappropriate, like the transexual did. I'm sorry if our posts offended you, but the fact that someone was doing something overtly sexual with the Jeannie costume is the thing that made us all uncomfortable. And that's just our opinion.

"Our" opinion? No, it's your opinion. For you to say that you're uncomfortable by someone stripping out of a Jeannie costume is to say that you're uncomfortable by someone stripping out of a belly dancer costume (otherwise known as a "Sari"). Because the Jeannie costume is a basic sari. To me, that's the same thing.

Your argument is that anyone stripping out of a costume that has any iconic intonation is wrong. Any guy stripping out of a white tuxedo jacket could be seen as offensive to James Bond fans. When, again, the stripper is probably a big fan of James Bond.

And for the record, I'm not taking offense at your posts I just haven't heard any actual arguments to support your opinion.

[jeannietonyfan]

Fine, it's my opinion. I was just trying to say that the people who posted in this thread pretty much all agreed about the original post.
And call me crazy, but I don't see the white tuxedo jacket and Jeannie's costume as the same thing... a white tuxedo jacket is a white tuxedo jacket, whereas Jeannie's costume is instantly recognizable. And whether they are fans or not in my opinion does not justify stripping out of a costume. But again, this is what I think.

[rythmicjea]

jeannietonyfan said:

Fine, it's my opinion. I was just trying to say that the people who posted in this thread pretty much all agreed about the original post.
And call me crazy, but I don't see the white tuxedo jacket and Jeannie's costume as the same thing... a white tuxedo jacket is a white tuxedo jacket, whereas Jeannie's costume is instantly recognizable. And whether they are fans or not in my opinion does not justify stripping out of a costume. But again, this is what I think.

Then take a Star Wars costume, like the Princess Leia white dress. The White Dress is "instantly" recognizable, but yet it is still just a white dress.

And though in our fandom we'd like to think that things about the show is "instantly recognizable", they're not always. Again to use a Star Wars reference: The first time I ever saw the Princess Leia "Slave Bikini" was on the show "Friends". I had never seen it before and wouldn't have known the significance of the outfit if they didn't spell it out in the show.

Now my boyfriend who is a HUGE Stars Wars fan thinks it is odd that I don't know who anyone is in the movie's and that I confuse Storm Troopers with Clones. And it might be safe to say that my parent's generation would feel the same as my boyfriend does. But there are people who know who IDOJ is but can't tell you who Major Nelson is in a line-up. I'm only 24 and I know what a record player is, but there are a lot of people my age who don't know what that is. At first I thought they were crazy and couldn't believe it, but then I realized everyone is different.

My Main issue with people being offended is that they 1.) Don't know the artist's intentions and 2.) don't have the power to stop it. So instead of making a fuss and clucking around like chickens why not ignore it? It's not like there will be an uprising of "erotic performers" dressing like Jeannie.

[jeannietonyfan]

Well, I don't see it, and I try to ignore it, but I still feel inclined to post my opinion in a thread like this, and no, I don't have the power to stop it, and I'm not trying to- I am just saying that I think it's wrong and in my view puts a negative light on the show that is unnecessary. The fact that it's Jeannie and she's a beautiful woman in a suggestive costume, if shown improperly, can present some sexual aspects of the series that weren't there, and people who are not as familiar with the show and see a striptease in the costume may think that Jeannie was really like that, and to me that is disturbing, because she wasn't the least bit like that.
But, I am now sick of this topic, and am tired of talking about it, so can we just say that we agree to disagree on this one?

[rythmicjea]

jeannietonyfan said:

But, I am now sick of this topic, and am tired of talking about it, so can we just say that we agree to disagree on this one?

Me too. And I think that would be best.

[jeannietonyfan]

rythmicjea said:

jeannietonyfan said:

But, I am now sick of this topic, and am tired of talking about it, so can we just say that we agree to disagree on this one?

Me too. And I think that would be best.

Sounds good!

[Subspace]

rythmicjea said:

jeannietonyfan said:

Well, I personally find a huge difference between a sixth grader dancing and an older person dancing inappropriately as Jeannie. It's not the transexual thing that really bothers me, it is the fact that someone is stripping in a Jeannie costume. With a sixth grader, it's cute, and shows that younger kids are fans of the show, which is great. I have no trouble with a woman, man, transexual, whatever, dressing in the Jeannie costume... but the problem becomes when it becomes inappropriate, like the transexual did. I'm sorry if our posts offended you, but the fact that someone was doing something overtly sexual with the Jeannie costume is the thing that made us all uncomfortable. And that's just our opinion.

"Our" opinion? No, it's your opinion. For you to say that you're uncomfortable by someone stripping out of a Jeannie costume is to say that you're uncomfortable by someone stripping out of a belly dancer costume (otherwise known as a "Sari"). Because the Jeannie costume is a basic sari. To me, that's the same thing.

Your argument is that anyone stripping out of a costume that has any iconic intonation is wrong. Any guy stripping out of a white tuxedo jacket could be seen as offensive to James Bond fans. When, again, the stripper is probably a big fan of James Bond.

And for the record, I'm not taking offense at your posts I just haven't heard any actual arguments to support your opinion.

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been on here lately, but school has been really busy these past few weeks. It's Spring Break here right now, so I'm back, if for a bit!

OK, I know that you guys have decided to drop this topic, but I just wanted to throw my 2 cents in, for the record, for any future viewers of the thread. Here goes:

1) There is a distinct difference between a James Bond-style white tuxedo jacket and a Jeannie costume. People dress in James Bond style white tuxedo jackets all the time - it's pretty classic formal wear. No one - be they male, female, transsexual - dresses in a Jeannie costume unless it's a costume ball/party or they're attending some event for die-hard IDOJ fans (not that I'm aware of any such IDOJ events, I'm just saying hypothetically). The fact that there may be some people who do not know IDOJ and hence would not recognize the costume is irrelevant. The point is, there is a strong, unique connection between the Jeannie costume and IDOJ whereas no similar strong and unique connection exists between the white tuxedo jacket and James Bond.

2) I'm not saying that "anyone stripping out of iconic intonation is wrong." Nor am I "uncomfortable" or "offended" that at least one person is stripping out of a Jeannie costume. (Also for the record, I have nothing against transsexuals and my earlier comments in this thread had nothing to do with the stripper being a transsexual.)

I was only a bit concerned because Jeannie - the IDOJ Jeannie, the one we know and love - is already a symbol often associated (mistakenly) with being a largely brainless, "half-naked female sex symbol." People doing stripteases while pretending to be Jeannie, further that impression. Hence I was concerned about any reflections of these kinds of acts on the show's name and reputation. That's all. (OTOH, for example, were a man to strip out of a Darth Vader costume, that would not further any misunderstandings, because no one thinks of Darth Vader as a sex symbol of any sort. Same goes for James Bond; yes, he did bed a lot of girls, but he wasn't a sex symbol per se, he was merely seen as a charming, seductive, highly trained spy with an air of danger around him, the sort that tends to attract (some) women.)

And I do emphasize "a bit." I'm not in a rage or anything over this, nor am I going to try and put a stop to it, I merely posted something I thought was an, erm, interesting piece of news here, and discussed it with jeannietonyfan and Patterson Lundquist in the spirit of having fun talking IDOJ-related stuff.